Georgetown

Living in DC is very different than traveling to it. The average traveler goes to the monuments, and a few of the top restaurants. My job is to introduce you to things other than that. I travel cheap but I also travel fun. If you're looking for something cheap to eat in Georgetown I would recommend Thai Coast www.thaicoast.com/. 2514 L St NW Washington DC 20037

The food is both delicious and filling. Evan and I shared an entree and were both full. You can even get the food to go which is a huge bonus for those busy site seeing, but you don't get the "fast food" taste or after eating heartburn.

If you're looking for dessert and you love frosting you cannot leave Georgetown without stopping by Georgetown cupcake. I personally don't love frosting but thought all three flavors I tried were yummy yummy cupcakes. The line is very long unless you get there first thing in the morning and beware of their odd closure date- which is Monday. The cupcakes are also a bit pricey $2.75 for one- but keep in mind this is coming from a very frugal Utah girl. Go in with a buddy and split a half dozen and each cupcake becomes $2.50 a piece.

What's Georgetown without the shopping?! There a a gazillion overly priced designer stores and small boutiques. Expect to spend $395 on a pair of shoes... that in my opinion I wouldn't buy for $20... or go to stores like Banana Republic, H&M, Barnes and Noble etc. for more reasonable prices. One store I would recommend is LUSH. Try out their soft hands scrub kit and you will never want to go back to Bath and Bodyworks or Mary Kay Satin Hands again. They use all natural products and their prices aren't completely ridiculous when you compare the quality of their products.

Walking around Georgetown and just photographing the architecture is great too. Don't forget to pack a mini umbrella though. It's rained every single day since I got here. It looks like the weather will be great and then you get sneak attacked by an early evening thunderstorm that leaves you drenched in 2.5 seconds. It also gets very chilly when this happens so pack a fall/spring coat. Don't go through Rock Creek Park without a large group though. The park is too large to be patrolled so it's not exactly safe. But be sure to smile at all of the "homeless" people, they're pretty nice even if you don't give them any cash.

And of course, most importantly, Have fun!

National Archives, and more fun

Hiya! I'm living in Washington DC for the summer so I'm definitely ready to give you the tips to traveling! There will be several posts so if you're planning a trip to DC, just click on the "tag" for DC, or food in DC... whatever!

Evan had a surprise day off of his internship today because the power was out in his building- hurray! So he called me up & I rode "The Circulator" out to Union Square to meet him (the bus is about 65 cents cheaper than the metro- if you're a penny pincher it's great- plus you get to see the city instead of some dark tunnel...). We ended up going to the National Archives, "stole" the Declaration of Independence, messed around in there- THERE"S A TON OF READING TO DO- the new style of museum is to have a gazillion pictures & signs that quite frankly overshadow the artifacts... I'm not sure I like it- too much going on visually & I'm a visual learner! Whatever- Evan liked it. The bad thing about the National Archives... ok two bad things... ok three....

1- It's way too dark to take a decent photo- we didn't even try because - with my extensive photography background- I know that you CANNOT get a photo to turn out with people in extreme low light conditions... It's either blurry (most likely the case as a slow shutter creates movement) or way too pixellated- this is from having to up your ISO (or "film" speed) to 3200. But of course, everyone still tries.

2- The Guards are NAZIS- enough said

3- You have to wait in line for a ridiculous amount of time. School isn't even out yet here & there was about a 30 minute wait standing in line... lame. Don't even bother trying to go if school's out & you see a billion children running around. It'll take hours.

Funny misconception... The Declaration of Independance that's on display is one of the original copies made and signed by the Founding Fathers... it's not THE declaration that was sent to King George... I'm sure he tore that one right up.

OK- the rest of the archives is cool though 1- because National Treasure plays through your head while you're wandering around... and 2- you get to learn a ton of cool facts- they even have a video of George W playing in the snow as a baby.... I'd love to see all of the old videos they've got! You also can pose for President. Oh that Evan! ;)

For lunch we went to Au Bon Pain---

	Au Bon Pain - www.aubonpain.com 700 13th St NW # 1, Washington - (202) 639-0846 4 reviews, directions, menu, and more »
	Au Bon Pain - www.aubonpain.com 1401 I St NW # 1, Washington - (202) 842-2467 4 reviews, directions, menu, and more »
	Au Bon Pain - www.aubonpain.com 2000 Pennsylvania Ave NW # 8, Washington - (202) 887-9215

very tasty, if it's cold out get the soup & breadbowl. If you have a small stomace get the soup & a normal roll... not breadbowl- they're huge. I'd recommend the broccolio cheddar, Evan got the thai curry. The croissants are genuine French style pastries- yummers! Expect a crisp shell!

Lastly for today- if it happens to give you a torrential downpour in June- go play in it! We were only outside for 5 minutes & were both completely drenched. Floods in the street- very fun!