We decided to take advantage of visiting Washington, D.C., while on a business conference trip. I had not been there in many years, and Sue had never visited, so that set the stage to do an in depth trip and turn it into a full week there. We visited during the third week of September and we were very fortunate to have experienced perfect weather there almost every day. It's not as hot as the summer, and peak crowds were down. We were also very lucky to have had completed our trip the week before the government shutdowns of the museums and memorials.

This was a great trip for us to spend in a great city that has so much to offer, and is extremely close to Chicago. I would highly recommend this trip to everyone from couples to families. Our conference didn't start until Wednesday, so we flew in on Saturday to take in as much of the Smithsonian museums as we could fit in. There are many great choices as far as places to stay, I would recommend being in reasonably close proximity to the National Mall which you will spend a great deal of time.

I remember visiting Washington my first time and spent six hours in the National Air and Space Museum. The original Smithsonian building was closed for renovations, but I remembered I had spent a fair amount of time there too. We both loved National Air and Space, and spent the better part of a full day there. Kids in school studying American history will love and want to spend some time at the Museum of American History. There are so many great exhibits of life in America from the past that are fascinating. We scheduled a bus tour for the evening that took us to many of the memorials and war memorials. The Washington memorial and Jefferson memorial are both outstanding to visit at night. We often see these impressive memorials on television, but they are even more impressive in person, all lit up at night. I would highly recommend a tour either during the day, or one at night.

After two days of walking the National Mall, we took a trip 75 miles outside the city to stay in the town of Washington, Virginia, at the Inn at Little Washington. This property has been on Sue's bucket list for a long time. I have to say I was blown away by the experience. Their restaurant has been voted as being in the top ten of the world. Yes, the world. The Inn became America's first 5 Star country house hotel and the first establishment in the Mobil Travel Guide's history to ever receive two 5 Star Awards-one for its restaurant, the other for its accommodations. The Inn also received AAA's highest accolades: two 5 Diamond Awards and is rated number one in all categories year after year by the Washington D.C. Zagat Restaurant Survey. It was an incredible experience and we were lucky to be able to spend a day there before the conference.

	It's really close to the Shenandoah National Park, so we decided to spend the morning visiting the Washington National Cemetary, then the Shenandoah Valley before checking in to the hotel. The Skyline Drive runs 105 miles north and south along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Shenandoah National Park and is the only public road through the park. We stopped several times to take in the beautiful vistas and mountains.
	We made it back to our conference and were able to take advantage of a few side trips they had arranged for us. One was a personalized tour of the Capital building by a former House Representative from Wisconsin. We were able to get on the house floor and I sat in one of the seats directly across from the podium the president gives his state of the union address. The building is magnificent and beautiful. Well worth seeing.
	We also experienced dinner at the Library of Congress.  We were stunned at how beautiful the interior is. The building houses many collections, the original library of Thomas Jefferson is most impressive. To spend the evening here at a private event for dinner was special We were able to visit Mount Vernon and see George Washington's mansion and grounds he lived at for 40 years. There is much to see here about how our first president lived and did business
	Our last excursion was a special one to see the town and battlefields of Gettysburg.   If you have the time to available to go there, it is well worth the visit to see where some of the most important battles of the Civil War took place.   We were here a full week and although the conference was held over three days, we still managed to see a lot of our capital city. It is an amazing city with so much history and things to do, I can highly recommend a visit. If you are looking for a close to home trip, without leaving   the states, this is an excellent choice.