This
week was exciting and exhausting! Greg was off for the entire week
and we explored ALL day, EVERY day. We stayed at Cherry Hill Park
which looks like an awesome place to stay. I say that because we
didn't get to experience the things they offered because we were
basically only there to sleep. But the day of our arrival, the kids
played in their new splash park and we went to their very helpful,
one-hour talk on exploring and getting around DC.
The
campground was full hook up, had laundry facilities, cable,
putt-putt, 2 pools, the splash pad, at least a couple of playscape
areas and a bus stop right in the park. It was only about a 10
minute drive to the train station to take us into DC. Because there
are four of us, it was cheaper for us to drive and park at the
train station rather than ride the bus there but I thought it was
great that the bus system also offered like four buses in the morning
that went from the campground directly to the train without any
additional stops.
There is
soooo much to see and do in DC! One week is not enough although my
body would suggest otherwise :) Are you ready? Here comes the
pictures!
White
House and Visitor's Center (even
though we tried six months in advance, we were not able to get a
tour)
(Our close up White House picture-fake, of course, since you just can't get THAT close)
The real picture :)
(North lawn)
(South lawn)
Archives
(we tried to view the original Constitution and Declaration of
Independence but the line was too long and we ran short on time)
Supreme
Court
We
missed the decision on Gay Marriage
by just 3 days but were waiting outside with the news crews as
they were awaiting the decisions regarding using Independent Redistricting Committees and when the EPA must consider costs in the Clean Air Act.
It was fun to watch the interns run across the front steps of the
Supreme Court building with the decisions and then watch the news
crews do their stories LIVE.
Arlington
National Cemetery
By
recommendation, we chose a hop-on hop-off trolley ride here. It was
a good decision with all of the hills and walking, even though our trolley
broke down trying to make it up a hill.
Changing
of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
John
F. Kennedy's burial site and the Arlington
House (built
by George Washington's step-grandson and adopted son, George
Washington Parke Custis and later a home of Robert E. Lee after
marrying into the family).
Iwo
Jima Memorial
Pentagon
9/11 Memorial
Library
of Congress
This was a beautiful building inside!!! A must see.
This was a beautiful building inside!!! A must see.
(reading room)
National
Gallery of Art Sculpture
Gardens
(didn't get any sculpture pictures, just a fountain one)
Washington
National Cathedral
This
place was gorgeous! Construction on the cathedral began in 1907 and
was completed in 1990. It is the 6th
largest in the world. It is shaped like a cross with the nave being
a tenth of a mile.
The
stained glass windows were beautiful. This one is from the
Lee-Jackson Bay. It shows the Confederate flag and with the recent
controversy of the flag, a decision has been made to remove it (so of course, I had to get a picture of it before it is changed).
Here's a couple of the other chapels
and a really pretty mosaic high on the wall in another chapel.
International
Spy Museum
the
kids were super excited about this but quickly disappointed. It was
interesting and I would have enjoyed checking it out some more but it
was SO crowded and the kids lost interest. I don't like having to
push through other people just to view the displays. We left after a
couple of hours. It was one of the few things we did that we had to
pay for.
Jefferson
Memorial
FDR Memorial
MLK, Jr. Memorial
("Out of the Mountain of Despair, A Stone of Hope")
Korean
War Memorial
I really liked this one. We saw it lit up at night and then again in the rain during the day. It made it that much more realistic.
Vietnam
War Memorial
(well it was pouring on us when we made it to this one and the one picture I snapped was a complete failure)
World
War II Memorial
Albert
Einstein Memorial
Washington
Monument
And
I saved my Top 5 FAVORITES
for last:
#5
Capital Tour
I
wasn't overly amazed by this but I really liked it because of what it
is and what it represents. We had a great, captivating guide that
reminded us both of Kenneth from the TV series 30 Rock!
After
the guided portion, we visited both the House and Senate Galleries
(no pictures allowed)
And then we stopped by the offices of our state Senators
#4
Lincoln Memorial
We
visited this memorial during the day and at night and I just think it
is such a beautiful monument. It's so massive and Lincoln is so
grand and just glows up there on his chair!
And it made a wonderful backdrop for getting a Junior Ranger badge! ;)
#3
Smithsonian Museum
of Natural History
We
could have spent days here.
There were so many awesome things to
see:
Real Easter Island statues,
Real mummies,
hissing cockroaches (ick!),
THE Hope Diamond,
real giant squids, animals that we have never
seen or heard of before.. The list goes on!
#2
Smithsonian Air
and Space Museum Wow!
is what you say when you walk into this place. They have some really
great things on display here. So many REAL artifacts
Most of it is original, including many
of Orville and Wilbur Wright's fliers.
(THE ACTUAL Wright Flyer)
They also offered docent led
guided tours of the museum which we opted for. It was fantastic!
The kids petered out after an HOUR but Greg continued on the tour for
another hour until it ended.
(THE ACTUAL Spaceship One. First privately funded spaceship)
(ACTUAL Lunar Lander meant for unmanned Earth-orbit flight)
#1
Udvar-Hazy Center
National Air & Space Museum (actually
in Chantilly, VA) So
what do you do with aircraft that is too big to bring into the city
of DC for the Air & Space Museum? You build another location to
house them and this is where it is. This place was beyond awesome.
Since we enjoyed the docent guided tour at the first museum, we opted
for it again here and it was another fantastic two hour tour.
Some
of the coolest things were:
THE Space Shuttle Discovery
A REAL SR 71 Blackbird
THE Enola Gay that dropped the first atomic bomb
and
a REAL Air France Supersonic Concorde
And here's a couple more neat things
(Huge restoration hanger. This is just half.
Notice the Space Shuttle in the background!)
(Jacob is not too sure about this helicopter)
(And this is just wild!)
I
am not so sure the kids would be excited if we told them in
the future that we were headed back to DC because
I don't think they enjoyed it as much as Greg
and I
did. It was A LOT of walking and seeing things that they were just
not interested in. They were troopers and did amazingly well. We
made sure to try to get pictures of them with most of these things so
that when we study them more they will be excited to see that they
have been there and seen it, making them feel a little more connected to the
history.
Of
course they did enjoy some of it and since they had watched Night at the
Museum previously some things felt familiar.
We
also had a good time on the Metro rail station and by the end of our
time there, the kids were getting a hang of reading the system map
and figuring out how much further and where we were going. At one
point, Jacob and Daddy got separated from Jordan and I when the doors
shut between us but fortunately we had made plans in advance for what
to do and we met up with no problem.
And
since our time there ended on the Fourth of July, we had one last
amazing experience. We got to watch the fireworks display from the
steps of the Lincoln Memorial and over the reflecting pool! (Check out the crowd!)
The kids
found other kids to play with while we waited a couple of hours and
we found some friendly neighbors to chat with.
The
haziness of the sky definitely affected the fireworks we could see
but it was still extremely awesome. They even had fireworks that
made smiley faces and ones that spelled out USA.
So long for now! We are heading back to NY.
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