Washington DC

It has been so long since I've written...let's see if I still remember how to do this!

Feb 17-21 I was in Washington DC for the National Association of School Psychologist annual convention.  I had a blast with some girls from my program!  I went to sessions about new IQ tests that are coming out, ways to present interventions to teachers, appropriate progress monitoring, etc.  All sorts of nerdy school psych stuff, and I loved every minute of it.  It is refreshing each year to hear about the new stuff in the field.  It gets me all sorts of excited to graduate and practice in a school!

We also had some fun on the trip!  I had been to DC over memorial day weekend my 8th grade year, but it was jam-packed and rushed, so I was excited to see the sites again, through "grown-up eyes," if you will.

The Holocaust Museum was amazing.  It is emotionally exhausting to be there, though.  I was angry reading about the history, but I am glad we went to see it -- definitely eye-opening.

We walked from a metro stop that some random lady told us was "right next to the Lincoln Monument" to the National Mall.  Turns out, it was not "right next" to it...at all, but on the way we walked past the White House and then the Washington Monument.  We finished at the Lincoln Monument, which was amazing.  All of the monuments are, but the fact that you can get right up next to Lincoln is so freaking cool.  After, I asked the nice guard to point us on the direction of the nearest metro stop..."oh, about a mile that way, up the hill."  GREAT.  We probably walked nearly 5 miles that afternoon, but it was FABULOUS.  The weather was great, and the city is so beautiful.  I loved being out and experiencing it.

White House!

Washington Monument!

A couple nights later we went on this midnight monuments tour, and I would highly recommend it!  We had an incredibly entertaining and knowledgeable tour guide that stopped at the Capital Building, the MLK and FDR monuments, the Iwo Jima Memorial, and the Lincoln/Vietnam/Korea Memorials.  It was not only beautiful to see the city by night, but I loved hearing the history behind some of the monuments!

Lincoln Memorial!

We also went to the Natural History Museum and walked around the dinosaur fossils.  My dreams were shattered when I realized they were only casts of fossils...I guess it makes sense, but I just assumed they were real!  It was still really cool, though!

The National Zoo was also on our list of things to hit up.  We went looking for the baby panda Bao Bao, but she was sleeping off her partying from the night before, so we were only able to see her on a screen.  It was still cool!  Did you know that all pandas belong to China?  If they are at any other zoo, they are on loan.  Including the baby born here.  She will go back to China when she is 4.  So crazy to me!

Almost everything we did was free.  If you have a family, I highly recommend this as a vacation spot.  There was so much to do, so many cool things to see, and so much history to learn!  I can barely wait to go back!

Selfie with a t-rex...b/c how can I not?