disclaimer: this is one of those eternal photo-laden travel posts mainly for the purpose of self-documentation. so in other words, it’s long. 😉

if you read through it all, thanks {mom}.

cc and i in the very center of DC, in the middle of the captital.

last week we took ourselves to the east cost to see my 37-year-old brother finally tie the knot.

it was epic. and i have now decided that we need to be taking trips like these every few years. all my siblings, their awesome wives, and no kids.

Washington DC was just as great as i left it 6 years ago, though nearly everything is under construction. it was fun to take the mister to see all the places i used to live by and visit, and get a little american history while we were at it.

we also just made some pretty epic memories…

basically, this just reaffirmed how much i love black people. especially those that live in DC. there is some kind of hometown charm about the community that i’ve always loved.

after a night of comical food-searching and only reading one or two of the many reviews of this place, we called ahead to see if they could “seat 7” at 8pm… only to find this place to be a very dirty, probably graded C-level, cafe style soul food joint. the man called us family, had us come and sit to watch him make us food and literally force fed us to try everything in the place (that he eventually charged us for…)

THIS is why we vacation folks. epic tales that still make me giggle…

it was also pretty freakin cold. it snowed the first day and was perfect and sunny only on saturday, which was the wedding day, so that worked out. otherwise, rain and cold for these westerners…

this is one of my favorite exhibits in DC. i love to see the huge 30×34 flag that inspired the national anthem. it gives me chills just thinking about it.

i love how sacred and religious this country is at the heart of it all…

and mt vernon is a favorite place to go in DC for sure. worth the hour drive out of the city to see Washington’s stompin grounds. lots to see, and when you’re done, you can’t help but revere that old guy 10 times more than when you came.

he truly was a great.

we stopped by arlington cemetary, which i literally lived next door to when i lived there, and i walked my family up the hill to see the tomb of the unknown soldier since none of them had seen it. if you go, do that for sure. there is a reverence there that is just so so neat to witness.

one of the days we met up with an old friend and walked the mall. he has lived in Korea for a collective total of about 5 years and works as an analyst for the CIA. he is one of those smart political geniuses that will probably come back to AZ and be governor some day… he was our tour guide and taught us lots of interesting things as we went through the Lincoln, the Korean War, MLK, Roosevelt, and Jefferson memorials…

i hadn’t seen the MLK memorial since it’s only been up a few years, but i loved reading his quotes and the cool “cut out of the mountain” motif is pretty cool.

my brother snapped this amazing shot on his phone…

my favorite museum might be the newseum. if you ever make it out there, plan a day to spend at this incredible place. so much history in there but told in such a fun way. the 911 exhibit in there is still one of my favorites. stories told by the camera crews and anchors there that day and a wall of all of the september 12, 2001 newspapers from all over the world. it’s pretty incredible and was just as much so the 2nd time for me…

a section of the Berlin wall, in the newseum.

and this is the view from the top…

the capital is under construction too…

thanks for keepin it classy, DC.

next time, lets heat it up a notch and bring out the blossoms for me, mmkay?