I had an absolutely great time today in Washington DC. We went back to the National Mall to soak in more of the touristy landmarks.

The Museum of Natural History was one of my favorite museums. I just love nature, and to top it off, they had the “Orchids through Darwin’s Eyes” exhibit this month. Orchids are my favorite flowers! There’s also a huge fail whale floating on top of the ceiling inside. ;) Oh look, they even have a twitter account @NMNH!

By 5:30pm, we kept walking around the National Mall taking photos of the cherry blossoms and gardens. We had a wonderful dinner at Teaism. Yummy teas and delicious foods. It was one of the places Rachel Ray stopped at. ;)

We walked on over to the Union Station to stay warm and do some shopping. I managed to buy Washington DC cherry blossom scrapbook paper.. heh

Our last stop of the night was the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. We took a ton of photos and called it a night. Tonight is our last night out here in DC. We’ll be on a road trip to NYC tomorrow. Follow my tweets to see what city I end up being in next. :)

Photo taken by Albert

We took a stroll around the resort in the morning and found a nice Mexican for lunch. Their specialty was fresh guacamole created right in front of you. It was the best guacamole I’ve ever tasted!

After lunch, we drove back to National Mall to explore a little bit more. Seeing the first airplane, made by the Wright Brothers, at the Air and Space Museum made was pretty amazing! We also saw some of the first spacecrafts that went into space as well.

We also explored the National Museum of American History. I was really looking for Dorothy’s red slippers.. and finally found them just before the museum closed! I also found Kermit and Oscar the grouch too. ;)

All of our feet were sore by now. We rested a bit and then went to see the capitol building. It was such a gorgeous sight. The cherry blossoms were blooming a bit early.. so we got some great photos of that!

For dinner, we headed to Georgetown and went to Moby Dick’s House of Kabob. It was packed yesterday, so we were happy that we got the chance to eat it today. Their rice is so fluffy!

Photo taken by Albert

My friends and I spent the day driving around the neighboring states — it’s not hard to do since the states here are so small. :) We were in Maryland, Virginia, and the DC.

I really enjoyed walking about the Washington DC mall and taking a ton of photos.. of course. It’s such an amazing area.

We drove to Georgetown for dinner. And ended up having yummy tapas at Bodega.

After dinner, we went to see the Lincoln Memorial. It was simply breathtaking. Being there just made me forget all the bad things in the world and just think and wonder in astonishment. It was amazing to know that an monument like this was built by humans… to honor an amazing human. I just stood there for a while looking up and down, and reading the Gettysburg Address.

We’re just taking it easy on our first full day out here on the East coast. i look forward to checking out some of the museums tomorrow.

I couldn’t believe how smoothly this morning was. There was no traffic to LAX at all’ And LAX was so empty, I didn’t even recognize it. I checked into Virgin America in under 10 minutes, and there was no line at the security checkpoint.

My flight was fabulous! I did get in about 2 hours of sleep, 2 episodes of Tekzilla, and listened to 2 talks from TED. I need to listen to the rest of the TED talks… We definitely had a group of very amazing speakers this year!

My plane landed in Washington DC at 7pm EST. Thanks to Daylight Savings Time, it was still pretty bright outside. My college friends arrived around 8pm and we picked up the rental car and then had a nice dinner together in Virginia. It’s just so weird to me how crossing state borders here is within a few minutes… and not hours! After all, I am from California. ;)

The trip so far has been quite joyous and relaxing. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s adventures. What are your favorite places to go to in Washington DC? What about restaurant suggestions?