Alexandria

Our trip to Alexandria and Arlington was, as is our norm, an unplanned and happy accident!

For my birthday last year, Donnie and I booked a crazy good deal on flights into Washington, DC, and since it is our favorite city and future home, we were THRILLED to be going for the third time together! This was the first time we had flown into DC, having chosen to fly into Philadelphia previously and hop our beloved Chinatown bus! This time we flew into Reagan National Airport http://airport-dca.com/.

It was icy in Austin when we left, so the roads were abandoned and the airport a ghost town. We were not sure our flight would even take off, but if it did, we were determined to be on it. It was my birthday and I wanted to travel! We will probably never again make such good time getting to the airport. The flight was on schedule, and we were on our way to Washington, DC! Flying over DC is something to see. It is absolutely beautiful. It was warmer in Washington, DC when we landed than it was in Austin, TX when we left….again, something we may never experience again.

We stayed downtown at the Residence Inn http://www.hotelsavings.com/booking/1039183 which was a little different from our normal hotel experience, but what the hell. The price was right and for the next couple days our efficiency style apartment/hotel room served the purpose and was in a great location, too! Skip the breakfast buffet, seriously, even Donnie would not eat it! Day one we spent in DC at the National Cathedral, museums, etc….all of which you can read about in the DC blog, but this blog is about Virginia…..and day 3 and 4 that is where we were. A happy accident.

As will happen when you travel nomad style, you have to improvise! We wanted to squeeze more time out of our budget, so we booked the second two nights in Alexandria, VA and I enlisted some help from a friend living in the area for tips. We are forever grateful we did. The only and I mean the ONLY negative experience we had while there was having to walk in the COLD, along the Potomac for far too long to get a MONSTER. We really should have given up and had coffee, but hey we like what we live. We have few vices and that is one of them. I love the Potomac, who knows why, but we have the best talks walking along that river. It has special meaning for us, and we just FEEL good when we are there.  As romantic as that is, we are Texans, and it was COLD, so our walk was a bit short that first evening. We have been outside all day discovering Alexandria.

I loved the quaint little streets and all the red brick buildings.  You can truly feel the history there. It was clean, friendly, and all around lovely. We visited the George 

   Washington Masonic Memorial upon recommendation from my friend and we ended up being there far longer than “planned”. This is one of the few places we took a tour, at no cost to us but our time for the first two floors, and $5 each for the observation deck. We had the opportunity to tour the building and hear the history from a very knowledgeable guide. We are not usually into guided, well, anything, but I am glad we put on our patience pants and stuck it out. http://www.gwmemorial.org/ This memorial is right off King Street in Alexandria, and although it is impressive from outside, you simply must go in! We did not expect there to be a view from the top, but there was and we had a bird’s eye view of downtown. I should preface our awe by admitting,  we have a “thing” for being on top of buildings. Maybe it started on our honeymoon, from City Hall, Washington Monument, Empire State building 102^nd floor, who has time to analyze these things…..simply put, if there is a way to get on the very top of a building, Donnie and I are there, leaning over the side, taking photos, making jokes, and speculating about life below.  The grounds are under construction with many new trees having recently been planted. Most things on the East Coast appeal to us because they are old, here was something new, and we cannot wait to go back and watch these “new” trees grow. We could have stayed up there longer, but we wanted to explore the rooms below, so we begrudgingly went back down. I should note, we were never rushed by our guide! In keeping with our promise to tell the good, bad, ugly, and (with special enthusiasm) the weird. I must tell you, we saw more dog poop on the sidewalk to the memorial that we had ever seen in our lives. It was impossible to miss, especially given the rather large sign stating NO DOGS ALLOWED. Still, we remember that, and hey, travel is about making memories; good, bad, ugly, weird, and at times: poopy!

We had dinner at Chadwick’s in Old Town on the strand http://www.chadwicksrestaurants.com/location.php?location=3  by recommendation and thoroughly enjoyed it. Buttermilk Fried Chicken and mac and cheese on a cold, damp day is comforting to say the least, but that is not what stayed with us about this place. The server was fun, but the Cokes were FABULOUS. Yea. Yea, odd enough we know but we both confessed the best fountain coke we had ever had. That is saying something for me especially, cause I am a Dr. Pepper girl! If you are there try this place!

While in Virginia we made time to go to the Arlington National Cemetery http://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/. I had been before, but it did not have near the impact on me that it did on this visit. Maybe because I did not get out and walk around, maybe it was during a trip that was too planned, maybe the difference was Donnie’s reaction and us having a shared love of history and a mutual fascination of patriotism. The cold did not deter us. Honestly despite being under prepared for the snow (again, we are Texans, it seems destined to happen) we never noticed it and we were there for hours. Do not take the tour! Take the metro, take the hilly hike, and TAKE YOUR TIME. Spend some time in the visitor’s center and look at the amazing photos there. The eternal flamehttp://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/eternalflame.htm was a popular spot for folks, and this is the only place in the cemetery that was even close to crowded. The view of Washington, DC from the Kennedy memorial is breathtaking!

Our favorite part of that excursion though, was the Tomb of The Unknowns http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/tombofun.htm . First we saw the Memorial Amphitheater and learned about the 3^rd Untied States infantry Regiment “The Old Guard”http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/thirdinf.htm. Do some research, and spend some time becoming informed about the intense dedication these men show to this tomb24 hours a day 365 days a year, regardless of weather. We were not prepared for the emotional impact the changing of the guard http://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/VisitorInformation/ChangingofTheGuard.aspx but we were very moved. Donnie videotaped the entire thing, and even today if I listen to it, with the precise, determined steps taken by the soldier, I can FEEL the energy, the sanctity, the dedication to “an American Soldier known but to God”. It was a difficult thing to walk away from. We shared quiet steps and quieter thoughts back to the metro rail stop, both a little less tolerant of the tourists groups, happy, peaceful, sad, and dare I say proud.

We had little time left in Alexandria the last day, but we decided to have dinner at Gatsby’s Tavernhttp://alexandriava.gov/GadsbysTavern  it was built in 1785 as a tavern an hotel and early patrons included George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. The original bar is still there. We had carving board sandwiches and peanut soup http://www.gadsbystavernrestaurant.com/ which was great, but the ambiance and our chat with the management staff were the golden memories of our time there. We were preparing for a Department of Defense Dinner that very night, and were (no joke) looking for chairs with the least noticeable “butt marks”. They apologized for the disruption, but these are the stories and moments we live for! From our view from that quaint, charming little window we had a great last day in Alexandria, and know we will be back to Gatsby’s. We cannot explain that even to ourselves now, but someday we know it will make sense. We wandered the streets of Alexandria, grabbed some candy at the candy shop, and eventually made our way back to Washington, DC for our returning flight.

Virginia had been an afterthought, a side note, but next time it will not be. Next time it will be a conscious decision to return to a place that we enjoyed so much. That is the secret to wandering aimlessly wannabenomads style. We could have racked up taxi expenses determined to stay in DC where we KNEW we would enjoy ourselves. Instead, we made work where we landed, on the resources we planned, and we discovered a whole new place. We are always sad to leave, but we smile knowing we will be back.