Spring Break!

I love spring break.  I havent had one in 5 years! I forgot how great it is to have a whole week off in the middle of the semester to just recharge.

I took the week to visit some friends I haven't seen in a long long time! First stop... Washington DC to see my old roommate Danae! I haven't seen her since we graduated together in July, our weekend together was way overdue! I left Philadelphia on Friday afternoon hoping I would miss most of the rush hour traffic, no such luck there but I made it in good time.  The most amazing part of the drive down was seeing the temple! As you approach DC the temple spires rise out of the trees and as you get closer the only thing on the horrizon is trees and the temple above them.

The picture doesn't do it justice at all, it really is breathtaking. Finally I made it to Danae's house after only a small got-lost detour.  Saturday morning my branch from Philadelphia came down to go to the temple so Danae and I got to go with them.  It was the perfect way to start spring break!

Then we spent the rest of the day at the National Mall.  We went to the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and then we just walked around the Mall and saw all the monuments.

 In front of the Washington Monument

World War II Memorial

Talking to Holly!

 This is where Martin Luther King Jr stood to give his "I Have a Dream" speech.  

Danae and I both agree that the White House looks much smaller in person than it does in the movies. Still cool though!

Then we went to an Indian restaurant for dinner.  I have never had Indian food before and I loved it! I had a great weekend with Danae and hopefully I will get to see her again soon.  Then I drove to North Carolina to see Emilee.  It was so great to see her!! I have missed her so much. I stayed with her family and that was great. I love her family! I finally got to meet Emilee's younger sister Kylie.  I've heard so much about her over the past two years that I have been friends and roommates with Emilee and Caitlyn, I felt like we were already friends! And now we are :)

One day we went to Duke to see one of the original 5,000 copies of The Book of Mormon that they have in their library. It was printed in 1830 and this one is in really good shape for being 180 years old! It really is an amazing book.

While we were wandering around Duke campus we saw a whole bunch of tour groups.  This is the group we were going to secretly join. And then we were going to lead it.

Duke Chapel is beautiful and I love these flowering trees! They were everywhere in Emilee's neighborhood.  There were also purple ones that I loved.

Spirit finger gloves! How cool is that?

Duke Chapel

The weather was so nice the whole week.  We packed a picnic and went to a really pretty park to eat and read

One day we went to this great ice cream place out in the country. All three of us got Carolina Crunch ice cream, delicious!

What a perfect week! The last stop on my spring break travels was Richmond, Virgina to see Brigitte and Jared! I only got to stay with them over night but it was still so nice to see a friend from Rupert! We went to dinner at a great Bar-B-Que place which was so delicious.  I had to leave early Sunday morning but I'm sure we will get to hang out again soon!

The End.