Day One: Washington DC Trip

Washington, DC: We departed Tampa International Airport on Friday morning enroute to Washington DC for President’s Day weekend. We flew non-stop on US Air from Tampa to Reagan National Airport. Upon arrival in DC, we took a taxi ride to our hotel, the Willard Intercontinental. Our room was on the fourth floor of this luxurious hotel.

After dropping off our luggage we hit the city running. We headed up town enroute to the National Zoo. We traveled on foot, past the White House and up to the Farragut North Metro Station. While there was closer Metro Stations to the hotel, the first priority was lunch and we were heading to Potbelly’s on L Street. Lunch was great, great food and atmosphere.

With full stomachs, we continued our trip to the Metro Station. We boarded the Metro Red Line and headed north to the Cleveland Park station. From here we continued our trip on foot to the National Zoo.

The National Zoo was fantastic. We spent several hours touring the zoo and watching the animals. Because of the cold weather, there was not too many guests at the zoo so for the most part it felt like we were by ourselves. We saw several animals there that are not at any of the zoos in Florida, including the Giant Panda. While walking through the zoo, Marine One made two passes over the zoo, one inbound towards downtown DC and one on the way out.

After completing our visit of the zoo, we headed back downtown. We continued on foot towards the Woodley Park Metro Station in which the Metro would take us back into town. Once we arrived to Metro Station, we headed back towards our hotel for a break.

Before arriving at the hotel, we decided to make a stop at the White House Visitor’s Center located in the US Department of Commerce building across the street from our hotel.

We returned to the hotel after the visitor’s center for dinner. We ate dinner at the hotel via room service and rested in the room for a while.

Prior to turning in for the night, we hit the streets again once the sun went down for a night time stroll around the White House. We only walked to the south lawn and back for a spectacular view of the White House, Washington Monument and Treasury building lit up at night.

After the short walk, we returned back to the hotel to retire for the night and get ready for another day of touring tomorrow.

For photos from the trip, visit my Washington, DC photo page.

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