Greetings blogosphere! We spent six full days in Washington, D.C. in May and I’m creating a post for each day. If you missed the first two, you can find the first one here and the second one here.
Today’s adventure started with a late breakfast/early brunch at Founding Farmers. I don’t think I’ve mentioned the mini heat wave that we experienced while in D.C. but this was day two of three days of 90 degrees and above with humidity to match. Because of the heat we took a taxi to breakfast. Food and service were great and those hash browns were the best I’ve ever had!
We had passes to tour the White House and needed to be there at 11:15 so I timed breakfast for 9:00. I figured that we’d finish eating well before 11:15 and Old Ebbitt’s Grill is about a half a block from where we were to enter the White House grounds for our tour. So we walked from breakfast, hung out at the bar and conversed with the very nice bar tender until it was time for our tour. Did I mention the great service already? Considering all the restaurants that we visited, Old Ebbitt’s really does it right. Hubby noticed a hand-written letter in a frame hanging near where we were sitting. It’s from Buffalo Bill Cody in 1886 and written on Old Ebbitt stationery. Very cool! I mentioned in an earlier post that some of Teddy Roosevelt’s hunting trophies are hung in the bar so you’ll get to see a close-up of one of those in the photos that follow. Also included in this gallery is a photo of a piece of the huge Black Lives Matter painted on 16th Street behind the White House. The two blocks where this resides was renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza in June 2020. It’s impossible to capture the entire thing from the ground. That could be something to look into for our next trip to D.C.: how to see the entire street from above. Also on our walk to Old Ebbitt’s was a placard about how Dolley Madison saved George Washington’s portrait when the British attacked Washington, D.C. in 1814. You’ll see that portrait in the White House gallery below.
Finally it was time to line up for the White House! You’re not allowed to bring much into the White House. When you sign up for the tour you’re sent a list of items that you can’t bring, namely any type of bag. So I had to figure out something to wear that could contain my phone, my ID and our printed passes. You could use an electronic copy that can be looked at or scanned from your phone but in the event that my phone would not work, I like to be prepared with hard copies.
I had been to the White House once before in 1994. I only remember the year because Nixon had just died and about the only thing I remember from that tour was his portrait with a black cloth draped across the top. I did not find his portrait this time. I’m pretty sure portraits get moved around because this time Bill Clinton’s portrait is prominently displayed and of course I did not see that one last time. It was so cool being in the White House! There were several employees in many of the rooms to tell us about those rooms and we both really enjoyed it. If you’d like to tour the White House, go to your congress person’s website to request passes. My congresswoman’s site had a specific menu item to request tours. I believe you can request these up to 90 days in advance but your congress person’s website will tell you the time frame. We were lucky that this tour opened back up in April after being closed to the public due to first the pandemic and then the insurrection on January 6, 2021. I read about tours reopening in March and requested this tour as well as the Capitol building.
We had 2:30 reservations at Jaleo, a José Andrés Spanish restaurant. We were meeting the boss I had when I lived here in the late 80s and her husband for a perfectly timed Spanish meal. This was the first of three of his restaurants that we visited. The food was great but service was a tad lacking. We got food we didn’t order, and one item we did order never came and it took a while to get our check. But we enjoyed our meal and I would go there again just because it’s a Spanish restaurant.
We all walked to the metro together as we were all taking the red line. Then we said our goodbyes at Metro Center. Our friends live in Maryland and had parked at the Shady Grove station, the end of the red line. While we waited for our next train hubby found some music to entertain himself. There was a man playing a guitar and singing “My Girl” so John joined in.
And oh, did I mention the heat? When we discussed where and when to eat my friends requested that we eat mid-afternoon. It worked out very well considering how hot it was that day. It was so nice to dine in air conditioned comfort and avoid the heat. We went back to our hotel and enjoyed the outdoor pool which I didn’t photograph so you will have to imagine us splashing in the refreshing pool.
Do come back for day 4. It will be extremely photo heavy as we toured monuments in the morning and I met other friends at the National Gallery of Art in the afternoon. It’s one of my all time favorite art museums so I hope you’ll come back to see some of the treasures in that museum.
travels with toby 