After the White House visitor center, we ventured over the White House itself. As we started walking over, however, my dh starts complaining about how heavy the 2 volume set of books were. This was making him grumpy. Then we get over to the North lawn and he becomes even grumpier because we were not allowed anywhere near the fence. Instead, we had to stand across the street to look. This upset him because he felt like we were being treated like second class citizens. Thankfully, however, I bought a digital camera before the trip so the pictures came out great and it looks like he is right there. Then, he became even more grumpy because we decided to walk to the WWII Memorial and the books kept getting heavier, and heavier and heavier. By the time we got there, he was most annoyed.

And boy was the WWII memorial packed!! I have never seen so many people in one place like that before. And because it was our first time to that memorial, I wanted to take tons of pictures. And my dh kept getting more annoyed because I was taking so many pictures and his arms were getting tired with the book and supposedly I was not letting us just enjoy the place because I was taking so many pictures. I am used to this, however, because my dh hates it when I spend time taking a ton of pictures and hates it when I ask people to take a picture of the two of us. But, then he actually sees the pictures and thanks me for being so, quote, annoying, because then we have amazing pictures. The exact same thing happened here because we looked at the pictures that night on the laptap and they were amazing if I say so myself. They looked like postcards

Anyway, we finished looking and then took a cab back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. I was so excited about this dinner at the Equinox Restaurant, about 2 blocks form the White House. I had heard many amazing things and the menu looked amazing. So we cab it over to the restaurant, sit down, and then I start panicking. You see, I picked this place for my birthday dinner, but I am also a skinflint, cheapo, whatever you want to call it. So, although I saw the prices on the website, it did not really hit me until we were looking at the menu. Equinox does not have meal prices, it does a prix fixe for 3, 4, 5 or 6 courses. Three courses for $55 pp, up to $80 pp for 6 courses or $120 pp for 6 courses and wine pairing for each course. After much deliberation and sweating and nervousness on my part, we decided to do the $120 pp to get the full effect. Also, the waiters there are funny because they convince you to spend more by the tone of their voice. They are not snobby at all, but they make it obvious of what they prefer. I hand it to them for being able to sound that way. For example, when asked about water, they asked if we wanted with bubble, without bubbles or TAP water. Needless to say, we got with bubbles. No sir, no tap for us, we are better than that! Then when we were trying to decide how many courses to do, we talked about doing less courses, but also with wine pairing. Needless to say, we did the full thing. And, after it is all said and done, I have to say I am really glad we did. It was the most amazing meal of my life! And I have had some amazing meals in some amazing places. We were there for three amazing hours but they seemed to fly by. We loved the courses so much that we even took pictures of some of the food it looked so beautiful and we have NEVER done that before. I had scallops course, wild mushroom risotto, tuna, pheasant, goat cheese and the most amazing chocolate dessert. My dh had foie gras, a truffle pasta, salmon, venison, bleu cheese and the most amazing boubon bread pudding with bourbon ice cream. YUM! Do not ask me about the wine, but it was all amazingly tasty and I had a very happy feeling at the end of the meal. We even took one of the wine bottles that said presidential and we have it displayed now at home. So for 337 dollars, including tip, it was definitely worth it and a birthday dinner to remember for a lifetime. So if you have a special occasion, I would totally recommend going there. We loved it! I would also make reservations. I made reservations about a month ahead. I wanted 7 p.m., but they said they only had 6:30. When we got there the, however, it was empty. About 5 to 7, however, the place got packed fast. The only sad part I did not like, was at the end of the evening, a homeless person went to sleep right outside of the atrium where our table was. Talk about feeling guilty spending all of that money with this poor man outside.

After the amazing meal, my dh decided he wanted a cigar. He only smokes them on special occasions. So the waiter recommended the Jefferson Hotel which has a cigar bar and was only about 2 blocks away. That place was amazing! The hotel supposedly very old and it is very beautiful. The bar was painted in a bright red and has a lot of hard wood. They also have many original items of Thomas Jefferson, including his writings in frames. My dh was in heaven and I loved it for three reasons. First, they also had a lot of pictures about lawyers which my dh and I both are. Second, they allow puppy dogs! It was so cute to see these Scottish terriers in sweaters, labs, etc. with their mommies and daddies walking through the hotel. You have to love a place that allows babies. This ties in with my third favorite thing ? the hotel is named after our baby ? our part black lab, part Sharpe, Jefferson. See, I told you my dh loves presidents! He also named our kitty McKinley. So he gets to name our animals and I will name the kids. So you cannot beat a place that is named after our love and allows other babies just like our baby. So after my dh enjoyed his cigar and cognac, we took a taxi back to the hotel. Once there, we decided to stand in the middle of the street to get some good pictures of the capital at night. I am quite sure the drivers did not like us. Then off to bed to dreamland.

Thanks for the followup - good post.

thanks Bardo!