From 19 March 2008 to 23 March 2008, I traveled to Washington, DC, USA to do two things:
1. Watch the 1st and 2nd Round of the 2008 NCAA Men's College Basketball Championship at the Verizon Center in downtown Washington, DC on Thursday 20 March 2008 and Saturday 22 March 2008
2. Be a tourist in Washington DC.
I accomplished many things during the trip...
- watch the 1st and 2nd round at a venue for the NCAA Men's College Basketball Champship...check!
- watch a team playing in the tournament from the college's campus while they are playing at another venue while they are playing a game in the tournament...check!
- visit the capitol of the USA...check!
So the saga began about a year ago, 2007, when I looked up the venues for this tournament in 2008. I discovered that one of the hosts was Georgetown University in Washington DC. I thought it would be awesome to attend the tournament, as well as explore a fantastic city. I decided to apply for these tickets, and in the meantime bought a pair of tickets straight from another host, North Carolina State where they would be playing in Raleigh. If I didn't get the DC tickets, I could at least go to NC. But, as of June 2007, I discovered that I was going to be a recipient of the DC tickets. So with the help of my friend John, I sold the NC tickets. As for my travel buddy, my friend Roy from college, graciously volunteered to attend the tournament with me. I was all set!! In February 2008, I received tickets to the DC game and we were all set.
This is Roy in his UCLA sweatshirt.
On Selection Sunday we found out who would be at our venue. Xavier vs. Georgia; Purdue vs. Baylor; West Virginia vs. Arizona; Duke vs. Belmont. We were definitely excited!!!
This is prior to tip off of the first of the 3 double headers we would be witnessing over the course of 2 days. I am SOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!! =) There weren't very many people when we got there, but by the end of the games, the place was packed!!
On Friday, our one full day away from the bball arena, Roy and I went on a bike tour of the sites around DC. One of the stops was in front of the White House. Many people were there camping out waiting to get tickets to the annual Easter Roll, which are handed out on a first come first serve basis. I looked very dorky, as always =) I must say though, my hair was less poofy for the rest of the day thanks to the helmet...
Another stop was along the World War 2 memorial. In the background is the reflecting pool and the Lincoln Memorial. 
This was taken from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the bike tour. The place was very crowded with tourists...so we fit right in =)
After the bike tour we roamed around town trying to find a place to watch the first set of basketball games for the day. We tried going to ESPN Zone and a few other restaurants (we even contemplated watching it at a McDonalds that had the game on. But we finally ended up at a place called Austin Grill where we saw Davidson beat Gonzaga, and Western Kentucky beat Drake. From there we decided to go up to the Georgetown area and go to the university there. So we trekked up the hill toward the Georgetown area and took a look at the very cute homes and shops. We ended up at Georgetown University (as pictured above). We managed to find the student center, and despite students being on spring break, we found the area that the game was being projected, and we watched Georgetown University beat UMBC. It was the first time that I had watched the game of the team that was playing from the actual university when they were not playing on campus. It was a lot of fun =)
We went back to the mall, and caught the sun set by the Lincoln Memorial. I decided that this was my favorite memorial among the many along the mall. It was great to be able to see the Washington Monument being reflected into the pool of water. 
On Saturday we went to the National Air and Space Museum, where some of the items from the Museum of American History was temporarily placed while that museum was under construction. There were many cool artifacts from American culture there, including THE Kermit the Frog. He's the best!
The Wright Brothers first flying airplane was on display at the National Air and Space Museum
Sunday was Easter. Prior to the trip, Roy had the brilliant idea of attending Easter service at the National Cathedral. We went to the 8am service, and got to attend Easter service with hundreds of people. The church itself is Episcopalian, and since that what my family is, I was pretty familiar with what was going on. The cathedral itself was gorgeous and huge!
