The Traveling Vegan : Road Trip to Washington D.C.

I love traveling to new places and going on new adventures!  One challenging thing about traveling as a vegan / raw foodie is finding food that fits into your lifestyle/ diet.  Last September I wrote about my experience traveling to Maui and you can read about it here.  In this post I give tips about having food to eat on long airplane rides, road trips, and doing your research before you go to a new place so you know your options before you get there.  This past weekend I went on a road trip with my boyfriend and his family to Washington D.C.  We had a wonderful time touring D.C., visiting family, and we sustained the 12 hour car ride getting there and coming back home.  His family was supportive of my diet and always were concerned that we went to a restaurant that served food I could eat.  I was thankful for that. 
We began the trip to Washington D.C. on Friday morning and I was prepared.  I had a small cooler packed to feed a small army, complete with celery sticks, mock chicken salad, banana cookies, chocolate pudding, and tabbouleh.  I had my emergency stash of almonds packed away in my purse.  Our first stop was at Subway for lunch time.  If I absolutely had to eat something at Subway I would but their salads don't sound very appealing to me.  I brought in my mock chicken salad and tabbouleh salad to eat for lunch.  For snacks in the car I munched on my celery, banana cookies, and chocolate pudding, yum!  We got into Washington D.C. late that night and we went out to eat at a restaurant with some of my boyfriend's family living in Virginia.  I ordered a dinner salad, hold the cheese and croutons please!  I would have preferred an organic salad of course but since the option was not give to me I had to pick the best of what was offered.  
We stayed at a nice Holiday Inn hotel that offered complementary breakfast in the mornings.   I was skeptical about what food would be offered from experiences of other places offering mostly bagels with cream cheese and cereal.  However, I am happy to say I was pleasantly surprised to find I did have quite a bit of food to choose from.  They offered a large buffet with plenty of food that I could eat, including bananas, oranges, apples, plain oatmeal, honey, and tea.  Every morning I filled up with a large bowl of oatmeal topped with honey and bananas.  I had hot tea and orange juice to drink.  Normally I don't eat oatmeal or grains much for that matter.  I also typically eat fruit that is organic and / or from local farmers.  However, in this instance I had to compromise and pick the best I could from what was offered to me.  I really enjoyed eating the oatmeal and looked at it as a treat each morning, something special and out of the norm.  With the honey on top it tasted more like a dessert!
On Saturday we did sightseeing in Washington D.C.  We went to the Lincoln Memorial, saw the Washington Monument, took pictures in front of the White House (there it is at the top of the post!), and toured some Smithsonian museums.  We were on a time budget to see as much of D.C. in one day as possible.  Although there were a number of vegan and raw food restaurants I wanted to try I had to go with the flow.  If I was there on my own or with my boyfriend I would have made a point to try some new vegan restaurants.  Here again it is a compromise that has to be made when traveling with a group.  You don't always get to have your top pick of where to eat.  However, as a criticism to myself, if I had been a bit more prepared we might have been able to go to a vegan restaurant.  I knew the names of some places I would like to try but I did not take the extra step to get the address and have a good idea of their locations so we could easily find them.  The weather was beautiful on Saturday and we had a nice time touring the beautiful city.  For dinner that night my boyfriend's sister (who lives there) and her boyfriend made dinner for all of us!  They made potatoes, asparagus and fish for dinner with an ambrosia salad for dessert.  I enjoyed the potatoes with olive oil and sea salt on top and the asparagus was delicious and a treat since I never tend to make it myself.  The ambrosia salad was a dessert that was especially made vegan so that I could partake in it as well.  It was a delicious fruit salad filled with pineapple, grapes, strawberries, bananas, and coconut flakes.  This mixture was in orange juice and I was so happy with this wonderful dessert!  It was so refreshing after a long day of touring and walking the city.
On Sunday we had lunch with my sweetie's great uncle and his wife.  They took us to a Mexican buffet.  I was hoping a Mexican buffet would surely have avocados and guacamole but they didn't!  They did have a large mixed salad, a large variety of fresh cut fruit (including pineapple, cantaloupe, honey dew, strawberries, and papaya.  I filled up mostly on these items.  Sunday night for dinner we grilled out on his sisters boyfriend's sailboat.  They grilled corn and tofu for me to eat.  The tofu had a nice seasoning on top of it.  Again I had to make another compromise as I do not normally eat tofu and don't eat corn unless I am sure it is not genetically modified.  However, I did eat and enjoy both of the items.
On Monday I had my last breakfast at the buffet offered by the hotel but I made sure to have two large bowls of oatmeal.  I was not sure what my food choices would look like for the long drive home and so I wanted to make sure I was extra full.  We ended up stopping at Wendy's on the way home and I ordered two baked potatoes.  I seasoned them with chives and salt.  Overall, it was a wonderful weekend, everyone was gracious and supportive of the way that I eat and I was thankful for that.  Although I had to make some compromises to my diet I did not have to compromise the fundamentals of my vegan diet.  I enjoyed the new variety of the asparagus, oatmeal, and the ambrosia salad which I totally want to make!
Since returning it has taken a while for me to get back into the swing of things with unpacking and getting over that long car ride!  Please share your experiences traveling as a vegan.  What are the challenges you have experienced and how have you dealt with them?