Sunday, August 15, 2010

Old Town Alexandria

 Washington DC Trip 093

We are back from our trip to Washington DC and we learned a couple of thing while we were there.  

Number 1:  August is NOT the best month to travel to our nation’s capitol.  The heat.  My God the heat!! 

Number 2:  Don’t mess around with back pain.  But more about that later.

The entire time we were there the heat index was over 100 degrees and the air was thick with humidity!  There is a lot of walking to do when you are in DC.  We took the Metro to get ourselves around town and then did some mega amounts of walking which would normally be no problem and actually welcome as a great form of exercise.  BUT not when its over a hundred degrees.  But we are troopers and we made the best of it.  We stayed right on King Street at the Hotel Monaco in Old Town Alexandria and it really was a perfect location.  Right in the middle of everything and easy access to a Trolley that took us to the King Street Metro Station which allowed us to get anywhere we wanted to go. 

Washington DC Trip 025

Old Town Alexandria is historic and  incredibly quaint with it’s brick sidewalks, shops and restaurants.  Our hotel was only a couple of blocks from this marina on the Potomac River in an area call the Torpedo Factory Art Center where artists work and show and sell their pieces of art. You can visit 82 artists' studios, six galleries, two workshops, and the Alexandria Archaeology Museum.  And you can sign up for an art class with The Art League School.

Washington DC Trip 044

Scenic boat tour of the Potomac are available here too.  We toyed with the idea of taking a star lit river boat cruise and the idea of taking the water taxi to see the Washington Nationals play baseball.  The lack of time and the heat factor led us to say No to both these ideas but maybe next time!

Washington DC Trip 041

There are also restaurants here too.  Dine while looking out over the harbor.

Washington DC Trip 051    Washington DC Trip 052

We came across this guy who was playing patriotic songs like God Bless American by swirling his fingers around the top of glasses filled with various amounts of water.  It sounded beautiful. He was amazing. 

Washington DC Trip 024

We strolled up and down the street several times a day having to make the difficult decision of where to eat and shop.  And all this strolling leads me to the second thing we learned on our trip and that was to not mess around with back pain.  My poor husband went to great lengths so that we could take this trip together.  I think he crammed in a little too much yard work the weekend before we left and when you combine that with a 5 hour drive in a car with the world’s most uncomfortable seats and mega amounts of walking…..let’s just say he was incredibly uncomfortable and we cut our trip short.  Immediately went to a Chiropractor when we got home and he is mending but ever so slowly. 

Anyway, like I said we made the best of the short time we were there and I’ll have more to post about it throughout the week.  Tomorrow I should have the photos of our hotel.  It was decorated so nicely.    We are happy to back!

10 comments:

Allyson said...

Welcome home, Lisa! Those pictures are so beautiful and make me feel like I'm flashing back to the 1800's. I just love it when a town retains the charm of yesteryear! There is SO much to do in D.C. and the surrounding areas that I don't think you could live there for 100 years and STILL see and do it all. You just have to pick and choose and try to come back often! I have never seen photos of Alexandria. Thanks for posting! And I look forward to some from the rest of your trip. Old Town Alexandria reminds me so much of walking around Fell's Point in Baltimore! I just love it!! I hope hubs is feeling better. There really is nothing worse than walking for hours on end with back pain. Agh!

Denise said...

Beautiful pictures. I lived in MD for 6 yrs, near Baltimore, you never get used to that humidity!! Loved seeing DC a few times though, I got to see the cherry blossoms in spring, that's a really nice time to go :)
Have a lovely Sunday.

Donna said...

I have friends that live here and we definitely hit the town when we visit. It's a great town!

Melissa Miller said...

Lisa it looks beautiful and just like some place I would want to visit! The heat sounds like something else though. Whew!

Melanie said...

I was so sorry to hear about your hubby:( Back pain is really horrible. Recently I pinched a nerve and it was bad. Had to have hubby take me to the bathroom and that is bad.

I sure hope he is on the mend and takes it easy. I can't wait to see all of your photos. The first set is beautiful. Love that town and the water area.

Anonymous said...

Oooh, so sorry about his back. The last time Hubby and I drove from Virginia up to Maryland his back went out on our last day there. Not fun at all. I drove all the way home so he could recline the passenger seat back and relax his back muscles.

That area of town really looks like a place I would enjoy.

Di

Kim @ Savvy Southern Style said...

Thanks for sharing lovely photos from your very hot trip. It seems to be hot all over this year. Looking forward to fall.

Ti said...

What a great post. I've visited DC before but my family never has. I am bookmarking this post for future reference.

Sorry about the heat though! I can't deal with humidity myself.

Lou Cinda @ Tattered Hydrangeas said...

I am SO over this heat!! We have had heat indexes of 110 for days and days! Bring on Fall!

I am glad you had a good time, but so sorry your husand's back was so painful!! Hope he is feeling better and better!

Welcome home!

Lou Cinda :)

Kristin @ My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia said...

What a fun trip, sorry about your back though! The room looks fabulous!