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2026 is only hours away and before it arrives, a lot of people will look in the rearview mirror and ask the question, “What was my favorite part of 2025?”
2026 is only hours away and before it arrives, a lot of people will look in the rearview mirror and ask the question, “What was my favorite part of 2025?”
WTOP asked tourists and locals on the National Mall that question and even with the extremely cold weather, people smiled as they looked back over the last 12 months.
Not all of us would call the same thing a highlight, but few of us wouldn’t agree that Amrita, who was visiting from California, shouldn’t truly be proud of her 2025.
“Starting med school,” said Amrita.
She did confirm that her family was incredibly happy, just like the mother of Warrenton, Virginia’s Meredith Wayland.
The 22-year-old said her highlight of 2025 was her summer internship.
“It was with the Cape Cod Baseball League,” said Wayland.
“The best part of 2025 is the success of my children,” said Meredith’s mom. “Her finding the college that she is at now. Third time’s charm.”
Meredith’s sister started her freshman year at VCU.
Leon was visiting the World War II Memorial and told WTOP that he was visiting from northern Germany.
“My highlight was visiting New York City and Washington, D.C.,” said Leon. “I wanted to come with my mother, but she’s sick and she can’t fly, so I’m doing it for her and sending her all the greatest pics.”
Not far from Leon was 17-year-old Isabelle, who is visiting the nation’s capital from New Jersey.
Isabelle, along with her mother and 10-year-old brother, headed to the Lincoln Memorial and she stopped and said what she would remember about 2025.
“I did my last MMA tournament,” said Isabelle.
Yes, Isabelle did confirm she was talking about the ground and pound world of Mixed Martial Arts. She’s been practicing since she was three years old.
“I’ve been doing it for 14 years,” said Isabelle. “We just walked into the place on accident, and ever since I just kept going.”
Move over ballet, Isabelle would rather do MMA.
Thanks to being from New Jersey, Isabelle and her family seemed prepared for chilly windy temps, unlike Mason and Stephanie.
The two from Orlando, Florida, walked across the street from the Washington Monument side of the National Mall toward the Lincoln Memorial as they stopped to chat with WTOP.
“We got a dog named Lancelot,” said Mason. “He was a Craigslist puppy.”
“He’s so smart, and I know he would love to be here. We want to bring him next time we want to drive up,” said Stephanie.
Before you roll your eyes and doubt that a Florida dog could handle the cold temps we have been dealing with over the last couple of days, you should know that Lancelot is part Husky and part Rottweiler.
While Orlando does sound like it would be nice and toasty, it’s only going to reach 56 degrees today, which is not as warm as the place Northern Virginia’s Lakshmi listed as her favorite part of the year.
“I went to go to Costa Rica with my friends,” said Lakshmi. “It was really fun.”
Lakshmi was playing tour guide in D.C. with friends from California, including Aditi, who said her highlight was passing the PhD qualifying exam.
Along with the ladies was their friend Arti, whose highlight of 2025 is something a lot of us can relate to.
“Just getting through it,” laughed Arti.
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Jimmy Alexander
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