Karen's Fall Visit

I am truly blessed that so many people visit me in DC. The one person who visits me the most is someone I consider to be family, Karen. Because of the nature of her work she has the opportunity to come to the DC metro area every few months. Karen flew in on a Friday evening. On Saturday she wanted to go to Mount Vernon. I miss the days when I lived 3 miles from Mount Vernon. The fall colors are still so beautiful here, especially on the grounds of the estate.

Since we were in the area, I had to drive past my old house - it looks so much better than it did in May when Kathie and I drove past. I don't really miss that house - but I sure do miss the area.

For dinner Karen let me go to my favorite restaurant - Chuy's! We went to the one in Springfield, so of course we had to take selfies next to the giant red tree that is in the Springfield mall.

After dinner we made our way back to Maryland for a relaxing evening.

On Sunday, Karen made me go to church - yes, I know it is a good thing and I know I need to go back. We went to a church in Columbia Heights (DC). It was okay, I don't think I'll go back - but I am thankful that my friends care enough about me to encourage me to go back. We left my house around 8:30am and Ubered to my work to drop off our luggage. We had breakfast at Starbucks and then Ubered to church. After church I wanted to show Karen this awesome park I had found - Meridian Hill Park (I posted about it a few days ago). There was no drum circle when we were there, but we still were able to see the park in all the beautiful fall leaves.

After Meridian Hill Park, I made Karen take the bus for a couple stops and then we walked to this awesome brunch place I had been to once before in DuPont. After brunch we walked to the National Mall and played a game of Phase 10 on the lawn around the Washington Monument. This is what locals do, when they are not rushed to see everything all at once in DC.

Something that I figured out last year is that there are cherry blossoms that bloom in the fall! I love this picture of the cherry blossom flower with the Washington monument and the sun setting behind it.

When it gets dark in DC there is not much to do. We were going to go back to hotel and have an early evening. But then we decided to see if there was any activity in front of Trump hotel. Then once we were already over there we decided to walk to the Capitol since the scaffolding was finally gone from the dome. What we did not know was that there was a super moon and we ended up at the Capitol at the perfect time to see the super moon over the U.S. Capitol - it was a memorable experience.

After the super moon we got on the metro at Smithsonian - only to realize I had gotten us on the wrong train. And that is a horrible mistake on the weekend when trains are few and far between. So at L'Enfant plaza we were able to quickly get on a green line train and then at Chinatown we got on a red line train. Thankfully my mistake was corrected by switching trains multiple times. Karen's conference was at a hotel in the Ballston area - so I stayed with her from Sunday - Wednesday. On Monday evening we had dinner at Matchbox in Chinatown. On Tuesday I had to leave the hotel at 5am to fly to Ohio for the day. I was back in DC by 4:30pm and I met Karen in Old Town, Alexandria for dinner at another one of our favorite places - Mai Thai. We also had nutella milkshakes every night from a hamburger place that was super close to the hotel. As always it was a wonderful time with one of my people.