Washington DC Journal

    After Orlando we attempted to drive to our nation's capital with a one night pullover stop somewhere in North Carolina.  From the time we left Florida until our eventual stop in Rocky Mount, N.C. it was raining cats and dogs.  We didn't think too much of it as we checked into a Comfort Inn.  We were less than five hours away from D.C.  and planned on getting there some time after noon the following day.  To our dismay we awoke to find the entire area covered with 10" of fresh snow.  We glued ourselves to the weather channel to see what was going on.  Apparently the largest storm in North Carolina's recorded history was surrounding us at that very moment.  Raleigh-Durham had a total of two feet, and the coldest day was recorded the day after that at 17 bone chilling degrees.  Fortunately for us the roads were safe enough to leave after only one extra night at the Comfort Inn.  Had we been forced to stay in the area any longer we would have been bored to death.  We were in the middle of nowhere and nothing was open due to the snow--not even the Outback Steakhouse across the street.  The whole experience was completely new to Joey who grew up in sunny Southern California. 
        So we finally trekked our way to Washington D.C. at a slow pace in fear of slipping and sliding on the icy roads as several semis had managed to do before us.  The road conditions weren't actually that bad in North Carolina but as soon as we crossed the Virginia state line a sheet of ice appeared covering all but a small path through the interstate 95.  Then we neared Richmond and the road cleared, which made the rest of our trip to D.C. quite pleasant.
         We entered Washington D.C.  in the afternoon and apparently the whole city was shut down because they were experiencing some of the worst weather they had seen. Because D.C. saw snow so rarely, they were unprepared.  The roads remains covered and many people still drove way too fast.  Nobody had shovels so many people resorted to clearing their steps and driveways with smaller utensils (fireplace shovels, ladels, etc.)  
         After a little driving around we found my friend Courteney's place.  She was nice enough to put us up for two nights and show us all the sights.  The first night we went to a local bar called the Brickskellar, famous for its selection of hundreds of beers from around the world.  The next day we decided to see all the sights by foot, which might not have been such a good idea.  The temperature was in the teens and with our friend, Mr. Windchillfactor, it felt about -5.  We ended up walking around the city all day long and seeing some of the most interesting and famous sights the country has to offer.  We saw some beautiful museums including the national gallery of art, we saw the national archives building which houses the original copy of the Constitution.  We also saw the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the Capitol Building, the White House, and Arlington National Cemetery (where JFK and the unknown soldier are buried).  Afterwards we headed out for New York City...