Tourist in my own city

When I moved away from Dallas a year ago, I can honestly say I didn't think anyone would come up and visit me. Of course, I did the polite thing and told everyone to come and visit, and they did the polite thing back and said they would. But in reality, the societal niceties rarely give way to actual trips.

I'm floored that I've had 4 friends come visit in the past year (3 from Dallas, 1 from Delaware). I've never considered myself a visitable person, but I suppose living in a city that offers so much for so little (that should be DC's new slogan!) is a great lure.

I had a great time with my friend this weekend. She had never been to DC before, so it was my first time being a real tour guide. Granted, I don't know a ton about the city either since I live a good 45 minutes away, but equipped with an iPhone and a map we managed to get around just fine. We saw a few of the art musuems, the Cherry Blossom parade and street festival, the Smithsonian kite festival, the actual cherry blossoms, the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the botanical gardens, and the Capitol.

Most of the time when my friends visit, they've either already seen everything or have very little time. This time, though, it was a blank slate and we had all weekend so we had a chance to see pretty much everything. My favorite was probably the Lincoln Memorial, which I haven't seen in 20 years - it's a pretty majestic place and highly underrated.

I probably should have done this a long time ago, but I may go into the city by myself and see some of the museums. I went to the American History museum with my parents a couple of weeks after it re-opened, but it was crazy packed and everyone was tired so we didn't get to see everything.

Speaking of crazy packed, what's the big deal about the cherry blossoms? Although the crowds don't compare to the inauguration, I was shocked to see how many people were out and about. There were lines to get Metro cards, the Mall entrance for the Smithsonian station was exit-only. My friend was very lucky to make her flight even when we allowed a good hour to get to the airport. Today seemed to be even busier than yesterday, even though there weren't any events! It's just a fucking flower, get over it.
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On a side note, it's sad how closed off the city has become in recent years. I remember being able to freely take White House, FBI and Pentagon tours without any advance notice. Now, there's a much more bureaucratic process to take them. The FBI tour is closed indefinitely, and the Pentagon only gives tours M-F, 9 - 3pm - basically the most inconvenient times possible.

The Capitol was closed on Saturday for part of the afternoon because of a 'suspicious package.' Somehow, despite the backlog of all the people who wanted to take tours, we were able to walk right in and get a tour right away (although the ticket guy seemed flustered and confused when we asked).