After the awesome veterans memorial, we finally got to see... THE WHITE HOUSE! It's so crazy to see something in real life that you feel like you've seen a million times. It was beautiful. The lawns were being maintained when we got there and you could really see how much work gets put into keeping it nice. Loved it.
Our next destination was our choice between the American History museum or Natural History museum. We couldn't really decide because I really wanted to see the Hope Diamond but I knew there would be much more recognizable stuff at the American History museum. We chose there.
Turned out to be a great choice! We saw the original C3P0 from Star Wars, the original Kermit the frog that Jim Henson made with his grandmother's jacket and ping pong balls, Archie Bunker's chair, Fonzi's jacket from Happy Days, and my absolute favorite... DOROTHY'S RED SLIPPERS! I have to admit, I HATE The Wizard of Oz. It's awful. But Judy Garland? LOVE HER. Just knowing she was in those shoes gave me chills. So, so worth it.
Finally, we were off to the Ford's Theater where Lincoln was shot. The tour was admittedly very boring. It was just a guy talking about everything and although the facts were interesting, he had one of those voices that just put you in a coma. But it was very surreal to be in the theater where it happened.
Oh, and side note situation: The only kids on the tour belonged to this one woman who never, ever put her new baby down the entire time. I had no idea how she did it. Her kids were well-behaved at first but as the day progressed, they were obviously due for some fussing towards the end. In the middle of the host's speech about Lincoln's assassination, her baby just started screaming at random intervals.
Now, I don't have children, but I do know the mortification you must feel when your kid acts up in public. If anything, it's that mortification that makes non-moms like me become more understanding instead of frustrated that their meal/movie/Lincoln assassination story got interrupted. This mom? Not so much. She was in the row in front of me and every time her baby squealed and interrupted the host, she made eye contact with me and gave me one of those "isn't he adorable? give me reassurance he's adorable!" grins. Um... no way, lady. You know who is adorable? Me and my husband celebrating our one year anniversary together. Your baby asleep is the only way he's going to be adorable to me. So instead of my normal understanding smile I allot to women who give me an apologetic look when their baby acts up in public, I give her a "Uh.. hell naw" smirk. I felt a little bit bad, but seriously? I'm 25 years old and I was semi-bored and tired by the end of the day, how could you not believe your 4 month old, 2 year old, and 5 year old would not feel the same if not more so?
Well, more reason for me to get excited about the tour ending and the frosty cold beer that had been waiting for me since I started the day. We had decided on this authentic looking Irish pub that caught our eye that morning and I wish I would have remembered to take pictures of it and our food and stuff but I had a one track mind and it was completely focused on the beer menu. I got some amber ale (well I got lots of amber ales) and fish and chips and Chris drank Guinness and had a beer battered burger with potato cakes... delicious! We sat outside and the weather was so beautiful. Nothing, I mean NOTHING, makes me happier than a beer and an outdoor patio bar. It was a perfect ending to our day.
The next day we packed up and headed home. Again, the ride was great and our GPS took us a different way home. We ended up driving through a different part of Virginia and ended up in the historic Madison county from the book "Bridges of Madison County". Oh. My. God. I wanted to cry it was so gorgeous. There must be a law that says you can't build shopping malls or anything modern because for the 20 minutes we were there, it was as if we had stepped into a rustic and rural dream. Chris and I could not get our jaws up. We immediately started talking about how when we retire, this is where it will be. No beaches, no cities... just this pastoral paradise.
...and it's the moments like that when you really look over at your partner and bask in the glow of your own "in love" happiness. It wasn't the destination that made our anniversary special. It was the sharing of experiences we had. It's the reassurance of how much you actually like each other's company even though you've grown to know everything there is to know about each other. It was the idea that you came up with that he feels the exact same way about that shows you that you found your real partner in life.
Here's to many more years of all of those moments and many more...
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