4 years ago we visited Washington DC as part of our summer holiday and have always wanted to go back, so, for our first weekend away in the US without kids we decided to return.

We set off from New Jersey at 9am and needed to be in DC by 1.40pm for our tour around the Capitol. We hadn’t eaten breakfast or made lunch (as we were late as usual) so stopped off at a service station an hour into our journey. Here we found a Cinnabon – I’d seen them but never been in one and Stu and I shared a classic Cinnamon Swirl – I think we’ll be eating lots more of these whilst in the US, they are so good (although over 800 calories each)!!!

We parked up at East Falls Church which was ideal as there is a direct metro into Washington and made our way to the Capitol.

The weather wasn’t great – it was grey and damp but it didn’t matter for the tour. We had a brilliant tour guide who knew her stuff so well – and made it really interesting. My favourite part was going into the Dome at the end and learning about all the artwork and statues that were in there.

^{Inside the Dome}

After our tour we headed off down the Mall as we wanted to go and see the White House. At first it was just a bit grey but as we neared the Washington Monument the rain came down and it was relentless.

We carried on to the front of the White House but then decided we would need to head back to the car. We were absolutely soaked, the pavement was covered in deep puddles and it was freezing! We decided it would probably be a nice idea to return in spring when it is warmer and the cherry blossom is on the trees.

We needed to find somewhere for tea and ended up 15 minutes away at PF Changs. This was our first ever visit and it did not disappoint. The food was really good – just so much of it! We had dim sum, tempura beans, beef & broccoli and sweet and sour chicken. They offered to box up our leftovers but unfortunately as we were staying in a hotel over night we couldn’t store it.

^{PF Changs for tea}

We made our way to our hotel for the night, Hampton Inn – Falls Church where we had an amazing room and just chilled for the Evening.

The next morning the sun was shining so we decided to head out to Great Falls National Park for a walk. We had visited on our previous trip so knew it was a great location. We were going to visit the Smithsonian Zoo to see the Panda Bears but it didn’t seem right without the kids. Driving to the falls we got house envy – some of the properties were so beautiful….and huge!

The falls did not disappoint – they are stunning and we decided to go for a walk along one of the trails and follow the river along. We spotted a man Kayaking up the river which looked like a lot of hard work!!!

It must have been about 11.30am so we decided it was time to find lunch. It was a 3 hour drive home and we needed somewhere to stop off and had randomly decided to venture into Baltimore as it was in the right direction.

We drove straight into the centre and parked up by the port – only because we had seen on google maps there was a Cheesecake Factory there (and it is one of my favourite restaurants in the US). Stu opted for the chicken burger and I had a BBQ burger but as normal neither of us could actually manage any cheesecake afterwards!

We then went for a wander around the Port area. We had no expectations for Baltimore but it is such a lovely city. We saw a lighthouse, some old boats and then climbed up a hill to find some geo-caches. The sun was shining but it was absolutely freezing so we couldn’t stay out too long. We will definitely return to Baltimore with the kids as there is probably loads more to do.

Despite our huge lunch at The Cheesecake factory we still managed to stop off at a motorway services to have another Cinnabon and a Starbucks!