Arlington with Rebekah

 The day after we returned from Island Park for our Labor Day weekend jaunt, Seth, Rebekah and I got up early and had Ana drop us off at the airport for a work trip. The software Seth has written while working in the cybersecurity department of the Idaho National Lab had its first dedicated conference in Arlington, Virginia, and Rebekah and I took the opportunity to travel with him to see him in action and to do some sightseeing.

Tuesday, September 3

A full day of travel. Rebekah and I flew from I.F. to Dallas, then from Dallas to Dulles. Seth flew from I.F. to Denver, Denver to Dulles. We ended up arriving at our destination within 20 minutes of each other, gathered our luggage, then tried and tried to get a Lyft only to have the app decide it didn't want to supply us with a driver. We ended up getting a ride from an Uber driver who showed up for another family that wasn't ready to go yet. It all worked out, and he got us to our hotel in Arlington. 

We went to dinner at a really good burger place, Seth and I walked to Target to pick up some breakfast and picnic items, then we settled down for the night.

Rebekah with her head covered during our first flight.

Rebekah at the burger joint where we ate dinner. She disapproved of their slogan.

Wednesday, September 4

Seth somehow slept in later than he wanted to, so his morning was abrupt. But he made it over to the conference in time. (It was a short walk from our hotel to the building where it took place.) Rebekah and I followed a little bit later. We had to go through security and relinquish our drivers' licenses to get in. Rebekah picked up stickers that had logos for some of the things Seth has worked on. She and I listened to a joint presentation that included Seth talking about what's in store for his program in the near future. Much of the jargon went right over our heads, but it was cool to see him in his element.

Seth during his presentation.

Then Seth directed us out of the building so he could continue attending other presentations while Rebekah and I bought subway passes and made our way to the National Zoo. She and I spent the rest of the day there getting plenty of steps in and seeing all the exhibits. We had packed ourselves bagel sandwiches for lunch and enjoyed them in the perfect weather with nominal crowds. In fact, that basically sums up the touristy aspects of the trip: beautiful weather and plenty of space everywhere we went. It was perfect.

Rebekah in the subway. She was sufficiently impressed by public transportation. We transferred from the subway to a bus at one point, and I later pointed out that the bus smelled like pot. Rebekah was astounded and told me to let her know the next time I smelled pot because she wanted to know what it smells like.

Rebekah posing at the zoo.

Looking at the Amazon exhibit.

With the birds.

And the sea lions.

In the giant aviary.

This bird just chilled on the railing while we walked by.

With the kamado dragon. Rebekah remembered seeing this one when we came to D.C. in 2013, but it had really worried her then.

Holding hands.

After the zoo, we rode the subway back to our hotel, then we met up with some of Seth's coworkers for dinner at a taco place before retiring for the night.

The weird looking rooster at the taco joint.

Thursday, September 5

Seth had another day of the conference, so we bid him adieu in the morning and rode the subway in to D.C. and then made good use of the bikeshare to see all the monuments and memorials. We spent the afternoon at the Holocaust Museum as per Rebekah's request.

White House.

Washington Monument. I tried getting us tickets to ride the elevator to the top, but it's so hard to get them. You have to be logged in to the website 10 minutes before, then refresh it at exactly 10 the day before you hope to get the tickets. Anyway, I tried both Wednesday and Thursday to get us tickets, but it didn't work out.

The bracelet I didn't want but ended up getting hustled to buy from a guy who looked like a monk. 

FDR monument.

Rebekah with Murray the Outlaw of Falahill, FDR's dog that commonly went by "Fala."

Idaho at the WWII monument.

WWII monument fountains.

Lincoln Memorial. We're so funny with our T-shirts.

Korean War.

Vietnam War. A volunteer working there thanked us for walking our bikes past the monument. Rebekah said something like, "Of course we'd walk them." The guy said there are others who just zip right past. Neither he nor us thought that was very respectful.

The Capital.

Eating sushi at the USDA Food Hall. It's a government building, but the cafeteria is open to the public. We learned that thanks to Google the night before and decided to try it out. 

Holocaust Museum. Rebekah took the time to read every single sign and watch every single video until it looped back to where she had started.

Then we rode the subway back to Arlington and met up with Seth for dinner. We went Nando's Peri Peri Chicken for dinner, then stopped at the Shake Shack for a peach shake.

Seth trying to get Google to figure out a song by singing the tune into his phone. Rebekah was skeptical, but it worked.

Friday, September 6

With the Malcolm conference over, Seth got to play tourists with us for the day. We got him a subway card (despite going to Arlington several times for work, he had never ridden the subway and hadn't been on it since we were in D.C. in 2007) and went back into D.C. to see some sights.

Seth getting Rebekah to pose like this picture of The Rock since she was wearing a black shirt and black fanny pack.

At the Enid Haupt Gardens outside the Smithsonian Castle.

The moon gate in the gardens.

At the Museum of Natural History.

In the origin of man exhibit.

Seth seeing what he'd look like as an early human.

Rebekah balancing paper clips on a magnetic rock.

Seth riding a bike from our lunch spot to the Botanic Gardens. Seth had found a promising Korean place on Google, but it was a little tricky to find. We ended up inside a very fancy building and had to ask for directions. The security guard there kindly directed us back out of the building and just past the door we had come in to the next door.

Seth, Andrea and Rebekah with the Capitol in the background.

Rebekah with a baby pineapple at the gardens.

Seth in the most humid part of the gardens.

Seth and Andrea at the gardens.

That night we walked to a food court for dinner. Rebekah chose pizza. Seth and I chose Indian food. 

Enjoying our dinner at the food court. We bought an enormous cookie to take back to the hotel and eat later when we were watching our movie.

While on this trip we watched three movies together: Clear and Present Danger, Minority Report and Host. The first two take place in D.C., so it was fun to see some of the places we had been. The last movie was a scary one, so I mostly read on my phone to distance myself from the horror. 

Saturday, September 7

This was another full day of travel. We ate breakfast at IHOP because Rebekah had never been to one before and there was one right across the street from our hotel. We watched our last movie that morning because we didn't need to be to the airport until later in the day. Then we packed up, got a Lyft to the airport, and got on our plane. We were all on the same flights going back home, but Seth didn't sit with us because his flight had been booked through work. We made it home in time to go to our ward dinner that evening and enjoy some baked potatoes.