November Rewind: Part 2: Besties in DC!

Honestly, getting to do a post about this is what finally made me come back to the blog!

One of my dearest, bestest friends and her husband (who is also one of our other dearest, bestest friends) came to visit us two weekends ago! We had this trip planned before CJ and I even moved to Virginia.  It was the only way we could cope with saying goodbye...

Since we scheduled the trip so far in advance, we didn't know what CJ would have going on that weekend.  Turns out they came on the heels of Rifle Range weeks, him spending 2 nights in the freezing cold, and a 6-mile ruck march (I know 6 miles doesn't sound like a lot, but soon I'll do a post explaining what a ruck march is). I was worried about him enduring a full, windy day of DC exploration, but alas I underestimated his strength and how much he loves our friends. He was completely good to go, and it was me complaining about my feet hurting by the end of the night.

Here are some highlights of our day!

~Picked them up at their hotel with lots of squealing and hugs

~brunch at a hipster place in Georgetown

walked around national mall

~spent FOUR HOURS in the National Air and Space Museum 

walked down the reflection pool

quite a hike to the Lincoln Memorial

 made it to honest Abe

super fun "birthday dinner"

....and that was just Saturday!!

We spent Sunday in Stafford, showing them glimpses of our new life here. We went to our church, drove around and showed off the base, had some girl/guy time, and hung out at our apartment! Sunday was definitely the most surreal part of the weekend. Were our best friends from TEXAS really seeing our new life and home in VIRGINIA?! Yes, they were...and we loved it!!!

Monday CJ had to go back to work, but I got to have one more day with our friends! I impressed myself by train-ing to DC, then two metros to meet up with them. Let me be honest though, the second I got to the Metro Station, a man working there could tell I was completely lost, and gave me step by step directions :)...but I still did it!

We spent the majority of Monday in the NEWSeum.  Definitely, my favorite museum I've ever been to.  It has THOUSANDS of in depth stories. If you know me well, you know I am an information absorber, so I was completely enthralled.  With it being the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination, there were two special exhibits devoted to Camelot and events surrounding the assassination and aftermath.  I learned more about that tragedy at the Newseum than I ever thought about learning in Dallas.

We also spent some time touring Ford's Theatre, learning about Lincoln's presidency and that assassination. It is an undeniable reality that the vast majority of stories and history we learned about that day revolved around man's wickedness...

Evening came and our time together had to come to an end.  We didn't get a long, drawn out good bye because we were afraid I was about to miss my train back to Stafford.  That was probably for the best because we weren't able to get all sad and emotional.

Later that night though, CJ and I both felt our first batch of homesickness.  It is easy to get plugged into our new life here, and put everything and everyone in Texas in the back of our minds.  Spending time with them was a tad bittersweet because we were reminded of all the people we love and all the time we aren't able to spend with them (I say them, but I really mean y'all who are reading this!)

It was a GREAT thing Thanksgiving was just a few days later because we were overwhelmed with love and joy and thankfulness. That will be my next post and the last November Rewind!