I don’t know whatever possessed us to get married in February in Connecticut. Every time our anniversary rolls around, it’s too darn cold to do anything close by and too expensive to get far enough away to escape the cold. People sometimes ask us why we married in February, and my husband looks at them and says simply, “We had to.” When their jaws drop, he explains, “We had to because we were madly in love.” Well, we were definitely crazy.
Since we’ve had a fairly mild winter so far, we decided to celebrate our 40th anniversary by taking an extended weekend to Washington, D.C., less than four hours away. We left Friday morning and returned late Monday afternoon, but we packed a ton into those few short days. Saturday we spent six hours in the Newseum, and I could have spent more, but we stayed almost until closing as it was, and we had dinner reservations. This museum alone is worth the trip to Washington. Sunday we went to the Natural History Museum and the National Gallery of Art. Our hotel was on 14th Street NW, so we could walk everywhere. I walked my little legs off. We can’t wait to return because there is so much more to see. If you’ve never been or haven’t been in many, many years, consider treating yourself to a great getaway.
Occupy D.C. tents. The occupiers had a skirmish with the police early Saturday morning.
A piece of the Berlin Wall at the Newseum. This was on the West Side. The East Side portion was white, a reflection of the rigid regime the people in the East were under.
Inside the National Gallery of Art
Coming East 
Sounds like a great getaway, I’d love to visit those places. 🙂
Do you live within driving distance of them, Eye?
No, unfortunately DC is on the other side of the pond to me. 🙂
Ah, Eye. I forgot where you hail from.
Ooh, someone else who uses the word ‘hail’! 😉
Did I use that word, Eye?
D.C. is a great place to go on a weekend getaway. My husband and I have done that a couple of times.
Great photos. I especially like the way you captured Occupy D.C.
Thanks, Robin. I guess D.C. Isn’t that far from Ohio then?
About 6-7 hours drive. Not too bad at all. 🙂
You were married for the right reason – madly in love. 🙂 It must be wonderful to live 40 years of your life with the one you love. Happy anniversary to both of you!
It is wonderful, Shanghai. Thank you.
Looks like you found a great getaway. I enjoyed your photos. It’s been several years since we were last in DC, so you’ve just encouraged me to talk to hubby about taking a little trip there again sometime in the near future (post weddings). There are so many places I’d like to go back to see again – maybe we better plan an extended visit! We have friends from our Army days who live in the DC area and we’ve been wanting to visit them for ages. Thanks for the good idea!
There is so much to do there, Mama, and it’s nice that you can visit old friends.
Happy Anniversary! What a great vacation! I’ve been to Washington D.C. three times in my life and I always leave wanting to go back and see much more. Maybe I should move there!
How far away from the Capital are you, Leah? We took the kids there back in 1982, but they were so young then. It’s a great place to take kids or grandkids because so many things are free.
I haven’t been sightseeing in DC since second grade. I think it’s about time to go back. 🙂 There are so many things I’d like to see. Glad you had a great time.
You’re so close to DC, Patti, you should plan a weekend in late March or early April when the cherry blossoms are blooming.
I would like to see the cherry blossoms. Our daughter went a few years ago.
Maybe this year is your year, Patti. I heard they will be out earlier this year because of the warmer winter.
Wonderful photos and happy anniversary. Maybe I’ll get to DC someday yet.
We got married on July 5th, which turns out to be almost as bad as getting married in February. When we try to do a get a way for our anniversary, we always have to fight the July 4th holiday crowds and festivities. What were we thinking? Anyway, seems to have worked out so far…
And they jack the prices up for the holiday weekend, too, HG. I’m sure it seemed like a good idea at the time…
Happy anniversary from your now-Medicare age brother whose weekend getaways are to your house.
And a great place to get away to, Brother!
Happy Anniversary! Glad you got away for a great trip. Bummer that often your anniversary falls in the midst of cold and snow. One way to fix that is to celebrate twice each year, on the anniversay and the anniversary and a half. LIke 40.5 is in August, right? Have fun.
I like your thinking, Patti. Actually, we are going to celebrate at Cape Cod this summer with all our children and granddaughters. We rented a house.
Glad you guys had such a good time. Love that Museum of Art and the Newseum looks fascinating. Thanks for the pics.
Thanks, Al. Hope you had a great weekend at the Beach.
Happy Anniversary, Susan! I haven’t been DC for many years, National Gallery of Art is a great museum!
Thanks, Amy. We were in Georgetown a year ago to see UConn women play Georgetown, but we didn’t have time to see the city. The last time I was there was 1982.
Happy Anniversary! Love the pics–they make me want to head that way again 🙂
It’s nice for the country girl to visit the city once in awhile, Winsomebella. Sure would be a “fur” piece for you, though.
Isn’t D.C. amazing? I enjoyed the National Gallery and thenewseum, too! The restaurants are incredible, and there’s such a genteel, cosmopolitan scene, I feel ike I’ve been transported to Europe!
Happy Anniversary, CE!
Thanks, Reeling. I think we’ve found our new getaway place. I love cities anyway, and you are so right about the genteel feel of DC. And it’s so clean! There is so much to do there, we could go back many times before we’ll exhaust all the opportunities.
Happy Anniversary! We celebrated our 42nd in December, another cold month that is not great for get-aways. People ask us the same question – why that month? Because both my dad and my new husband could claim me as a tax deduction that year!
Love that you are a tax deduction, Margie! At least that makes sense. And congratulations on 42!
Happy Anniversary!
Thanks, DF!
Wow! is all I have to say. Oh, and “Congratulations.”
Thanks, Adela. We had such a good time celebrating.
The picture of the wall is amazing. You raise a good point about the western side having the freedom to write what they like on the wall with the east being shot if they went anywhere near it. As for getting married in Feb, it was sweet that you just couldn’t wait. You’re right though, it makes celebrating your anniversary a nippy affair. I guess nuptials outside are out of the question.
We actually had a blizzard the day before the wedding, GCB, and some of the out of town guests couldn’t make it. We drove up to Boston after the reception and it started snowing again. It was beautiful, though. We were such kids, 22 and 23.
OMG that is SO romantic.It’s such a gorgeous drive in and around Boston too especially with a light dusting of snow.
It was great, GCB. We can’t wait to go back, maybe in the spring when the cherry blossoms are out. Have you been to DC? Wish I could come to Australia, but we’d have to win the lottery for that!
No. My tour was California then flew to Laguardia and drove through NY, Mass (and the rest of New England) into canada at niagra then back again to NYC. Was staying in Larchmont just outside manhatten. then off to the UK. I missed the week where the leaves turn and fall by about 5 days. There was a cold snap.
It is so hard to time it right. It’s different every year. You just have to be lucky. The leaves were not nearly as nice this year as they were last year. The weather had been too wet and warm.
Congrats on 40 years! How wonderful! The Newseum sounds awesome! Glad you enjoyed your trip.
Thanks, Healing, for the congrats and taking the time to comment.
Fabulous indeed. And dinner reservations? You did things quite nicely just a few hours away. A few hours away for us would be…you guessed it…San Antonio! The National Gallery of Art is my favorite when we go into DC from my brother’s or sister’s.
Georgette, Houston used to be our getaway. We loved the MFA there. We went to Austin quite often, but usually as a day trip.