My monumental last day

I had the most wonderful vacation with some of my most wonderful friends. I was really sad to see it come to a close, but to be honest, I was exhausted by the end. I think that's a sign of a good vacation, right? Def made the most out of my time. Anyway, for my last day, Sis. Mautz went downtown with me to check out all the monuments along with a whole lot of other cool places. I'm happy to have been able to see our great nation's capital! Already planning my next trip :)

The Eisenhower something building? I have no idea what it's really called, but it was beautiful.

 The White House! I actually got a picture this time, mostly because Sis. Mautz was there to take it for me. 

 With the White House in the background, sporting our sunglasses. It was a surprisingly hot and humid day, which reminded us a whole lot of the weather on the mish. 

 The Vietnam war memorial. It is different than I imagined it (I didn't realize it followed the slope of the grass)--even cooler than I thought.

 The Lincoln memorial. This was definitely one of my favorites.

 The Washington Monument from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The pool was drained because they're doing repairs on it, so it maybe wasn't as cool as it usually is, but oh well.

 The Korean War memorial

 This is a newer one: the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial. So, so awesome. My second favorite memorial. This is not in the pictures, but the memorial is lined with a wall filled with quotes from MLK Jr. and it's just awesome.

 And it's just across the Tidal Basin from the Jefferson Memorial, so even though we didn't have time to go all the way over there, we still got to see it. 

 There was this group of WWII Veterans in front of the WWII memorial. Not something you get to see every day. Very cool. 

 After visiting all the monuments, we had lunch inside the old post office. It's a really cool building--built in 1889. I love that you can eat lunch in a building that old. 

 The ceiling:

 Yes, I did.

 And then we went up to the top of the old post office tower, which has the best view of the city. It was the perfect way to end my trip! Besides the view, there was also a group of French people in the elevator with us, and I got to chat with them for a while. Just makes everything more fun :)

The Capitol:

 You can just see the back of the White House from here. All those trees do a good job of covering it up.

Until the next time, DC! 

And another big thanks to the Mautzes for being such wonderful hosts. Love you guys!

Baltimore may have been cooler in the 50s.

 So it turns out that Baltimore is just as ghetto as it seems. Sis. Mautz had an appointment downtown, so I decided to tag along and check out the city. Totally ghetto, but I did enjoy the old buildings and churches everywhere. That was nice. This was also cool: the house where the (THE) Star Spangled Banner was sewn.

 I was shocked by how skinny the building was.

 There's a museum behind the house, but of course, it was closed. 

 There was also this cool Barnes & Noble/Hard Rock Cafe building across the pier from the aquarium

 The National Aquarium! I spent the whole time trying to decide if it was as cool as the Seattle aquarium. I think Seattle has it beat.

 However, they do not have a giant shark jaw in Seattle, so this was cool.

 A view of the harbor

 The freaking weirdest looking turtle I've ever seen. Now I know where they got the inspiration for Jar Jar Binks.

 They had a pool full of sting rays, zebra sharks, and giant tortoises. 

 Jellies invasion! A proper title for this exhibit, I thought, since jellyfish seem horrifyingly scary to me. 

 They also had a dolphin tank, but not really a dolphin show. This was just feeding time, and they had the dolphins do some of their tricks. It wasn't exactly SeaWorld, but it was still cool.

 The view from the freeway on the way home:

Then we went out for custard. Deeelish.

So I think I'll call it good on Baltimore. First and last time? Probably yes.