I woke up early and waited in line for tickets for the Washington Monument and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. It was nice getting out and about early without the usual family production.
Some inscriptions at the Holocaust Memorial Museum
Even the Forest Service has a visitor center
White House Visitor Center
I read that the Old Post Office Building had nice views of the city and they were right
I brought the rest of the family back later to see the views from the Old Post Office Building and the boys thought the roof top gardens looked fun
The rest of the family arrives after sleeping in while I waited in line for tickets
Is that Obama in the helicopter?
Adam in his usual position of resting on Helen while we wait for our Washington Monument tour time
View west from Washington Monument towards Lincoln Memorial
The boys check out the Jefferson Memorial
View east across the National Mall to the Capitol Building
View north to the White House
The boys look down onto the plaza of the World War II Memorial
Orientation video at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing
The boys really enjoyed watching money being printed - no cameras were allowed - and no free samples
We had lunch in the food court at the Old Post Office Building
The boys looking out from the observation deck of the Old Post Office Building
There was an electronics store in the food court area that kept catching Adam on video as he walked by
We walked all the way to the other end of the mall to the Capitol Building
There are so many picturesque views all around the city
The back side of the Capitol. There was always some sort of rally going on.
The Supreme Court - closed of course by the time we got there. It was frustrating that we didn't get around to taking official tours of the Capitol, the Supreme Court, or the White House. If they would just stay open later than normal business hours.
The Library of Congress was the most beautiful building, but like a lot of the places in DC - no photographs allowed of the main reading room
Nice horse
Adam wants to stop by the Botanical Garden entrance again to see the bird nest he had seen the day before
We didn't have time to tour the National Museum of the American Indian, but I really liked the design of the building
Derek really wanted to tour the National Air and Space Museum, but it was closing so we said we would try to get there the following day. So much to do, so many people to please, and so little time.
The Hirshhorn Museum of Modern Art was another place that we didn't get to, but I thought the building looked cool
We did get a couple hours at the National Museum of Natural History since it stayed open for extended hours. We still didn't begin to see all the great stuff that was in the place.
Helen always thinks Moose are just the cutest things
We walked all the way around to the memorials again because Derek really wanted to make an etching at the Vietnam War Memorial
Derek making another etching at the Korean War Memorial
The memorials all lit up at night give them a totally different feel. It's worth the effort to see them in the day and at night.
World War II Memorial
It was another hump it from one place to another all day long kind of day. No time to stop for dinner. When we got back to the hotel I drove to Wendy's and we had a midnight dinner in the hotel room. Out early and back late - now that's my kind of day.
Our dogs were barking so we all soaked our feet in some ice water in the tubTuesday June 8, 2010
One of the great things about DC is that many of the museums, monuments, etc are free. Well not actually free if you pay taxes so I guess I should say there's no additional charge. Most places you can just walk right in, but there are some places that require tickets - even though the tickets are free.
I woke up early and headed out alone to get tickets to the Washington Monument and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. It was so nice to travel light and alone. It was a beautiful morning and I really enjoyed "my" time.
After getting the tickets I toured around some and then met the rest of the family at the Archives Metro stop. I got a fairly early tour time so they had to rush a little to make it. We enjoyed both tours and thought that waiting in line for the tickets was worth the effort.
We had lunch at the food court in the Old Post Office Building. Derek asked the security guards which place served the best hamburgers. Adam was excited there was a Panda Express like chinese place where he could get some chicken and rice. After lunch we took the tour to the observation deck for some great views of the city.
We walked and walked and walked just like we did the day before all around the National Mall seeing all that we could see. We ended up back at the memorials in the evening. The memorials are really beautiful when they are lit up at night.
When you walk around the city and hear the conversations going on you can tell that there are some highly educated and intelligent people in that town (Gatlinburg it ain't). Maybe misguided, but educated and intelligent nonetheless. There were also plenty of groups out walking, running, biking, boating, etc. We loved the active and intelligent feel of the city.
On the trip back on the Metro we ran into huge crowds returning from the Washington Nationals baseball game. It turns out it was the first Major League game for rookie phenom, Stephen Strasburg, and the stadium had sold out.
All in all another jam packed beautiful day and we really enjoyed ourselves.
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