Race Expo and Matchbox Pizza

Saturday mornings are for race expos!

The Cherry Blossom Expo was huge! It was in the National Building Museum, which was in Chinatown. There were so many vendors. The line for pickup was snaking outdoor onto the sidewalk. It moved quickly, I got my race bib and t-shirt.

I’m in the orange corral, or the fourth wave for the 9:00/milers. A little ambitious? Maybe…

Chris’ friend Jess met Alicia and I at the expo (she’s running the 5K!) so after picking up our packets Jess brought us to Matchbox Pizza! Matchbox was the restaurant we were looking for Friday night, but never found. It was tucked away.

The vibe in the restaurant was really cool. I had heard good things about their pizza! I started with a small salad with balsamic dressing, cheese and a parmesan crisp. The salad was awesome.

We ordered the veggie pizza, topped with cremini mushrooms, spanish onions, roasted poblano peppers, roasted garlic, mozzarella, fresh herbs and fingerling potato crisps (!). The crisps were the best part! They added a nice crunch to the pizza. I loved it!

Gotta load up on carbs…

I was really impressed with the pizza here! They also had brunch on the menu, which was extremely temping!

After Matchbox, Alicia and I parted ways with Jess and we headed to the Museum of Natural History.

We saw the Capitol on the way.

It had just started to rain as we walked toward the Museum, perfect timing, I say.

There was so much to see in the museum.

An entirely crotched and knitted coral reef. Cool, huh?

I also saw the Hope Diamond, but it was almost impossible to get a picture of it since it was so crowded in the room it was in. People were everywhere. I did manage to get a shot of this emerald necklace, though.

We also saw the orchid exhibit.

There is just so much to see in this city, it impossible to do it all in one day! The Museum of Natural History was awesome–but so crowded. Probably because it was free and also it was raining. It reminded me a lot of the one in New York City. So much to see and do!!!