26 Jul Washington DC Trip Recap

Earlier this week Colby and I returned from a trip to Washington DC. Colby had a work trip and for the first time in our marriage, I was able to coordinate it in my schedule to go with him!

Day 1 – Fly to DC, Walk Around

Since the airport is so close to all the main tourist spots, once we landed we headed straight for the Capitol. We then walked over to the White House and Washington monument. I actually loved seeing the capitol, but the White House had barricades pretty high up and therefore was a little less exciting.

Day 2 + 3

The next few days Colby was at a training and I worked from the hotel room.

Day 4

On Friday we went to the Holocaust museum. After spending a few hours there we rented scooters and zipped over very quickly to the Lincoln Memorial, World War 2 Memorial and the Reflection Pond. We ended the day in the city at the Bureau of Printing and Engraving where we went on a quick tour to see how they print money.

Day 5 – Shenandoah National Park 

We woke up at 4:45 am and drove to the Shenandoh national park where we went hiking on the Old Rag Trail. This was a 9.2 mile look trail with an elevation gain of 2,400 feet. It took us 5 hours, which included lots of stops for food and pictures. There were several warnings for bears and we even saw 3 park rangers on the trail, however we didn’t see any bears, just a snake, eeks!

This hike was not easy, and after a bunch of switchbacks we were faced with a ton of boulders to maneuver as well.

We didn’t love the 2nd part of the loop on the descent as it was basically one very long road. Had we known we would have gone down the same way we went up. All in all, although it was a hard hike, it was worth it! And, as always, it was great to be back to our car at the end.

After resting for a few minutes we drove over to White Oak Canyon. Our plan was to find the swimming holes but we didn’t realize how far we had to hike to get to them. We were of course already exhausted and were pretty done after adding on another 5 miles for the swimming holes. Part of that was due to the fact that the first one we saw was so overcrowded so we kept hiking until we found one that had no one there! It was so nice to have it all to ourselves!

Day 6 – Overall Run and Shenandoah State Park

We woke up and headed towards Overall Run. We had a quick 1 mile hike which took us to an area of swimming holes. We spent most of the day resting. We also found a place where we could hang our hammock and read. The water was pretty cold but we got in to cool off and to go down the “slide” too.

In the afternoon we drove over to Shenandoah State Park where we setup our hammock again and relaxed on our raft in the river. This area was much more crowded with a ton of people camping and cooking. Regardless, it was relaxing up until a storm came in very quickly! After we got soaked we packed up and called it a day.

Day 7 – Bible Museum, Fly Home

We visited the Bible Museum on our last day and it was amazing. I can’t articulate just how amazing the museum was. Really, it was so well-done and worth every penny we paid to get in. I loved how interactive it was and if you ever get a chance to go, I highly, highly recommend it. The pictures definitely do not do it justice.

After the Bible Museum we stopped in the Air and Space Museum but honestly, only stayed for a few minutes. It was so so so crowded, just as the Holocaust museum was a few days prior too. Before we headed to the airport, we made a very quick stop at Ebenezer’s Coffee shop, which is owned by Mark Batterson who wrote the Circle Maker.

All in all we had a great trip to DC. Minus the 100 degree weather and the humidity it was great. The Old Rag Trail hike and the Bible Museum were definitely two of the highlights!

Our Prior Vacations:

I didn’t start sharing our traveling adventures on the blog until the end of 2013, but you can see some of our vacations below. You can also see our best tips for traveling on a budget here!

Pacific Northwest
Western Caribbean Cruise
Arizona
Hilton Head
South America: Argentina
South America: Torres Del Paine
South America: Lake Region
South America: Santiago + Coast
Colorado
Costa Rica: Manuel Antonio
Costa Rica: Santa Teresa
Costa Rica: La Fortuna
Michigan
Las Vegas
Caribbean Cruise – Grand Turk + Dominican Republic
Caribbean Cruise – Aruba + Curacao
Colorado Ski Date #2
North Carolina
Maui
Kauai
Oahu
Palm Springs
Colorado #3
Anniversary Staycation
Florida
Europe: The Netherlands
Europe: Montenegro + Greece
Europe: Croatia
Branson, Missouri
Cancun, Mexico
Colorado Ski Trip #4
Northern California + Lake Tahoe
Yosemite + Napa
Ft. Worth
Phoenix, Arizona
Eastern Caribbean Cruise: Grand Turk + San Juan
Eastern Caribbean Cruise: St. Kitts + St. Maarten
South Carolina
Colorado Skip Trip #5
Utah: Zion and Bryce National Parks
Utah: Arches National Park

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