East Coast, West Coast! – Exploring Alexandria & Washington DC

Earlier this year, Mark and I embarked on a three week holiday across five states in the US. Our first stop was New York City, where we spent a total of four days exploring and eating our way around the city. I wrote a cost breakdown of our time in NYC. You can find that here. The second and third phases of our trip involved spending quality time with family and friends in New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC.

Day 5 -6 – Sparta, New Jersey & Drive to Maryland

After our time in New York, Mark’s parents drove us to their home in New Jersey. One of the things I really loved about our time here was waking up to nature all around us. I even got to experience a bit of New Jersey’s wildlife. I saw lots of squirrels, birds and even deers – right in the backyard! It was wonderful!

We spent most of our time in New Jersey leisurely. This was quite a contrast to our busy schedule in NYC. On our second day, Mark and I took a drive to visit some of his favourite places. We stopped to have coffee and hot chocolate at Greene’s Beans. Then we drove around to see where Mark went to school, before ending our afternoon with ice cream around the boardwalk.

Mark parents made us a wonderful dinner and I spent the rest of the night and our drive to Maryland, binge-watching The Godfather movies.

Day 7 -11– Maryland & Alexandria

We arrived in Maryland after a 4-hour drive from New Jersey. That evening, the wedding festivities began with a pig roast and some familiarization amongst the guests. The wedding ceremony the next day was very beautiful and quite different from the ceremonies I’ve attended in Nigeria.

For one thing, it began in the evening and the ceremony itself was quite short (Amen to that!). The reception was also very lovely. My favourite thing was listening to the speeches from the bridal party and the bride and groom’s parents.

After the wedding, we drove to Alexandria to spend a couple of days before beginning the last phase of our trip. We also took a day trip to Washington DC while we were there. In Alexandria, we checked the art centre by the waterfront, as well as a few places and restaurants around.

And in Washington DC, we visited the National Mall (not a shopping mall like I thought when I first heard the name), the Lincoln Memorial, WWII War Memorial, Korean War Memorial and Vietnam War Memorial.

The next day, we set out for the last phase of our trip. A road trip across California. I was excited! For some weird reason, I was mentally prepared for a two-hour flight from DC to LA. Mark and I were talking and he casually mentioned something about landing in LA five hours later. I thought he was joking. I really thought he was until I looked at my ticket again and saw that he wasn’t.

Day 12 – Flight to LA and Drive to San Fransisco

The flight was smooth and didn’t feel that long. We arrived in LA and got an Uber to get our Turo ride. We stopped at a burger place to get lunch, then we hit the road to San Francisco.