This last week, Emily and I traveled to Maryland to visit our good friends Matt and Agnes (Click to read about Emily’s 10-year friendship with Agnes here!) It was an awesome trip. We visited Washington DC, got a lot of time with Matt and Agnes, and got to share about India with their amazing church community!
Here are some pictures of our wonderful trip! We hope you enjoy them:
The first thing we saw on our trip to DC was the White House.
It’s much more familiar from behind, though.
Obligatory White House picture!
Next we went to the WW2 Memorial. Here it is with the Washington Monument in the background.
A tile on the floor
And the statue above it
Depictions of WW2 scenes.
Emily and Agnes with the Lincoln Memorial in the background.
Had to get this one… I was born in Tennessee!
Matt and Agnes at the WW2 Memorial
Next we made our way to the Lincoln Memorial.
I was excited because Lincoln has been sort of a hero of mine for the last few years.
Emily and Agnes needed another friend picture on the steps of the Memorial.
And here we are (with Matt photobombing us in the background!)
Us with Lincoln!
I was surprised with how huge he was!
I really liked the inscription on the wall!
And of course there was the Gettysburg Address.
On the outside of the memorial, there’s a stone specially marked where MLK stood when he gave the Dream Speech.
Me standing where Dr. King was!
There’s a great view of the Washington Monument with the Capitol from behind it when you come out of the Lincoln Monument.
Us with Washington in the background.
Emily’s getting to be a pretty good photographer! (And I am often the subject)
Here I am “emancipating” the drinks from the vending machine.
The entrance to the MLK Memorial
Inscription on the side.
Here we are with Dr. King!
One of my favorite figures from American history.
The walls are covered with his quotes. I really liked this one.
And this one of course makes me think of India…
View of the JFK Memorial from MLK.
Our expert tour guides!
The Washington Monument was being restored because of an earthquake which cracked it in several places.
Capitol hill.
Smithsonian
“Run!!”
I had lots of fun with the T-Rex, obviously.
They had an exhibit where you could watch archaeologists removing fossils from the rocks!
Emily really liked this temporary exhibit about natural disasters and how people have rebuilt after them.
This one spoke to us, obviously. 🙂
And wouldn’t you know it? There was an exhibit about India!
More specifically, about Indians in America.
This is a photo project an Indian woman did to highlight the differences between Native American “Indians” and actual Indians. The confusion of names is a source of frustration for Indian Americans.
This one was powerful. In the wake of 9/11, Sikhs were often mistaken for Muslim Extremists, simply because they wear turbans.
Probably our favorite piece, it celebrates the rich diversity of Indian races, as opposed to the light skinned Northern Indian standard of beauty that Bollywood encourages.
We got to take a tour of the Capitol!
Inside the rotunda of the Capitol.
The famous signing of the Declaration that we’ve all seen in our history books.
I got to stand where Lincoln’s desk once stood
Rosa Parks got the best seat in the house (of Representatives) 🙂
The Washington version of Lady Liberty is quite different from the one in New York!
MLK statue in the Capitol
A great friend.
Sojourner Truth in the Capitol
The Supreme Court.
We weren’t allowed to take pictures in the main part of the Holocaust Museum, but the kids section had a recreation of a Jewish ghetto in it…
At the end, kids wrote notes to a boy who lived through the Holocaust. This one wrecked me…
The Hall of Remembrance in the Holocaust Museum.
Close up.
The Baltimore skyline.
We went to a “Visionary Art Museum” but were not allowed to take pictures inside.
There was a sweet basketball court with the Maryland flag painted on it though!
We also got to go with Matt and Agnes to a volleyball game they had. They’re team is called the “Setting Ducks” and yes, we made them signs. 🙂
Matt’s height really makes him a great volleyball player!
As does Agnes’… erm… tenacity… 🙂 #Spunky #LOUD
Matt’s sister is on their team and it was her birthday!
And did we mention it SNOWED?!
5.6 inches!!!
There was lots of excitement from us Texans…
And snowballs…
And frolicking…
And snowman building!
Agnes oversaw the project as our resident expert on snow.
My first ever snowman! We named him Kumar!
One of our favorite parts of visiting was getting to meet Matt and Agnes’ community and sharing our hearts for India with them. They’re an incredible group of world-changers!
The Everflow 
Just wanted you to know that Sergio showed up on the ad at the bottom of your post. He’s always there. Always watching.
Haha, I guess you can always count on Sergio!