In 12 days...

I traveled 6318 miles.

I visited Washington DC, New York City and Provo.

I walked a billion blocks and a millions miles.

I listened to Adele's new CD countless times.

I saw lightning bugs for the first time. They were so magical! I screamed with delight every time one would light up in front of me.

I was a huge tourist. Pictures in Times Square, using maps in New York, screaming at the lightning bugs...

I successfully, accidentally, saw the Declaration of Independence and Constitution without waiting in line. I walked in the exit. Apparently if you look confident or really innocent the security guards won't stop you. Good national security right there.

I tried four different cupcake places. Which was acceptable calories from all my walking.

I flew on three different airlines. My reviews of said airlines-

US Airways-43 points

               Given, this was my longest flying day but I did not like this airline. I had very long flights going to the East Coast and they had no complimentary food! I mean, who doesn't love the plane crackers or peanuts from Southwest? I am surprised the passengers did not rebel like Liz Lemon in 30 Rock.
Frontier- 3 Gold Stars

              Warm free cookies! Need I say more? No, but I will. I had three parts of this journey with Frontier and the first one I missed the cookies because I was asleep. I mean, wake the poor girl up for a warm cookie next time! I proceeded to enjoy two more later in the day though so it was okay. Also, I sat in the first row. I had more leg room than ever before! I could stretch out my legs and barely touch the wall. So that rocked. On my last stop on Frontier we had TVs and I was able to watch Ellen DeGeneres which made my day! And oh yeah, free warm cookies.
Delta- 2 Enthusiastic Thumbs Up

             Is it bad that i am partial to this airline because the flight attendants had cute uniforms? Because it's true. The whole crew was actually pretty great. The pilot told us facts about the plane. For example, how much it weighed and that we left the runway at 155 mph. Who doesn't like knowing cool stuff like that? Also, during the safety overview we were told to wear our seat belts low like J-Lo pants.

Now for my actual trip.

Day 1- I have no picture from this portion because I got into Washington DC around midnight. After getting back to my sister's apartment from the airport it was time to go to sleep. This was a challenge for me. It would have been only around 9:00pm Oregon time. Not only was it early and the mattress felt like stale cottage cheese but there was a huge lightening storm. In other instances, I would have loved  a good storm but I was trying to sleep when I wasn't even tired! To add to this effect my sister's closet was all mirrors. The lightening would come in through the window and reflect right into my face. It was a great night sleep obviously. I was just glad to be in DC and have a place to sleep though!

Day 2- Spent the day exploring museums by myself while Natalie was at her internship. My favorite was probably The Museum of Natural History. What can I say, it brought of the little kid in me with dinosaurs and animals. Natalie and I ended the day walking (of course) through Alexandria to find a Ross of all places to purchase a towel and blanket for me.

Day 3- New York City! Natalie and I got up at the crack of dawn to ride a bus four hours to New York. We met up with my sister's friend Annie and did all the touristy things we could  in our short time there. Such as finding the bridge you see in all the romantic comedy movies and the sidewalk you see in all musical movies in Central Park. We also visited Tiffany's, Time Square, Serendipity, Dylan's Candy Bar, Strand, Union Station and so many other places. We had such a good time!

Day 4- The second and last day in New York City. Favorite part was FAO Schwarz. We spent a long time going to each different room looking at all the toys. It would be safe to say we spent the whole New York trip acting like kids.

Day 5- After a tour of the Capitol Building given by my sister we spent the evening walking down the National Mall. This included a trip to the top of the Washington Monument and a visit to the good ol' Lincoln Memorial. In the elevator on the way down from the top of the monument our elevator got stuck. I am not sure if you know, but this is my worst fear. I hate elevators very much. Not only was this one super crowded but it was in a very tall, skinny tower. We were only stuck for about a minute so it ended up just being a funny story. I swear it was the elevator attendants first day though. She just kept laughing while trying to figure out the lights and then why we stopped. I was very grateful to be on the ground again!

Day 6- Natalie had the day off and we spent the afternoon shopping in Georgetown which obviously meant a visit to Georgetown cupcakes which is featured with its own show on TLC. People are crazy for cupcakes here. We had to wait in line for about 15 minutes before even making it inside!

Day 7- I made it to Provo! Which meant a trip to power tumbling with Spencer and Mark.

Day 8- Said goodbye to Brennan who is leaving this week to enter the MTC to prepare for his mission in Romania speaking Russian!

Day 9- BYU in the spring because it was so beautiful.

Day 10- Frozen yogurt with Kelsey and Jill. Later that night there was also some shenanigans with paper boats, and fighting with fake sword and light sabers. Which also included some guys driving up that wanted to do some car jousting with a baseball bat.

Day 11- Church with Kelsey. Don't mind my sleepy eyes. Her church was at 8:30am. How am I suppose to stay awake listening to the word of God at that earlier hour of the morning?!

Day 12- I said goodbye to Provo and headed to the real p-town of Portland, Oregon today. Now, I am working 40 hours a week at OGA and I am completely exhausted. My trip was completely worth all my exhaustion though.