Shenandoah National Park!

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day! The leaves are in their prime of changing colors and we had nothing going on after church, so we decided to take a little trip to Shenandoah National Park. Lara, Glen, Spencer, Cami, Emma, Adam, Ellie and I started off on our journey to the park.
It took about an hour to get to the town where the park is but then it took us about a half an hour to actually get into the park because everyone else seemed to have the same idea. It was really busy. We finally got into the park and found a lovely spot to park and walk around. Here are some of the photos from my camera from yesterday.

This was towards the end of the trip and we were all getting a little silly.

I really like this picture of Spence and I. I think it's funny:)

Right after the sun went behind the mountain/hill! We watched the sunset and it was gorgeous!

Right before sunset.

Emma and I on the trail we walked on for awhile. I really like this picture of us.

Self-portrait!

I like the angle of this shot. The colors were beautiful! The weather was sunny and cool!

Look at the beautiful background!

I like this picture of my reflection in Spence's awesome sunglasses:)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Well I'm really tired. But I really wanted to post on my birthday. I'm not going to say much besides that today was a pretty good day and that pictures and more details will come later.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Georgetown Cupcake!

The continuation...
I made it to the metro and headed downtown to meet my friend, Jennifer. I was early and so I got off a couple stops earlier and found a McDonald's to eat at since I hadn't eaten lunch yet. The restaurant was huge and there was a sign that said only McDonald's customers could be in there and that they could be in there no longer than 30 minutes. (My guess is that they have a problem with homeless people coming in and staying there all day). Then I decided I should go to the bathroom before I left and I ended up not going because there was a sign that said you had to have a token to get into the bathroom and that vandalism was forbidden and someone was in there and I didn't feel like waiting. (I'm a little impatient sometimes.)

I wandered over to the metro and found a little farmer's market, which I would like to wander through some time when I have more time. Then I hopped back on the metro and got off at the stop to meet my friend Jennifer, but I was still early so I wandered some more. By this time I really had to go to the bathroom but I had no idea where to go.

I found a tiny 7-11 and asked if I could use their bathroom. Thankfully they let me, although it was not a public bathroom. I had to walk down this steep little staircase into a windowless little basement while waiting for a guy to come out of the bathroom. I think I really surprised the guy because he jumped a little when he walked out and I was right there. I told him why I was there and he said that was fine. When I came out out of the bathroom, the guy that had come out before me was praying on a rug on the floor (it was about the time of day for prayer call).

After I left the 7-11 it was time to meet my friend. We had been planning this for a couple of days and so I was excited to meet up and go to our destination. We walked from George Washington University to Georgetown Cupcake. Georgetown Cupcake is a famous cupcake shop because of it's deliciously awesome cupcakes and the many different flavors they have. Jennifer had ordered ahead of time and so we just walked in and paid and found a table outside to eat some of the delicious cupcakes! I had a pumpkin, spice cupcake and it was really good! I was definitely not disappointed by the cupcakes that I had heard so much about:) We had bought some extra cupcakes and I brought some home for Lara and Glen to try.

After we ate the cupcakes we walked across the Key Bridge and went to Theodore Roosevelt Island. We saw the memorial to President Roosevelt. I really liked it, although Jennifer said she thought it was a little creepy. I think it was the time of day that we were there. (It was starting to get dark). Then we made our way to the metro and headed home.

Overall it was a really good day! Adventurous I must say, but really good!

Driving a Bus Through an Army Base

Today I had off of work and so I wanted to do something fun! Last night I decided I would try to go to the temple by means of the metro and bus system. (For some reason it never dawned on me that there was a metro and/or bus close to the temple until Matt mentioned it the other day:) I figured out the most direct route to get there and set out on my adventure this morning.

First I hopped on the metro and went to the station, where the bus would be to take me to the temple. I got off the metro and onto the bus and thankfully the bus had this talking machine that told us every stop coming up, otherwise I definitely would not have exited at the right stop. We were driving on these narrow, windy, tree-lined streets where I could not see far enough ahead to see the street signs coming up. I got off at my stop and looked around to see if I could see which way to go. Although I knew I was close to the temple, I couldn't see the temple at all because there were so many trees.

It was in a residential area and so I walked up one of the streets to see if I could see anything and when that didn't help, I made a few calls to see if someone could look it up for me but eventually realized it was much easier to find someone outside that I could ask how to get to the Mormon temple. I found a man outside and he directed the way. As I started walking, it made me a bit nervous because there were no sidewalks and very little grass or anything to walk on beside the busy road. I made it to the right road and was happy to see the temple and the little bit of sidewalk that I got to walk on :)

I did a session (which was awesome) and then came back out and waited for the bus right in front of temple. (For some reason there was no bus directly to the temple at the time I was going, but on the way out there was). On the bus we went through an army annex base and a guard got on the bus and all of us had to show our ids aka driver's license to get through. When he first got on I didn't know what was going on, so I was a bit nervous, then he told me he needed to see my id. I stumbled through my purse looking for it and finally found it and showed it to him.

This bus was not equipped with the cool talking machine that told us each stop, so I was keeping my eyes out for the metro. We stopped at a stop for longer than normal and I could not see a metro sign but I decided to ask someone if this was the metro and indeed it was the stop I was looking for. I was glad that I asked.

TO BE CONTINUED....

AnnaLisa Loves the D.C. Area!

I love this place! The amazing view of the temple from the freeway! This is about 30 minutes away with no traffic.


This is about 30 minutes away on metro.

I went to downtown D.C. on Tuesday and wandered around a bit. This picture is from the top of the Old Post Office Tower. It was an awesome view! On this little trip I also went to the National Portrait Gallery and took a tour and then wandered around a bit. That place is huuuugggge! Seriously. There is so much to see in there. Then I went to Ford's theater, which I talk about later in this post. I also wandered around and saw a lot of beautiful churches. I didn't go inside the churches (although I wanted to) because they were closed for the day by the time I got to them. At the end of the day I briefly went inside the Natural History Museum. It's changed since the last time I've been there and I definitely want to go back and explore some more. After my brief visit to the Natural History Museum I headed home on the metro. Overall it was a fun trip! I highly enjoyed myself :)


Another view from the top of the Old Post Office tower.


I also went to Ford's Theater where Abraham Lincoln was shot. I've been wanting to go there for a long time and I finally made it there. The theater has been refurbished. The tour guide said that nothing is original, but the positioning of the box and the seating is the same as it was when President Lincoln was alive. He said the only thing that was original in the theater was the chair that Mrs. Lincoln was sitting in at the time her husband was shot. I didn't know this until I went there but they actually still do plays there for people to watch. I think it would be pretty sweet to see a play at Ford's Theater. I love President Lincoln! He was a good man. He had his problems, but he was good.

This is only 5 minutes away by car.

This was on Labor Day when you could get a free Chick-fil-a sandwich by going in with your team's logo on. I went with Lara and Glen and family and we all got free sandwiches. It was pretty sweet :)

This is only 50 minutes away by car.

This was also on Labor day. Lara, Glen and family and I went raspberry picking. It was my first time ever, as far as I can remember. It was fun! I enjoyed the raspberry picking and eating the raspberries along the way and afterward. I also made raspberry jam for the first time ever with the raspberries that we picked (it was my first time ever making any kind of jam, but more about that will come on a later post:)

This post is really random, but I hope you still enjoyed it.

Great Falls!

Before picture! Lara, Spencer, Cami, Emma, Adam, Ellie and I went to Great Falls last week and it was awesome! It was really hot, but it was fun! We didn't actually get to see the falls, but we walked on some pretty awesome trails :)

After picture with cool setting on my camera: color swap

Color Accent feature on my camera.

I really liked the bridge in the background.

The cool bridge!

Look at this sweet bug... maybe not sweet but a cool shot.

I ♥ faces-Crazy, Silly, Funny Face

I had just barely graduated from BYU when I went on a celebratory car trip with my family up to Seattle, Vancouver, Victoria and surrounding areas. I was feeling a little giddy about finally being done with school and kept taking silly self-portraits along the way. This was one of my favorites that shows a glimpse of my euphoria from graduating.

Check out more Crazy, silly, Funny Faces at Iheartfaces.com.