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It’s been a couple months since we’ve seen any of our family, and this weekend Lindsey’s parents, Rocky and Vicki, drove in to see us. They arrived Friday evening, and we kicked off the weekend with a great dinner at Gordon Biersch.

We caught up with life and family and shared some samples from the in-restaurant brewery.  We followed that up with a trip down the Metro to see the monuments at night.  We saw the Washington Monument (t), World War II Memorial, Lincoln Memorial (t), Vietnam War Memorial and the White House.  Seeing the monuments at night is spectacular because the lighting changes the look and mood of the memorials.

Saturday, we had a little trouble getting some breakfast.  First Watch–which is located in our town square–was closed because of a water leak.  So, we took the Metro to Farragut North stop to eat at City Place Cafe, which is a buy-by-the-pound cafe.  But we didn’t know it was only open weekdays.  By then, we were craving lunch, so we ate at Chipotle near Dupont Circle.  We looked around at some shops before taking the Metro to Arlington National Cemetery to catch the Tourmobile.  The Tourmobile is a 2-hour tour that hits 21 different stopping points throughout the DC area. It starts with three stops in Arlington National Cemetery, then carries over the river and into DC.  While at Arlington National Cemetery, we saw John F. Kennedy’s grave site, Arlington House (home of Robert E. Lee), and the Tomb of the Unknowns. We got there just in time to see the changing of the guard, which is an incredible act of discipline, perfection and patriotism.

From there, we hopped on another tour bus and went all over DC, seeing many interesting monuments and museums from the street.  Map here.  We didn’t get off the tour bus because we liked our tour guide so much (t).  After the tour, we hopped onto the Arlington Cemetery Metro stop and went one stop south to the Pentagon to see the brand new Pentagon Memorial.  This memorial was dedicated just a few days ago on September 11th to the 184 victims who’s lives abruptly ended when a plane crashed into the side of the Pentagon in 2001 in an act of terrorism.  To honor the 184 victims, 184 illuminated benches have been arranged according to the victim’s ages, from 3 to 71, in a landscaped plot. Each bench is engraved with the name of a victim. It was packed with visitors, and some memorabilia laid by the families was still on a few of the benches, including some Caramello hard candies.

After the memorial, Rocky wanted to see the TV station, so we ate at Armand’s Chicago Pizzeria across from the street from work, then walked over for a quick tour.  We wore them out with all the Metro riding and walking today. They had a good night’s rest.

On Sunday, we met them at their hotel at the Marriott SpringHill Suites in Gaithersburg and sneaked in for a nice hot (free) breakfast.  It was packed with kids and families.  Today we didn’t take the Metro at all and drove downtown.  I drove them past Embassy Row on Massachusetts Ave, then we parked near the Spy Museum.  Vicki went to the National Portrait Gallery while the rest of us visited the Spy Museum.  Rocky really wanted to see the dog poop with a recording device in it.  After that, we visited Madam Toussauds Wax Museum where we had our pics taken with the wax of such figures as Morgan Freeman, George Washington, Abe Lincoln, Julia Roberts, Tom Cruise and Bill Clinton.  We met early in the evening for appetizers at a Mexican restaurant.

I went to work Monday, but they had another day with Lindsey and spent time at Walter Reed Army Medical Center where they visited their cousin who recently returned from Iraq after a war injury having lost his leg and suffered injuries from shrapnel.  Lindsey shot video and interviewed him in his room, talking about his experience. Later that night, we had dinner at Outback Steakhouse before they went back to their hotel and left the next morning.