Resident Tourists

From A:

Now that we've had our vehicle safety inspection, emissions test, and have mounted two Virginia license plates on each car, we consider ourselves official residents.  So yesterday we took our first trip into DC as residents.  It's a strange feeling to emerge from the Metro station and have the Washington Monument right in front of you:

Since the Smithsonian National Museum of American History was closed when we visited DC back in 2007, we spent some time checking out the exhibits.  And they didn't disappoint!  Here are two of my highlights (J's highlights differ, I'm sure):

Julia Child's Kitchen:

Kermit the Frog and characters from Sam and Friends:

After the museum, we stopped by the White House on our way to meet one of J's friends for dinner:

Not surprisingly, there were several protests going on.  The protest topics of the day were:

1. Zero Tolerance for Torture
2. Stopping Wars
3. Not all Iranians are Terrorists

Dinner at the Old Ebbitt Grill was delicious!

It has quite a history, including:

"The F Street location was just two doors away from the Rhodes Tavern, which occupied the northeast corner of F and 15th Streets. Having a considerable history of its own, its bar was reportedly the site where British generals toasted one another as they watched The White House burn during the War of 1812."