Howell Happenings: DC Day One

Monday, July 9th- We were at the American History Museum when they opened at 10am. This was by far our favorite museum. There were so many things we loved. I loved the sections on the American Presidency and Americans At War. The American Stories (pop culture) section was also a hit. Riley loved the First Ladies dresses. Seeing the Star Spangled Banner was also a treat. We felt like we had this museum to ourselves. Not sure why but there were very few people there in the three hours that we visited. We were able to see everything without any lines at all. Fantastic! We went to lunch at the Cascade Cafe in the National Gallery of Art. The kids also loved the waterfall and moving sidewalk between the two buildings. After lunch we spent some time exploring the museum. The building is beautiful and it was surreal to see so many famous works of art. I especially loved seeing the Monets. After browsing the National Gallery of Art for an hour, we headed in the direction of the White House. We were not able to get the White House tour, so we made a quick stop by the White House Visitors Center. We didn't think this was worthwhile, so we spent only a few minutes visiting there. We proceeded on toward the White House. We walked around the White House and took pictures on both sides. Steve even got in a quick anti-Obama shot. Ha! After the White House, we walked to the Old Post Office to get the tower view. The tower view was great but the rest of the building was shamefully run down. It isn't at all like I remember it from 20 years ago. We took the metro back to Arlington. We had dinner at Good Stuff Eatery and swam in the pool.