Tourism ... or torture?

Yesterday Andy and I decided to spend the bulk of the day in downtown D.C. to do the whole tourist thing. We figured we've lived here a year now, so it's time to see the sights.

We didn't get as early a start as we should have, but we headed out around noon or so. We got there in time to grab lunch at a cute little place just down from the Capitol Building called Tortilla Coast. Apparently, it's a "Capitol Hill institution". It was pretty good. I would've loved to have tried out their margaritas (as I am a big fan), but I figured alcohol and walking for hours in the August heat isn't a great combination.

Turns out walking for hours in the August heat is in and of itself a bad combination, so it was probably a good call on my part to skip the margarita. Anyway, we left the restaurant and walked up to the Capitol Building thinking we might be able to grab a tour while we're there. Um, so as it turns out, you have to be there by 9 or so because the tickets are usually gone by then. Since everything here is free, it "sells out" quick.

Oh well, I still got some nice pics.

By the time we walked from the restaurant to the Capitol and then all the way around the Capitol Building, I was feeling the heat. When I was little I had a little bout of heat exhaustion that bordered on being a heat stroke. Ever since, I don't do so well with intense bouts of heat ... especially heavy activity in heavy heat. I'm OK as long as I can cool off at some point and have plenty of water along the way. But that would've been smart ... and sometimes, I'm just not.

So anyway, long story short, I waited too long to tell Andy that I really needed to cool off and get some water ASAP and by the time we got into an air-conditioned building where I could do those things, I was feeling pretty sick ... a little dizzy ... and just all-around yucky.

On the upside, the air-conditioned building was the National Gallery of Art, which was pretty cool. We hung out there for quite a while and then made our way to the National Mall and Washington Monument, taking plenty of water with us.

Again, by the time we got to the Monument, I needed a little break. The thing that stinks about the heat thing is that once it gets to me, it sort of does me in for the whole day. That means the rest of the day was pretty much torture for me, which is unfortunate because I really was enjoying all the sights.

We spent a while enjoying the shade of the Monument and sitting in the grass admiring the city around us. It really is pretty cool being so close to D.C. I never really made it up there as a kid (when I was old enough to remember) and it's amazing being surrounded in all the history of the place. Again, we were too late to go up to the top -- "sold out" early. But we'll be back.

This is the view of the Washington Monument and Reflecting Pool from the Lincoln Memorial. Cool, huh?

After the Washington Monument, we made our way to the World War II memorial en route to the Lincoln Memorial.

Ah, this water feels good!

The Lincoln Memorial was amazing. It was humbling standing there looking up at the statue of Lincoln.

We got there just as the sun was shining over the building, so I got this really cool picture. You can see it and many more lovely pictures from our trip here -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/11033387@N06/

After that we walked a short distance to the Vietnam Memorial. It's actually an emotional experience even if you don't know any of the names on the wall -- just seeing the rows and rows of names. Plus people still leave flowers and pictures. It was the anniversary of some of the people's deaths, so there were special write-ups and stories placed along the way. It was really sad and it got me thinking about all the people losing loved ones right now.

The Vietnam Memorial was our last stop of the day. Then we hiked about a mile and a half or so to the Metro station and went home. Let me just say that last half-mile was pure hell. I'm grateful to Andy for putting up with me because I was downright crabby.

All things considered, it was a nice trip. But I think we'll wait until September to go back.