D.C. for the weekend

5.5 hour drive each way.

72 hours with my friends.

What a weekend.

On Friday, my friend and I toured downtown D.C, had a leisurely lunch at Zatinya and then toured the Newseum for a few hours, stopping in the Pulitzer Prize room, 9/11 room and the Presidents room, before heading back to meet the bigger group.

hello from DC!

refreshing cucumber vodka drinks

9/11 room

recognize these suits from SNL?

We met an ever larger group for a late dinner at Lyon Hall where we sipped on wine, snacked on mussels, beet salads, amazing burgers and pommes frites.

We headed over to Whitlow's on Wilson for a little rooftop patio action to wait for the rest of the girls to arrive who were driving in from Charlotte.

We finally made it.

On Saturday, a few us were up to spin and go for a quick 40 minute run in prep for that looming half marathon and then we were on our way to the DC 101 Chili Cook Off to drink endless bud lights, eat fried food, people watch and listen to our boyfriend - Brandon Boyd of Incubus sing to us.

group shot preshow

someone had a little too much fun

i heart incubus

Post show, we tried to catch a cab, which quickly turned into us walking for almost an hour through a not-so-great part of DC then into Capitol Hill area. Picture it - four very loud girls walking through a serene neighborhood looking for a cab after drinking in the heat for four hours because we couldn't get through with our apps and phone calls to a cab company.

We were laughing hysterically, running out of breath and kindly serenading the neighborhood with our version of the Petey Pablo song, "Northhhh Carolina,...come on and raise up, take your shirt off, spin it around your like a helicopter" because we were walking on that dreaded street for what felt like a lifetime.

and we walked

and there is Gretchen with the John. quite literally.

After the longest and most hilarious walk known to man, we were showered and ready to head out for our final dinner at Zengo to sip on pomegranate and kumquat caipirinhas and eat a few tuna sushi rolls and then out with an even bigger group to a few clubs in the area.

sparklers rule

what a great group

So, there you  have it - a weekend with my friends. Don't you feel like you were there?!?