DC Day 2: Giving me A HUGE travel bug

So Day two of #rayraysDCweekendgetaway is done. Boo. But yay to a fantastic weekend!! After many margaritas and Coronas last night, my stomach was not too happy with me this morning. At all. I woke up at 6 and decided that I would try and fall back asleep and rehydrate some more before going on my run. After the tornado warning last night (yes, that happened here), I was relieved to see the sun shining this morning. Unfortunately the high temps and humidity were both still around. Finally around 8:30, I got out of bed, drank some Vitamin Water and got ready for my run. This is much later than I would ever go for a run in this heat, but it was my last chance here so I had to do it. I wasn't sure how my legs would feel after putting in about 20 miles on them yesterday but they felt great! I was pleasantly surprised by this. I had five miles on the training plan for today so I started out heading up to the Capitol.  Going there, I realized how much closer I was than I thought. Apparently I took the very long way yesterday which made it seem super far when in reality it was literally like eight minutes away. From there I headed down Constitution Ave again past many of the Smithsonian museums and headed straight to the National Mall again. I had to see the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial one more time! I made my way there, took some pics, and then headed to the White House again, because I just had to. When in Rome, right?!?! I could smell the Tequila sweating out of me but felt great afterwards. During this run I also had that feeling of utter happiness and gratefulness for my love of running. It allows me to see so much more on my feet wherever I go. It's a pretty cool thing!! 

I showered, hydrated even more, put on another very Patriotic tank top for the day and realized I was hungry! Shocking, right? Not at all actually. There happened to be a Shake Shack right near my hotel so I hit that up. Yeah, yeah I know I can get that in NYC but the burger place I wanted to try here (Good Stuff Eatery) was too far and I didn't care that much and I wanted some meat. ASAP. My body craves red meat after particularly active days and I obviously hate to deprive myself of that so off I went for a juicy burger. And Shake Shack never disappoints. (Once again, probably a reason why I'm so overweight. Ugh.) After lunch, I had to check out of the hotel and check my stuff with them. 

I didn't want to walk around all day outside like yesterday and get all gross and sweaty so today would be more of a museum day. I hit up the Newseum and the National Museum of Natural History. I had been to both before but had already planned to return to the Newseum because I enjoyed it so much the first time I went a few years ago. There were a few new exhibits there and also ones I had seen before that I wanted to see again. The two that I enjoyed the most was the new-to-me one about the Civil Rights movement and the 9/11 exhibit. Both of them left me with goosebumps and slightly teary-eyed. What impressed me the most in that museum is how current they remain. They even had information on the Ferguson and Eric Garner stuff. I actually learned a bunch about the Civil Rights movement that I never knew and its just blows my mind how people were treated back then (and how in some places that hate is still present). It's so disgusting. And the 9/11 exhibit is just so sad. I still can't believe that really happened. It of course brought back all the memories of where I was and what I was doing that day when the planes hit and the towers fell. It also makes the presence of the Freedom Tower, which I already get such inspiration from, have such a deeper meaning that we will always remember what happened but will continue to go on.

I stayed at the Newseum for about an hour and half which is an obscene amount for my ADD butt to stay in a museum. I went to the top floor and worked my way down. If you didn't know how to properly visit a museum, that's the way to go. You're welcome. Up next, I had to go out into the sauna of DC after being in nice AC for so long. My plan was to head to the National Museum of Natural History and see the Hope Diamond.  I've seen it before but I had time to kill and knew I'd check out other stuff there too. It's so nice that all those Smithsonian museums are free. (The Newseum was not but I got a little (very little) discount with my teacher ID.) On my way there I walked through the Art Museum Sculpture garden which was just okay. There wasn't that much there that interested me. When I finally got to Natural History, I went through the rocks and mineral displays to get there and it's kind of a snooze. I guess that's why I don't teach Earth Science or why I didn't take "Rocks for Jocks" (aka Geology) in college. I finally got my eyes on the Hope Diamond and it really is stunning. I wouldn't mind having that as my own and I'm not a jewelry person. My left ringer is awfully bare so that would do just fine. 

This museum was crowded and small so I went pretty fast through the rest of it but I went through a bones exhibit and another one on Dinosaurs that were both so awesome. The Biology science nerd in me definitely came out. There were skeletons of soooo many animals there and they were just so cool to see; the snakes, turtles, alligators, monkeys, etc... Very cool. It definitely made me wish I could take my students there because they would love it. They'd probably think it was pretty neat too and hopefully also feed off my enthusiasm as they often too. Sometimes in class they comment on how excited I get talking about things. It was actually something many of them wrote in their end of year evaluations that I gave out. They said I was always happy, enthusiastic, excited, and of course LOUD. Me..loud?? Really! Duh. 

Anyway, after hitting up that last museum I wanted to walk a bit more so headed back to the Washington Monument again to just kind of wander then I headed back to the hotel to dry off my never-ending sweat and hydrate before getting my bus back to New York which thankfully was on time! And luckily I didn't have anyone sitting next to me either which is always a huge score. 

Overall, I really had a tremendous time this weekend. Traveling really brings out the happiness and intense energy in me that I thrive on. I love being that wide-eyed, perma-smile girl taking it all in. This weekend getaway really made me even more excited for Europe than I've been and also made me want to plan one more little weekend getaways this summer, perhaps to Boston. I wish I had time to do things like that during the school year but it's hard with coaching but I need to make more time for myself for things like that because they bring me so much joy. I deserve it. I work hard and traveling is as good a way as any to spend my hard earned money. I think I will make that a goal of mine moving forward. Hold me to that, please and thank you!