TNNA Recap + DC Sightseeing!

I was pretty excited when I heard that this year's Summer TNNA show was in DC. I've never been there, so it seemed like the perfect way to see a bit of the Capitol, which otherwise I probably wouldn't visit because I have so many cities and countries higher on the list. I earmarked Monday afternoon/evening for sightseeing and booked a flight out the next day. But before I get to all that - I should probably talk about the show! 

This is my 6th (or maybe 7th?) TNNA, so it was pretty much what I anticipated. Friday opened with the fashion show, and if that is any indication of what's to come this fall, you better start knitting a giant gray poncho NOW. Seriously, there were a lot of flowy, oversized garments walking the runway! Most of Saturday and Sunday was spent walking the show floor when I wasn't in meetings. Here are just a few of my favorite things which I remembered to photograph (there are so many more I totally forgot to snap photos in, oops!).

A new linen blend yarn from Manos.

Adorable mugs from Stuff You Love. 

All of the hand-dyed yarn from Ancient Arts.

Adorable knitted sheep from Kraemer Yarns.

Everything in the Red Gate Stitchery booth was incredibly cute.

I had a few more client meetings on Monday morning, then was free as a bird to sightsee. Of course, I was pretty tired at this point and nearly napped away the afternoon til it was time to meet my friend Allyson (of Holla Knits and Sweatshop of Love fame) to go to the Nationals game. Somehow, I made myself head out into the oppressive heat to walk around for several hours. I went through Chinatown...

Then walked by several Smithsonian museums to arrive at the Washington Monument. All of the flags were at half mast due to the recent tragedy in Orlando; it was a sad but striking image.

At this point I was pretty tired, but I knew I should keep going. I continued to the next site, the World War II Memorial, which is just before the reflecting pool. 

And then walked up the nightmare of steps to see Mr. Lincoln. It was fun to play "count the selfies" while taking it all in.

I lingered a bit to enjoy the shade, took a moment to enjoy the reflection of the Washinton monument in the reflecting pool, then pressed on to the Vietnam War Memorial. 

This one had lots of mementos for loved ones, and I overheard a lot of folks talking about when they or their loved ones served.

After that was a long, sweaty walk to swing by the White House. Everyone says it's quite small, and guess what? They're right! Also, I love taking photos of other people taking photos....this lady's pose is classic.

From there, it was a 20 minute walk back to the hotel down New York Street. I'm not terrible with directions, but I do appreciate having Siri navigate me when I'm in unfamiliar territory. DC was actually pretty easy to get around in, and I even successfully used their mass transit to get to and from the airport and the ball game. Speaking of which, I got back to the hotel with just barely enough time to take a quick shower to freshen up and get out to Nationals park.

Turns out that Allyson had a friend with season tickets who couldn't make the game, so he gave them both to us! Score! We met up at this cool outdoor bar that was basically a parking lot with old train cars stacked up as walls. There were food and beer vendors, some games and a live band playing terrible covers. We had a hard time taking a decent selfie to commemorate the experience, but you get the idea. 

We could walk to the stadium from there (we basically just had to cross a street) and then we took in the game! The last baseball game I went to was Royals at White Sox earlier this year, and man, are Sox fans blasé. It was night and day - Nats fans are really into it, much like Royals fans, so it was a really fun game to watch. 

I flew home the next day feeling really relaxed, which I don't think has ever happened after a trade show. Perhaps I should make a point to do a little sightseeing more often!