doing DC: cheering on the nationals

Coming from Ohio, I sort of know a thing or two about baseball. I mean, it is only where it all started...under technicalities, but who's going there? 

Anyway, thanks to those ten salaried players of the Cincinnati Red Stockings back in 1869, this girl grew up in a baseball loving family, in a state of baseball loving fans. Sure, we don't get along with the Indians fans up North in Cleveland, but that's a different story.

As a child I vividly remember attending games on the River - I was usually freezing, it always rained, and the Reds always lost. I even missed the big hitter of the time, Ken Griffey Jr.actually hit a ball for once, while getting Dippin' Dots. Let's just say I didn't have great luck at ball fields in Ohio. Even when we would go to the local minor league team, the Dayton Dragons it would literally POUR down rain. Pour. Every single time without fail.

You can see why I would be excited to go to a Nationals game here, but hesitant at the same time. However, my hesitation hasn't kept me from trying to earn redemption on the diamond. Maybe it's the team, maybe it's the players, or maybe my luck has turned around; I don't know what's changed, but going to a Nats game has become a top priority on fun things to do. I mean, just look at those cute presidents doing their run!

Last week I randomly had Wednesday off and decided to head into the city. The humidity had finally abated so the 90 degree weather didn't feel like 105 degrees so it was a perfect day to walk around. Hopping on the Metro, I was met with several people in the full Nats regalia and one Mets fan (loser). Fully expecting a night game, I was surprised to find out that it was starting in 20 minutes. With nothing better to do, I bought a ticket seven rows back from 3rd base and went to the game.

It took us nearly the whole game to get into it, but at the bottom of the 8th, down 3-1, we tied it up and then got the go-ahead score 4-3. It was exciting to say the least!

Getting to the ball park is seriously easy and pretty much hassle free if you're near a metro. Just take the Green line to Navy Yard-Ballpark. It cost me $3.60 to get to the ballpark from my stop all the way on the Silver Line - way less than any parking garage anywhere in the area. It definitely takes the sting off the cost of everything else INSIDE the stadium!



*All photos taken by me with my trusty iPhone

my best friend ELF weekend in dc

You may be asking "What exactly is this ELF in DC weekend you were instagraming, Sarah?" Well I shall tell you! You know when Buddy calls his dad and has a whole list of things to do? 

Etsy

"Ahhhhhhh now I know what you're talking about!" You're saying. I knew I only had one weekend in DC before going home for a well deserved Christmas holiday, so my very best friend that I've known since middle school came up to visit and we did a DC Christmas ELF in the city weekend. So we didn't make snow angels, eat a whole roll of Tollhouse cookie dough, or snuggle we did live life the Buddy way. 

We saw some Christmas trees...

 I refuse to show the White House tree because it was even more pathetic than the Capitol tree.

We saw some statues with buildings all decorated.

 Took our typical George selfie.

Saw the monuments recreated using plants

 Another view of the Capitol tree

 Ice skated at the sculpture garden...

And finally....saw Santa on the Mall before getting on the metro. 

I think Buddy would have been proud. 

*All photos besides the first taken by me with my trusty iPhone

doing DC: the U.S. botanic garden

Did you know you could visit the jungle, desert and view 5,000 types of orchids all in one day at one place in the Capitol? D.C.'s really great for things like that, and a trip to the U.S. Botanic Garden just outside of the Capitol building can bring you all of that and more.

Growing up I watched my mom spend hours and hours every weekend and nights after work in the summer playing in her flowers. Although I haven't quiet yet acquired the same appreciation for dirt under the finger nails and sweating through a shirt in the blazing sun (read - not at all) I have gained an appreciation for beautiful flowers and the talent it takes to grow them and nurture them into living.

Needless to say, I enjoyed my time there sending pictures to my mom saying "Next time you come we have to come here because you'll love it!"

Getting to the Garden is easy. Take the Orange/Silver/Blue line to Federal Central SW metro stop and follow it along Third Street SW for two blocks, cross Independence Avenue and continue one more block to Maryland Avenue. Look toward the Capitol and you will see the glass dome of the Conservatory. The Conservatory entrance is on Maryland Avenue. The Conservatory is open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. while the National Garden (the outside part of the Conservatory) is open until 7 p.m.. 

*all images taken by me with my trusty iPhone

doing DC: the Smithsonian american art museum

I recently wrote about how much I loved the National Portrait Gallery, and I'm back to tell you that I spent the afternoon wandering around its other half, the American Art Museum today and fell in love all over again. The two combined are officially my favorite museum I've ever visited. 

Whenever I think of American art I think of modern art. I had no idea America's talent ran this deep though...

 Tanagra (The Builders, New York) by Childe Hassam 1918

 Portrait of a Woman with Cactus by Frederick Carl Frieseke, 1930

Central Park by Carl Gustaf Nelson, 1934

And these were the first few pieces I saw. I fell in love from the moment I walked in. 

Liberty by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, 1884

I loved seeing these two in the museum. I feel like it wouldn't be a true museum dedicated to America without Lady Liberty (who, admittedly was designed by a Frenchman) and a touching tribute to the World Trade Centers. 

I also want to mention my amazing new shoes I bought a month ago by Cynthia Rowley. These things are like little clouds for your feet and they are most definitely museum tested and approved! 
Obviously, you need to put this on your next DC itinerary. Just like the Portrait Gallery it's extremely easy to get to. Take the Red Metro line to Gallery Place Chinatown. It's directly off of the stop. Entry is free because it's one of the Smithsonians. Hours are 11:30am-7pm Mon-Sun. You can take pictures in most of the galleries. One piece of advice - I wouldn't bring a backpack if at all possible, because you'll have to wear it on your front like a baby holder. They do this to make sure you're not up against a wall and accidentally scrape against a painting. They do have some storage though if you feel comfortable leaving your items there.  

*all images taken by me with my trusty iPhone

doing DC: the national portrait gallery

One of the great things about moving to DC is having so many things to do for FREE. I don't know about you, but I love the word free. I would do a lot of things if they were free. Because there is so much to do, I typically spend my off time roaming around the city, collecting the tour guides as I go to display to all my friends as a way to say, "See? Look at all the things we can do!" 

However, one of my main problems about having all of these options is never being able to sort through what is actually good and what is worth skipping. Since one of my most used search terms for Google is "What to do in DC today" I've decided to start a series dedicated to highlighting the best parts of our Nation's Capitol, hopefully to help you make better use of your time when you visit. 

First up, I'm going to do my favorite art museum - the National Portrait Gallery. 

The one museum I've wanted to visit in London and still haven't is the National Portrait Gallery. The fact that America has one too totally blew my mind for a minute - okay you can feel free to call out the Midwestern-ness of that statement. Anyway, I typically get claustrophobic after two hours in a museum (seriously, you can ask my mom and my friend Anne who I basically ushered out of the Louvre as we went on hour 4 because I just couldn't take it anymore) but I could spend all day in this place. I've been twice and I still haven't seen all of the portraits. 

Currently, they're doing a series called "One Life: Grant and Lee" that is fascinating - and I'm not a Civil War person at all. There are tiny books filled with photographs of confederate soldiers and other pictures as well as these portraits like the one above. Look at that frame! Am I the only one awed at that frame?

Then you've got the permanent exhibit of American Presidents. Every President has his portrait hanging in this building, even the truly obscure ones like Millard Fillmore. Yep, that's a real name of a real president. Our 13th president to be exact. Please tell me I wasn't the only one that said "Who in the hell is Millard Fillmore??" 

If the above picture looks at all familiar (which is should), it's because this is the portrait of George Washington that was used to create the image for the quarter. It was only started but never completed, and there's a matching one of Martha Washington that is just of her face as well. Everyone should thank Martha for commissioning these portraits. 

There's so many more portraits that I would love to post, but if I did, there'd be no reason for you to go! 

Visiting the NPG is extremely easy. Take the Red Metro line to Gallery Place Chinatown. It's directly off of the stop. Entry is free because it's one of the Smithsonians, and attached to the NPG is the American Museum of Art, so it's two museums in one! Hours are 11:30am-7pm Mon-Sun. You can take pictures in most of the galleries. One piece of advice - I wouldn't bring a backpack if at all possible, because you'll have to wear it on your front like a baby holder. They do this to make sure you're not up against a wall and accidentally scrape against a painting. They do have some storage though if you feel comfortable leaving your items there.

*all photos taken by me with my trusty iPhone

Sarah (Literally) Goes To Washington

Since moving here, I've used the clever hashtag #SarahGoesToWashington on my instagram to document all my city adventures. But Monday, I actually went to Washington - as in the U.S. Capitol. Unlike Mr. Smith though, I didn't filibuster on the Senate floor for a Boys Camp. This time...

Anyway, Senate floor aside, I did go to see where the bills are made, and let me just state for the record that the following story I'm about to tell you is 100% true. This is the crazy story of what it's like being at the Capitol in D.C...

We'll start this adventure around 1 p.m. Monday afternoon. I've just eaten lunch at Bullfeathers down the street on Capitol Hill when I walk upon the Capitol to find police cars surrounding the Library of Congress. Odd. I wonder if the President is nearby? 

As I got closer I noticed the whole of the Library was closed off....and so was the Visitor's Center...the place I needed to get to for my tour. Of course that would be closed off too. I asked a friendly police officer if we were allowed to know why everything was blocked off and was told it was because someone had left a stroller in the street and it was called as a bomb threat. 

Perfect. 

But don't worry everyone! It was only going to take another 15-20 minutes and all the tours were being pushed back. 

Me waiting out the bomb threat with a brave face post Mosquito attack

With nothing to do, I didn't feel like going anywhere else just to come back a few minutes later, so I sat down under a tree, only to be attacked by one of those Tiger Mosquitoes that bit my leg up and down. 

With a now red and swelling leg that itched like mad, I made my way over to the open Visitors' Center. Nothing to go wrong now, right? 

No. 

The good news was that all the tours had only been delayed by 20 minutes. The bad news was they decided to combine all the tour times to make up for it. While I was joining my timed tour group, I came across the two rudest people I've yet to encounter in, well possibly my life. Allow me to now reenact the scenario:

_______________________________

Me - entering queue from the right at the same exact moment as husband and wife from the left. 

Woman while walking through the line - "I can't believe she (me) just cut right in front of us. How rude!"

Husband - "Well I would have thrown an elbow." 

Me - stunned silence while also thinking "Did he really just say that?? About me?? Because I joined the line at the same time?? Are these people kidding me??" If you only knew the self restraint it took me not to let them know exactly what was going through my head with a few more choice words sprinkled in........sorry I'm taking a deep breath now just thinking about it. 

_______________________________

Okay, so now that I've experienced the bomb threat, got attacked by a mosquito and now been threatened to be hit over joining a huge line with a ton of people at the same time, I was pretty much over the whole thing. But, I persevered my dear friends. I persevered. 

And I'm really glad I did, because if I hadn't I wouldn't have seen any of this goodness. 

Ike wants YOU to join the Army 

Ohio made it into the building, right next to Columbus discovering America. Classic 

Reagan laid in State at the Capitol after his passing before his funeral 

Grant looking like the dapper Ohio gentleman he was...aside from the drinking thing 

The old House of Representatives chamber 

Rosa refused to give up her seat on the bus, and she wasn't moving for her statue either

I'm going to be completely honest - the tour was sub par at best. Granted, this tour is only 45 minutes, but it rushes right through both of the seriously cool rooms you get to see. First you go to the Rotunda, where they're currently still under construction after the earthquake a few years ago, and you see where people lay in state and the famous fresco ceiling. Then you move to the National Statuary Hall which is the old House of Representatives chamber. Both are interesting rooms that I could easily spend 30-40 minutes alone in if I wanted to look at every statue. I was lucky to get the pictures I did while breezing through the rooms. 

Apparently, the cool way to do the Capitol is to get passes from your Congressmen and women in order to see the House and Senate at work. Guess I know what I'll be doing....hey John Boehner, can I come see you at work? All I'm saying is, I think it should be a rule that if your representative just so happens to be the Speaker of the House you should automatically be let in. 

Now where's that School of Rock video that tells you how a bill becomes a law?

*all images taken by me with my trusty iPhone