craig & whitney

washington dc & new york!

last week, craig, my mom and dad, and i went back east. our first stop was washington dc. i hadnt been there since i was 12 and craig had NEVER been there. so it was very fun to visit all the great monuments. as soon as we landed and checked in to our hotel, we walked over to the white house. it was gorgeous.

this is how incredibly stupid we are: the whole time we were taking pictures here we thought it was the front of the white house..... until we walked around to the other side. wow.

after the white house, we went to dinner at founding farmers. it was insane. its one of those restaurants that serves classic, american dishes with a twist. i got a milk shake and chicken pot pie. i cant stop thinking about how amazing it all was!

after dinner we walked over to the lincoln monument. from the steps, you can see the reflection pool and the washington monument. it was all so incredibly beautiful.

dark group shot.

craig, me and lincoln!

on our walk back to our hotel it started RAINING! like rrrrreal rain. it was fun... but only because i knew it was a once in a life time thing. :)

the next morning we drove over to mount vernon (the home of george washington). it was very interesting. we loved walking through the house (seeing the actual bed george washington died in).

the house is on a hill overlooking the potomac. as george washington said "no estate in United America is more pleasantly situated than this....".

that night we walked around georgetown. i tried georgetown cupcakes. meh.

the next morning we started the four hour drive up to new york. we had to keep our eyes peeled for the first waffle house.... my dad's favorite! :)

when we got to new york we wasted no time getting our subway pass and fooling around down on the tracks.

then we went down to soho to shop and have dinner. i LOVE this place. the grilled corn is to die for.

of course, we made our way over to momofuku to snarf down some crack pie and corn cookies. 

after momofuku we went up to the top of the empire state building. that never gets old.

my mom actually wasted money in one of those telescope thingys to try and see a party that was going on at the top of another building.

the next morning, craig and i had a breakfast of champions: magnolia's banana pudding.

after walking around greenwich village for a while, we met up with my parents at chelsea market.

we ate our lobster rolls at highline park.

view from highline.

after chelsea, we headed up to 5th avenue for shopping and a carriage ride around central park. 

that night we had an AMAZING barbeque dinner. the warm barbeque potato chips with blue cheese and bacon dip was delicious. and they had a pumpkin cupcake with maple frosting that was so good we went back and ordered more! 

after dinner we rode the staten island ferry to see the statue of liberty. one of my favorite ny traditions.

the next morning we went over to the flat iron district to have city bakery's hot chocolate. it never disappoints. especially with the homemade marshmallow.

then, my parents went to the natural history museum while craig and i went over to explore brooklyn. i might have gotten us a little lost (wouldnt be a trip over to brooklyn if i didnt....) and we wound up in MAJOR hasidic jewish territory. honestly, for a solid two miles, these are the only humans we saw. interesting. but also got a tad creepy.

once we got down to familiar territory (dumbo) we had amazing whoopie pies (we earned them after that journey!) at this very cool bakery and then we saw this moss graffiti. i loved it.

craig, me and the williamsburg bridge.

then.... GRIMALDIS! i seriously love this place. it IS worth the hype/wait. when we walked up to what apparently is now the old location and saw it all boarded up i almost cried. but then we realized they moved a few doors down to a bigger location. deeeeeeeelicious.

after dinner we decided to walk back to manhattan on the brooklyn bridge. very cool. except for the bicyclists. hate bicyclists.

view from the brooklyn bridge.

as if we hadnt eaten enough that day, craig and i decided to run to the burger joint (this weird little burger dive thats hidden behind the front desk at a very swanky hotel). apparently it had just been voted the best burger in ny that day so the wait was especially long. its surprising to me that it is still such a hot topic seeing as how its been around for ten years and ny usually gets bored of restaurants quickly. 

then next morning, another healthy breakfast.

and before we left manhattan we went down to see the world trade center memorial. i LOVE the freedom tower. just ask craig. no matter where we were in the city, if i saw the it i yelled, "LOOK! there's the freedom tower!".

the fountains, where the two towers once stood, are called "reflecting absence". its such a beautiful and perfect way to capture the 9/11 memorial. 

being able to experience the 9/11 memorial with craig and my parents was the perfect way to cap off a wonderful trip to dc and new york. i had such a great week that wouldnt have been possible without grandma cheri and grandpa rod taking care of sully and tagg. we are very lucky.