National Book Festival, 2013

Another successful trip to DC!  My goals in going this time were, first, to visit my sister Michelle and brother-in-law Ryan (of course), and, second, to attend the National Book Festival!  Very exciting!  There were some amazing authors speaking, including Tamora Pierce, a favorite from my youth (and today), and the chance to be among so many like-minded people was irresistible! Other authors included Linda Ronstadt, Margaret Atwood, Jon Scieszka, Mario Livio, and Khaled Hosseini.  It was amazing to be in the same tent with them and by and large they were smart, interesting, and really, really funny.

So Michelle and Ryan acted the tour guides and we saw many of the DC sites that I missed on my first trip.

National Portrait Gallery

Patent Office Exhibit

 

National Archives

(Where we viewed the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights)

 

We saw them setting up for the Book Festival

 

 

A Nationals Game!  They won!

Cupcakes in Georgetown . . . at two different places.

This is the magic that happens when you're out with Michelle and Ryan

 

 

Library of Congress!

Gorgeous building, amazing institution.

 

 

Capitol Building tour: the most touristy thing I'll ever do,

but interesting stuff and another amazing building.

 

Lots of walking this day, but lovely weather!

Sunset over the Lincoln Memorial

(World War II Memorial in the foreground)

Air and Space Museum

We went to an after-hours, VIP viewing of the Da Vinci Codex !!!

So amazing.

 

Sah-WEEEET!

All the fans waiting in line for Tamora Pierce.

This even after we had waited an hour; we started on the grass beyond the path.

Made it to the front!  She's super sarcastic and witty, just my kind of person.



 

 

  These are just a sampling of all that we did, not including the amazing food we ate at such fabulous restaurants as Shake Shack, Zaytinya, and Founding Farmers.  Delicious!  It was a great weekend and I'm looking forward to my next trip!  Thanks to Michelle and Ryan for touring me around and putting up with all my book babbling.  Also, thanks to Pam and Doug for giving me a room and bringing me along to the baseball game and the Da Vinci exhibition -- I had a wonderful time!