The first year my family started this tradition of going on a big summer trip was in the summer of 2006. We went to Washington D.C. When we went to D.C. we stayed at the Hotel Washington. This hotel had the view of the White House. The hotel had a restaurant on top of the building, and when you sat up there you could see the body guards on top of the White House. When I went to Washington D.C., my family did a lot of site seeing. We went to places like the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Memorial, and we even got to go into the White House. Little did me and my sister know, my mom and dad surprised me and my sister with a surprise visit from our best friends from Iowa. The rest of our trip then was spent with our friends, we went to this restaurant and to enter you had to knock on the door. Washington D.C. has late night bike rides you can take to get a view of the night. This was a very fun trip, if you like looking at important documents and learning about the history of our country, this is the place for you. Washington D.C. was a great trip, but the best part was when our friends came.