Mom and Dad Visit Virginia

After a year and half of me telling them about my life and about Virginia, they did it. Mom and Dad flew to Virginia for a week; they wanted to see where I live, my life in general, and tour Washington DC. I think they accomplished almost everything they wanted too except Mom, we missed the last tour of the National Cathedral by only hours. I felt so bad, that was one of the few things she really wanted to do but who knew they stopped touring at 3:30pm on a Saturday.

To ensure my father had a healthy breakfast, I made a breakfast casserole that was to die for. They want me to make it for Christmas morning.

11-2-10: Mom and Dad arrived from Bakersfield around 9pm

11-3-10: We awoke at 4am and were out the door by 5:30am so we could make our White House Tour at 7am (It was rescheduled from 11am to 7am), then we went home to rest up for the Pentagon Tours at 3pm. We then metro’d in to DC; went to Wasabi for sushi. We ate way too much and were totally exhausted from our walking tours.

11-4-10: It was pouring down rain but we drove out to Mt. Vernon and I am so glad we did. What an amazing place and to be in the 1st presidents house was unbelievable. We drove into the city to my favorite restaurant for dinner, Belga Cafe at Eastern Market. My friend Kim met us there for dinner and what a fun night.

11-5-10: We left the house and metro’d to Arlington National Cemetery. We saw the Kennedy’s graves and the Tomb of The Unknown for the changing of the guard. What a sobering experience that was. Next it was off to the Memorials via our double decker tour bus (they loved it). We couldn’t take the pictures we wanted or even tour the Lincoln Memorial the way we wanted because there was a film crew there; Navy recruiting video, oh well. After the Memorials walk, we took the tour bus around and stopped for the day at Union Station, where we had lunch. Union Station is gorgeous and filled with shopping. Mom totally dug on it and Dad loved the architecture. Being that it was also Mom’s birthday, I made reservations at Casablanca in Old Town Alexandria. It’s Moroccan food but oddly, not as good but we still had a great time.

11-6-10: We went back to Union Station to finish the rest of tour. First stop, the US Capitol, we went to the Natural History Museum where we saw almost everything. Mom wanted to see the Hope Diamond, so went to the gems area first then down to the dinosaurs; and then to lunch. After lunch we took the tour bus to the Spy Museum. I think if we had spent less time at the Natural History Museum, they would have enjoyed the Spy Museum more or maybe go here first because nothing compares to the Natural History Museum. Finally, we got back on the tour bus and went all over the city and went past the National Cathedral, embassy row, and Georgetown. We ended the day of touring at Arlington National Cemetery and went home. For dinner, I made pizza.

11-7-10: The day of pampering which really means I made an appointment for all three of us to get pedicures. My Dad even got a manicure and my parents met the Honey. He had Daddy duty and wasn’t able to join us for dinner on the other nights but at least they met him. Mom went nuts shopping at TJ Max and Burlington Coat Factory. Her two favorite stores and Dad slept and watched football all day. It was a perfect ending to the trip.

11-8-10: I took them to the airport at 9:30am and cried on the way back to my apartment. I loved having them here.