-DC-

This was Allison's first trip to the nation's capital. We stayed in a historic hotel just blocks away from the White House. In the 36 hours we were there we saw the White House, the Memorials on the National Mall, a bit of the Smithsonian (ALL of the first ladies inaugural dresses, the top hat Lincoln wore when he was killed), Arlington National Cemetery (JFK burial site, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Iwo Jima) and historic landmarks such as Ford's Theatre. We took our first train ride on an overnight Amtrak from Union Station in DC to South Station in Boston. Not recommended for the light sleepers. We were picked up at the station by Rajib and Sean C, had breakfast and then checked into the hotel to finally get some sleep. In Boston we met with our florist (love) and our coordinator at the Exchange Conference Center. We also had some time to visit with some family, fitted for the tuxes and applied for our marriage license. Twenty minutes before our expected landing in Minneapolis our pilot informed us that fire extinguishers went off in the cargo hold and heat sensors were in alarm. We had to make an emergency diversion to the nearest airport which was Eau Claire, Wisconsin aka BFE. I did not handle this situation very well, seeing the ground very far away and knowing something is wrong with the plane you are sitting in is not a good feeling. Luckily I had Mr. Cool in the seat next to me and he was able to keep me fairly calm, only minimal tears. We landed and were met on the runway with fire engines, we then de-boarded the plane and spent the next 4 hours waiting for a new one.

VAMH in front of the White House

Freaking cool!!

WWII memorial

WWII memorial

WWII memorial

WWII memorial

WWII memorial

WWII memorial

Duckies

awwwww!!!!!

Washington Monument

Lincoln Memorial

The view from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln Memorial (obviously...) Freaking huge! I didn't think 'he' would be so big

Korean War Memorial

Korean War Memorial

Korean War Memorial

Some cherry blossoms, we were a week or so late but they were still very pretty

Snowing petals

me too...

Jefferson Memorial

Jefferson Memorial

US Capitol

Ford's Theater were Lincoln was assasinated

Flag that was draped over the Pentagon after 9/11

The first ladies and the future first lady...lol

Vinny going into 'his' office

Dorothy's red slippers!

Original Kermit the Frog

Declaration of Independence

Arlington National Cemetery

Iwo Jima

Nice tarp huh? Owell..what are you going to do? We walked for 10 miles and it was raining, I didnt want to hold an umbrella..

Tulips

Vinny taking some personality tests waiting for the train...

Woh..scary Allison....this was the beginning of the train ride when I was still excited....

A very sleepy VAMH getting our marriage license!

Our location!!! Love it

VAMH with our location in the background

The front of our location, the Boston Fish Pier

The terrace where the cocktail hour will be held (hopefully)

Too bright...

Yup...still too bright...

Don't let this sleeping fool trick you into thinking things were fine here. Anytime there is a fire engine outside your plane, things ARE NOT fine.

This was 'my view' of the emergency landing

Scary....nothing too exciting happened thankfully but it sure did scare the HECK out of me...