DC Spring Break 2010

Alright, prepare for a long post. Here is my official journal post for my entire trip last week. Good luck getting through it all.

Wednesday, March 17:

Our flight left the SLC airport at about 7:00 am. The students were all told to be there by 6:00 am and my friends Aubrey, Talaina, and Jamie offered to drive me up there early in the morning. In fact, we just hung out Tuesday night and didn't go to sleep all night. It was a lot of fun and it helped me sleep on the plane.

Over Chicago was amazing. They have pools and lakes all over their land, even in their cities. Some were the size of an entire city block, just sitting there in the middle of the houses and businesses. The airport was large and we had a brief layover before heading on to D.C. which was so crowded that we had to remain airborne for a long time. That part made me kind of sick but I was doing well up until then.

Our hotel this year was on the red line instead of blue, which was annoying because that meant we had to transfer metro cars every time we went somewhere. In addition, the hotel was something like 7 or so blocks, maybe more, from the station whereas last year it was one block away. No wifi either.....hmmmm. In short, was not pleased with the hotel selection. But it was cheap so that's good.

We went out to Johnny Rockets for dinner, some burger joint close to the hotel, then explored the area a little. We were all pretty tired so we turned in at about 11. My roommate and I ended up staying awake till about 1:30 talking.

Thursday, March 18:

It was not terribly difficult to get up and be ready by 9 so we could go to the holocaust museum. Once there everything became extremely familiar and I fell right in where I was last year. We did not have long in the archives before everyone decided to go and see the permanent exhibit. That took about three hours or so and we went out for lunch afterward.

We did see a small rally that day (or maybe it was the next day, I forget) of people supporting the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy for homosexuals in the military.

It's odd, but I don't remember what we did for dinner that night.....

We did listen to the speech of a soviet army expert who talked about anti-semitism in the soviet army. It was an interesting speech and I feel bad because I was very tired and was having trouble staying awake. There was a dessert reception afterward.

After getting back to the hotel one of the girls wanted to organize a party thing but it appeared to fall through so we went to bed. A half-hour later brings a banging at our door and there she is with a small group of people. We talked and listened to music for a little while then went to sleep.

Friday, March 19:

I probably spent more time in the archives this day than I did any of the other days. I also got a chance to see some of the other, smaller exhibits in the holocaust museum.

Today was our memorials day. We started at the Washington Monument. Obama's car actually drove past right as we crossed the street but I didn't see him or anything.

Brooke and I made the long trek over to the Jefferson Memorial which I hadn't seen last year because of its distance from the rest of the memorials. We caught up with the rest of the group later. The group separated for dinner. Brooke, Alysse, Kevin, and I went to a pretty expensive restaurant called Ruth's Chris Steakhouse.

The restaurant was amazing. The Caesar salad which made up my first course was huge, and the most delicious salad I have ever had in my life. Next came the potatoes and steak. I had a medium rare 16 0z ribeye. So. Good. The potatoes were also amazing. That was followed up with some raspberry sorbet. I'm still not sure if it was wise spending so much money on one meal but......man was it delicious.

Saturday, March 20:

This morning we went to the National Archives which I also didn't do last year. I got to see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. All of them were extremely faded but you could still read a lot of it.

After that Alysse and I separated from the group and went to Congress where the anti-health care bill rally was taking place. The next morning on the news I saw that 5 people had been arrested. We walked through the rally and heading up behind the Capitol building to the Library of Congress.

AMAZING. That building rocks my socks. I wasn't allowed in the reading room but I did see it and it was breathtaking. This was probably one of my favorite things I saw this year.

We walked about two miles to Union Station where the two of us ate lunch and talked before taking a metro over to the American History Smithsonian for the rest of the day.

For dinner Alysse and I had been planning to go to a Cheesesteak place in Georgetown I had seen last year but it was no longer there so we went with the rest of the group to the pizza place we went to last year. The Quattro Formagia pizza was delicious.

That night we went to Alysse and Brittany's room to play games for a while. (Actually, I lie. I'm pretty sure we did this last night).

Sunday, March 21:

So I was planning on going to church but it turns out it was stake conference for everyone in the region. Lame.

Instead Alysse, Brittany, and I went to Arlington then quickly over to the American History Smithsonian to finish up a few things and eat lunch.

On the way back to the hotel we were stuck in the metro for 45 minutes, which really stressed us out. By the time we got back to the hotel we were forced to take a taxi or be late for our flight....neither were happy options but we opted for the taxi.

Flying back was a beast because both flights were delayed making it past midnight when I got home....I just woke up a few hours ago.

And that was my happy trip. Pictures will be coming to facebook soon but I warn you that I don't have many this year.

The Princess and the Frog

So last night Aubrey Sorensen and I went to see The Princess and the Frog at the dollar theater. I had been told by several people that this is their favorite Disney movie or close to it so I was expecting it to be pretty good. If you wish to quit reading now I'll just give you a quick answer. It was a pretty good Disney movie.

It was funny and cheesy, true to Disney form. I felt as if it were much more romantic than any previous Disney animated film. There was way less focus on the adventure and the villain and more focus on the romance between Tiana and Naveen. This is new. In every other Disney movie I've seen with a romance, the adventure thread was the main part or at least on the same level with the romance thread. In this movie, the romance thread dominated.

I had also heard before going to see this movie that some people thought the villain was too scary. I think Ursula and Malefocent totally own this guy in scariness. Not to mention the evil king in The Black Cauldron (if that is even Disney....?).

All in all, definitely worth a see.

Taylor Swift

Alrighty, so I thought it was high time I did a post about Taylor Swift. When Teardrops on My Guitar came out I liked it instantly. I'm afraid to admit that I didn't listen to much else of her first album and still haven't because the country drives me crazy. Luckily for me, she released Fearless in both a pop version and a country one. It sort of makes me feel like a girl to admit it but she is amazing. I have loved every song I've ever heard from her. I guess being a hopeless romantic that connection seems pretty obvious but I thought I'd throw it out there anyways.

Alice in Wonderland

So I went to see Alice in Wonderland in 3-d last night. I wish it had been in 2-d though because I'm not a big fan of 3-d movies. The plot moved refreshingly fast and I was worried that many of the jokes would be geared towards little kids only but for the most part they weren't. All I can say is Tim Burton is a genius, but we already knew that. It is definitely his style and the randomness of it was perfectly calculated. The music was pretty good too. I would recommend this movie to anyone.

It's Here!

All I can say is woot. The cover art for Way of Kings has finally been released by Tor (actually a few days ago but I am just getting around to posting about it). This is the book I am going to camp out for just in case you wanted to see it. Also, if you think I'm excited now (and you can tell because there is an exclamation mark in the title of this post) then you just wait till they release the Towers of Midnight cover art (book 13 in the Wheel of Time series). The White Tower, the Black Tower, together on one 5 or so by 8 or so inch book covering. It's gonna be crazy.....just crazy.