Monday June 7, 2010
Another birthday spent on the road for Helen. At least we didn't spend the day driving home like we have on other trips. She's a good sport about it and likes that we're all together doing something we enjoy. Neither one of us is a big gift person so this is a great way to spend a birthday.
We got in late the night before and stayed at the Hampton Inn in Alexandria, Virginia. I would have liked to have stayed in the heart of DC, but we weren't really familiar with the city and the hotels in the city were much more expensive. I had read that staying in Alexandria or one of the other suburbs on the Metro train line was a good way to see DC.
DC was probably the main place we were looking forward to seeing on our trip. When people would ask the boys where they were going for the summer, they would say "Washington DC". Here we were 11 days into the trip and we were just making it to DC. Helen had been to DC as a kid, but I had never been.
The sweltering heat wave we ran into in Williamsburg a few days earlier had, thankfully, broken and we had the best weather in DC. The highs were in the low 80's with very low humidity. It felt almost fall like. I always hear people talk about how uncomfortable DC is when it's hot and we were so thankful for the change in weather.
We took the hotel shuttle to the southern most Metro station, King Station, and from there took the train into the city to the Archives-Naval Memorial Metro station. We passed by Ronald Reagan airport and other sites.
It was a magical feeling emerging from the subway below to the beautiful fountain filled Naval Memorial plaza across from the National Archives. We strolled around the plaza and the kids played in the fountains.
We walked across the street to the National Archives and waited in a fairly short line to see all major documents: Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Magna Carta, etc.. There are about 20 or so documents housed in a darkened rotunda and people are let in in groups to stroll around the rotunda to look at the documents. Pretty neat to see the actual documents.
Of course there were no photographs allowed. We would find that to be the case in many places. There were lots of neat things we saw, but weren't allowed to photograph.
We walked a couple blocks to the National Mall and the visitor center for the Smithsonian which is housed in a cool old castle looking building. We had lunch at the castle and looked around at some exhibits.
We strolled around the Mall looking at the Washington Monument and bunch of other amazing buildings. It was really a "kid in the candy store" feeling for me. Everywhere I turned there were famous buildings and places. I think I had a big grin on my face the whole time.
We walked and we walked and then we walked some more. I told Helen that I was sure we walked more than we did at Disney World. We walked up to the Capitol Building, all the way around the Mall, around the Tidal Basin to all the memorials (Jefferson, FDR, Korean War, Vietnam War), and back to the southern end of the Mall and the Lincoln Memorial.
We were in awe the whole time. The weather was unbelievable, the people were nice and there were enough of them to make it fun, but not overcrowded. The kids were great. Even little Adam who probably isn't old enough to appreciate a lot of the places, was a real trooper. He walked his little tail off like the rest of us.
There were all kinds of tour buses with kids and adults. Some of the kids were a little annoying in that you could tell they didn't have the reverance or respect for the places that they should have. They were laughing and loud talking at some of the solemn memorials, etc.. It was nice, however, not to have to deal with a bunch of overweight and\or slow people walking around or on those despicable scooters clogging up things like in Disney World. It seems like the people that had trouble getting around took the tour buses and didn't bother even trying to walk around. The town had an active healthy vibe to it.
I loved seeing the memorial to my main man, Thomas Jefferson, and I tried not to throw up while I strolled through the FDR (socialist) memorial. I thought the Vietnam War Memorial was nice, but I was blown away by the Korean War Memorial - Wow! What a haunting memorial.
The Korean War Memorial shows what appears to be a platoon of life sized soldiers walking as if on patrol - many staring right at you and through you as you walk among them. There's also a wall like the Vietnam Memorial, but the Korean Memorial wall has images of people's faces hauntingly looking at you. Very powerful stuff. I'm always reminded of Saving Private Ryan where Private Ryan as an old guy is visiting the graveyard where the soldiers that died saving him are buried and he tearfully turns to his wife and asks her if he's lived his life in a way that honors the other's who sacrificed their lives to save his. That's what it's all about - living with honor.
It was dark by the time we made it to the Lincoln Memorial, but there were still people everywhere. The whole Mall area felt safe and festive. I loved it.
We were exhausted and hungry and it was almost 10 pm, but we willed ourselves up Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House. We asked one of the soldiers if he had any restaurant recommendations. He pointed us to the nearby Old Ebbitt Grill, which turned out to be perfect. The place was hopping with activity, but we were able to get seated right away. People were still streaming in after us. We told our waitress how we loved that the city was still bustling with activity and it was a Monday. She said they were open until 1:00 am and that people would be streaming in the whole time. That's my kind of town - service at any hour.
We contemplated dessert, especially since it was Helen's birthday, but we were stuffed. It was a good thing because when we got to the closest Metro station the worker told us the trains stopped running at midnight and that there would be no more trains on that line. She walked us out of the station and pointed in the direction of the MCI Center station several blocks away. She said we could make it if we ran. We ran and barely made it. I guess we would have had to take an expensive cab ride if we had missed the train. Whew - nothing like a little excitement to finish off a great day!
No comments:
Post a Comment