Well firstly to breeze over our journey between Chicago and Washington DC - we had about a 6 hour drive to Cleveland and it was very cold when we arrived - still lots of slushy snow and ice on the roads. The motel was a million miles away from the luxury we had been used to in Chicago - we missed it already! We spent the evening in the room with the heating whacked up, went across the road to pick up some food to bring back to the room, and watched a Disney Pixar marathon that was showing on TV of Bugs Life and Monsters Inc.! The next day we were aiming to get close to Washington DC but not too close as motels start to get expensive. So I found this little motel in what looked like a cute little town called Hancock and thought we could see the old village and have a walk around the shops. When we arrived it really was TINY and nothing was open and there was no-one about! We checked in at the motel then decided to go for a walk as it was only 3pm and we didn't want to sit in our room all afternoon and all evening! We walked along the canal and then through some pretty random and desolate woods for an hour. There was only one restaurant open in the whole town for dinner, we arrived at 7.50pm and were told they were closing in 10 minutes so we had to order take out and go back and eat in our room again! After we'd eaten and were dossing about on the internet and stuff I noticed a movement by Ben's bed…"oh-my-god-there's-a-mouse-by-your-bed!'. Well I've never seen Ben move so quick getting his jacked and shoes on ready to go to reception and demand another room! We searched around to find out where the mouse could have come from/gone and couldn't find a trace of it, and we were warm and settled in our room - so we decided to stay! We just made sure none of our stuff was on the floor!

So Tuesday March 8th we left the bizarre little town of Hancock and headed towards the capital city. We arrived about 1pm and thought it'd be best to leave our luggage at the hotel then go and return our car. We were able to check in when we arrived at The Hampton Inn and were SOOOOO happy to see how amazing our room looked. But we couldn't enjoy it just yet. So we filled up the car with petrol then drove to Union station to give back our beautiful beast of a car that did us so well for over 2,500 miles across the USA!!!! We grabbed some lunch at a café in the station and had a little look around then walked to Capitol Hill for a glance at the Capital building and to stretch our legs a bit. It was actually a really warm day so we were a little warm in our winter coats! We then meandered our way back to our fancy hotel to really appreciate our fancy schmancy room with two of the comfiest beds EVER, a flat screen TV, desk, a nice bathroom…it was just amazing! Another perk was that we got access to the fitness centre and as we were both feeling a little out of shape (to say the least) we headed down for a workout. After sweating our sizeable butts off we got into our swimsuits and soaked in the Jacuzzi J We were pretty tired and hungry after this so didn't want to go too far for dinner. The receptionist recommended 'Busboys' restaurant literally round the corner, and it was actually a really cool, quirky place and the food was pretty delicious too. We then returned to our awesome room and our awesome beds for an awesome night's sleep!

Wednesday 9th March - Ben's Dad and Brother weren't due to arrive until late afternoon so we thought we'd go and see a museum that they wouldn't be interested in. So as it was basically the topic of Ben's dissertation and something I really didn't know enough about we headed down to the Holocaust Museum (after our NICE breakfast with real fruit and everything!!). We got the Circulator bus down to the 'Mall' then walked down to the museum. It was actually a really good museum - really interesting and interactive and kept you interested. We went to a talk by a survivor which was interesting. We were there nearly 5 hours, and by the end it was really quite overwhelming and emotional so our journey back to the hotel was a quiet, reflective one! When we got back I went for another work out and by the time I got back Ben's family had arrived. So we all met up and went for dinner at Ruby Tuesdays where we received some painfully slow and bad service but still had a good evening chatting, eating and drinking. Paul and Dan were a bit jet lagged and Ben and I were pretty drained from our epic day so we headed back after dinner to refresh ourselves for the following day.

Thursday's weather was awful - it rained pretty much the entire day so we thought we'd do an indoorsy day of museums. Firstly we went to the Spy Museum where Ben, Dan and I went on s 'spy mission' having to complete various tasks to recover a 'device' and find out who the baddies were - it was tackily fun! We then picked Paul up from the café where he'd been having a cup of tea while the kids played and we all went and looked around the actual museum. After the museum we walked to 'Potbelly's Sandwich Shop' for some lunch and had a really tasty salad. Then we walked down to the Newseum and signed up for the tour. We had a bit of time to kill before the tour so we walked around the Berlin Wall exhibit and the Sports Illustrated photograph collection which was really cool. Then we had our own little private tour of the epic Newseum by this little old lady (who clearly only knew textbook answers and nothing more)! It was an absolutely gigantic museum with loads of really fun different sections to it but we had to breeze through it all pretty quick to get it all done in an hour. Luckily our tickets gave us a 2 day entry so we hoped to return and actually see some of the parts we wanted to the next day. That evening it hammered it down with rain again so we decided to head round the corner back to 'Busboys' as it was close and we enjoyed it before. It was really busy again and we got a cute little table upstairs and enjoyed a rather decadent 3 course meal with lots of wine! I had the most amazing banana and white chocolate pudding with coconut ice cream I was in heaven!

Friday morning I got up and went to the gym to run off some of the calories I had consumed the night before and make myself feel less guilty! After breakfast we all walked down to Union Station to pick up the open topped tour bus Ben's Dad had booked for us. We decided that we would do the full loop which would take about 2 and a half hours and we'd pretty get to see the whole of Washington. So we began our tour, up top, seeing all the major sights. The only problem was…it was absolutely freezing up there! Paul and Dan didn't even have coats, I had a coat but was wearing a skirt and tights and we just absolutely froze but refused to give in and sit at the bottom with a crap view! A couple of hours later when we had completed the loop we sought warm refuge back inside the Newsuem. We got some lunch at the canteen which was run by Wolfgang Puck (I assume he is a well-known chef)! So it was kind of fancy and we all had PROPER macaroni and cheese - not this yellowy rubbish stuff that all the cheap places do! After lunch we agreed to split up and meet a bit later as then we could all see exactly what we wanted to see. So Paul and I went and watched this video on Sports news, while Ben saw something about Hurricane Katrina then I walked around seeing exhibits on G-Men, September 11th - the Arial mast from one of the towers was there, I saw some of the hurricane Katrina stuff and got to play on some of the interactive things (as it is the most interactive museum in the world!). After the Newseum we walked up the the Capitol building but missed the last tour so then we decided to go and see the National Archives and saw the original Bill of Rights, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independance. After this we all walked back to the hotel. Ben and I went and had another go in the Jacuzzi as we still hadn't properly warmed up! That evening we decided to go for some dim sum as we were staying right by China Town (shock!). We went to this really funky place and ordered the speciality cocktails which were REALLY strong, and enjoyed a selection of dim sum goodies which were bought out as and when they were cooked. It was really fun actually - made a nice change in ways of eating.

Saturday morning I skyped my parents and the boys headed over to Georgetown to do some shopping. After I had finished talking to the family I jumped on a bus and went to join them. It turned out the shops didn't open til 11am anyway so I hadn't missed much! We mooched around the shops for a while then went and got the most amazing salads in this quirky little restaurant. We then jumped back on the sightseeing bus for part 2 of our tour. We stayed on all the way to the Lincoln Memorial then we jumped off to go and see the big guy in his huge shrine! We had an awesome view of the Mall and the Washington monument from up there too. Next we walked down the Mall to the Whitehouse as we were yet to get a proper view of the Obama residence. After a few photos we strolled back slowly to the hotel as we wanted to rest up for the BIG GAME that night. Our rest time was cut a little short as Paul went and found out that we actually had to be there for 6.30pm so we had a quick change and freshen up then walked down to the Verizon Centre to see Washington Wizards vs. LA Clippers. We got free baseball caps with our tickets and Dan bought us the huge foam fingers and along with a bud light we really looked the part! We found our seats which were really good - had a great view of the whole stadium and weren't too far away at all. At quarter time we got some hot dogs and more beer (had to be done) and some popcorn to complete the entire experience properly! It was a really good game - Blake Griffin was clearly the star player though and unfortunately he was too much for the Wizards to handle so we lost. We had fun though and the atmosphere was awesome. After the game we thought we'd go for a couple of drinks. We found this Irish bar and due to the up and coming St Patricks day…it was BUZZING! So we pushed our way in and after a while managed to grab a table. Well a few hours and a lot of drinks later it was closing time and we had to leave (thank god!) so a little intoxicated we stumbled our way home having a hilarious foam finger fight while Paul took photos and making fools of ourselves in the lobby of our hotel trying to press the lift buttons with our foam fingers!

Well as you probably guessed, Sunday morning we felt pretty grim. Due to the clocks going forward we also missed breakfast! So we all met, feeling a little 'jaded' (as my mum says) and we walked down too Constitution Avenue to see the St Patricks Day Parade. We were a little early as we thought it would be rammed so we perched up on the steps of The National Archives which had a good view and waited in the sun - it was actually REALLY warm. The parade was fun they really went all out with dancers, bands, cars, fire engines, service men and women…however after 2 hours and it was STILL going on we had had enough and were pretty damn hungry. So as we walked about trying to find food Ben found this 'Mexican' which he said looked good, so went inside…it was Indian lol! The food was good though and was kinda just what we needed. After lunch Paul and Dan headed back to the hotel to rest but Ben and I had to walk back to where we were sat at the parade as I left my hat - luckily it was still there! I attempted to find a thank you present for Ben's Dad on the way back but Washington DC has a sever lack of shops so had no luck. When we got back to the hotel we crawled back into our luxurious beds and had a little nap. When we got up a few hours later we were all still feeling a little crappy and didn't want a big night, we were due to go to the Hard Rock Café but I suggested that we saved that for the next night when we were feeling a little more human. So we went down to Nandos and consumed a hell of a lot of chicken - perfect hangover food! As we weren't drinking we went back to our rooms after dinner. Ben and I watched 'Hitch' as it was on TV and got completely sucked into it and couldn't sleep until it had finished - which wasn't until 1am and we were so delirious with tiredness that we fell into these crazy fits of giggles that we just couldn't stop and prevented us from sleeping for even longer!

Monday 14th March we woke up feeling pretty much back to normal again. We got some breakfast then headed to Capitol Hill to hopefully get e tour of the Capitol building. After going through the ridiculous long security checks (which by the way we had to do for pretty much EVERY place in DC) we thought we were going to be in for a bit of a wait as there seemed to be queues everywhere; however we pretty much got straight on a tour. Firstly we watched this movie about the history of American politics and the building which was good as it gave you an initial understanding of the place. We then had to get into pretty big groups and were given audio sets so we could hear the tour guide who was leading the group. It was quite cool getting to see where the presidents go for their inauguration and seeing inside the huge dome - the artwork was pretty impressive, and there were statues of the presidents everywhere. After the Capitol building we thought we'd go check out a few of the Smithsonian museums. We started at the Castle and watched a little video about the Smithsonian's - there are 19 in DC!! Then we went to the Air and Space museum which was pretty crowded but pretty disappointing it just seemed so old and was totally un-interactive. So we were hungry by now and decided to go check out this epic world foods canteen in the Native American museum. Well it was a bit of a headache of a place - quite a selection of different kinds of food but a sever lack of instruction as to what the hell you were supposed to do! Anyway we eventually worked it out and it was pretty good - just not very cheap! We then decided to walk to the American History Museum to see the original Stars and Stripes flag, the first ladies inaugural ball gowns, Lincoln's hat and a whole load of other random American things. It was quite a bizarre museum. We dragged ourselves round there for a few hours until we all realised that none of us really wanted to be there anymore and we were all tired of walking about so we went back to the hotel. When we got back I hit the gym again while Ben skyped his friends. Then we all met up and went down to The Hard Rock Café, which was a big fat disappointment - it wasn't a fun one, they messed up our food and it was just a bit rubbish. We decided to go for a drink on the way back so found a nice looking bar by the Verizon and had a drink and a chat.

Tuesday we were due to check out of the wonderful Hampton Inn so Ben and I went to the gym for the last time then spent the morning faffing about packing up our stuff and getting ready. Dan went back to Georgetown to try and get an Ipad 2 with no luck. Paul went to Macy's and bought another suitcase to take some of our stuff back! Then we all went back to Macy's for a bit of shopping and I managed to get Paul a painted wineglass with all of the main sights of DC on it which was kinda cool. We weren't sure what to do next, and I knew none of us really wanted to go to another museum so I suggested we go bowling for some fun. So we went to the Lucky Strike Lanes and managed to get a game and lunch deal so spent the afternoon knocking down pins and having a laugh (I came SECOND both times so was well chuffed with myself!). We then played a couple of games of pool to pass a bit more time before heading back to the Hampton Inn to collect Ben's and my stuff and go check us into our new hotel. Well this was a rather amusing experience as the hotel was a lot further out than we thought it was going to be and the area was not quite the same as where we had just been! But the room was clean and we had beds and a bathroom and a TV and there was a free shuttle bus to Union Station so it was more than fine. Once we'd checked in we jumped on the bus to Union Station and went for some Thai dinner for our last meal together. We then had to bid our farewells to Paul and Dan as they had to go and check into their airport hotel. Ben and I had a little time to kill before the shuttle bus back so we looked around the souvenir shops and got a coffee before heading back to our new hotel.

The next morning we had some breakfast at the hotel then got back into bed to bum about as we were both feeling quite tired from our epic week of sightseeing and we didn't really have any plans. At lunch time we got up and got a cab to Union station then the bus back to Georgetown. We found this nice little pasta place for some lunch and had some good food. Then we slowly mooched about the shops, got some frozen yoghurt, and enjoyed our last afternoon in Washington DC. We went back to Union Station and picked up a salad a bit later on to take back to the hotel for dinner and spent the evening relaxing in our room.

The next morning we checked out of the hotel and got the shuttle back to Union station, picked up some lunch and headed to the megabus station to head towards our next stop - Philly. I thoroughly enjoyed Washington DC and it was really great getting to spend the week with Ben's Dad and getting spoilt by him! We were definitely ready to move on by the end of it though as I don't think there as much more we could have done!