DC Day 3

Wednesday, July 11th-

Because we missed touring the National Mall on Sunday evening, we were all anxious to see some of the monuments. We changed our original plans to visit the Museum of Natural History and made our way to the Mall. We first visited the Lincoln Memorial. We then went to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and then to the World War II Memorial. We wanted to see the Korean War Memorial as well but by that time it was getting pretty hot and we were hungry.

We made our way to Penn Quarter via the metro and had lunch at Potbelly. We arrived at Ford’s Theatre at 1:00. We really enjoyed the museum. We were able to see the gun that John Wilkes Booth used to shoot Abraham Lincoln as well as the suit that Lincoln was wearing when he died and the pillow he died on. Amazing stuff to see. We were able to take pictures inside the theatre and go up to the balcony level to take pictures right beside the presidential box.

We then made our way to the Petersen House, across the street. We only had a 5 minute wait to enter the house. Although you only see three rooms of the house, it is still incredible to stand in the room where Lincoln died. We thought the Center for Education and Leadership connected to the Petersen House was great. It has wonderful exhibits about the aftermath of Lincoln’s assassination and the capture of John Wilkes Booth. We spent quite a while in there.

We left the Petersen House and headed to our 3:00 timed entry at National Archives. Incredible to be able to view the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights. Most of the documents are difficult to make out, but we were still impressed with the fact that we were able to see them. We spent some time afterward looking at the other displays at the National Archives.

We then caught the metro back to Crystal City. We had sandwiches in our room that night and did some more swimming in the hotel pool. Another great DC day!

DC Day Two

Tuesday, July 10th-

We started the day with a 9:00 Capitol tour led by an intern from one of our senator's offices. This is definitely the way to go for the Capitol tour. Our tour was just our family. We were able to ask questions and stay very engaged. We saw other tours with groups of 50 or more. We also were able to ride the "subway" from the Russell Senate Building to the Capitol and the kids really enjoyed this. After the tour, we received gallery passes and were able to view both the House of Representatives and the Senate in session. Not much action in either chamber but still very interesting and great to see in person.

Following the Capitol tour, we took the tunnel to the Library of Congress. We looked around here on our own. Such a beautiful building. We went outside and took pictures by the Supreme Court (currently covered in scaffolding) and in front of the Capitol. We then made our way to Union Station for lunch.

We next went to the Postal Museum (right next door). This is a small museum but all four of the kids really liked it. They have more hands on exhibits than some of the other museums. We stayed here for about an hour or so and then headed to Arlington Cemetery.

By the time we got to Arlington, it was about 3 pm. It was pretty warm, so we decided to pay for the tram tour. This turned out to be a good choice as the cemetery is rather large and hilly. We got off at all three stops (Kennedy gravesites, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and Arlington House). We were really impressed with the changing of the guards ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. In addition, the view from Arlington House was great.

After Arlington, we headed back to our hotel for dinner and more swimming.

                                          Capitol Rotunda

                                          Riley at the Capitol

                                         Steve and Trent in the Library of Congress

                                          Jana and Riley in the Library of Congress
                                       

                                          Riley outside the Library of Congress

                                          The Library of Congress

                                          Supreme Court

                                          The Capitol

                                          The Capitol
                             

                                          John and Jackie Kennedy

                                          The Kennedy gravesites

                                          Arlington Cemetery

                                          Changing of the Guards

                                          Tomb of the Unknown  Soldier

                                          Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
 

                                          Arlington Cemetery

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.


Dorothy's Slippers from The Wizard of Oz


The original Kermit the Frog


Archie Bunker's chair

Laura Bush's dress


Abraham Lincoln's hat


George Washington's suit

Piece of the Berlin Wall


Pieces of the World Trade Center


The lighted, moving sidewalk-much neater than the picture appears


Claude Monet's Waterlilies

DC or Bust

We went to DC from Sunday, July 8th to Saturday, July 14th. 

Sunday, July 8th-

We left home around 8 am. We visited the Flight 93 Memorial in Stoystown, PA en route to DC.   The memorial is only about a third completed but was still humbling to see.  The rock marks the place where the plane hit the ground and is considered their burial ground. 

We had originally planned to see some of the monuments on Sunday evening. Due to very heavy traffic the last few hours of traveling, we didn't make it to DC in time. We ate dinner at a restaraunt close to the hotel, swam in the pool and called it a night.