DC Day 3: Walking, walking, and more walking. (And Monuments)!

Our third day in DC, we planned to hit the National Mall for monuments. But first, the International Spy Museum!

We stopped at a Starbucks on the way to the spy museum, and then headed straight there. The Spy museum is a fun museum if you like James Bond movies. Nile wanted to go since Nate went two years ago. We moved through it fairly quickly, as I don't think he liked it quite as much as Nate had. We were through there in about an hour.

We stopped on the way back at Paul, the coffee shop where we had eaten breakfast the prior morning. Nile had been wanting to try one of their macarons, since Nate had talked about the "horrible pistachio macaron" he ate there. Nile opted for vanilla and thought that it was great.  While we were there, we put together a game plan for the rest of the morning.  We discussed heading to the White House, but Nile wanted to skip that and just head to the monuments. So, we started at the Washington monument after a quick walk through a sculpture garden on the way.

Holding up the Washington Monument

We made our way through the whole Mall, hitting all the major monuments. Nile liked the WWII monument best.

WWII Memorial

On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial

Selfie at the Lincoln Memorial

FDR memorial

FDR memorial

We finished up around 12:30 after walking around the Tidal Basin to the Jefferson Memorial. It was lunch time, so we found a small sandwich shop a few blocks away and walked there.

After lunch we headed back to the hotel, where Nile lasted about 10 minutes before wanting to head back out. So we walked up to the Hirshhorn art museum and spent an hour looking at modern art. The main exhibit was on 80's art, so it was colorful and interesting.

Back to the hotel to regroup. We rested about an hour, then decided to walk to the Capitol building on our way to an early dinner.

Just one more picture, please?

Dinner was at an English pub, literally tucked away in a corner. It was a small place but the food was good.

After that we were pretty tired so we headed back to the hotel and called it a day. We had an early flight and we had walked just over 11 miles. We watched some TV and hung out there for the rest of the night.

It was a great trip.

DC Day 2: Air and Space Museum

A highlight of every trip to DC is the National Air and Space Museum. That was our singular goal for Sunday. 

In the morning, since the museum doesn’t open until 10, we headed to a coffee shop for breakfast. 

My breakfast: Leek Quiche with Greens and black coffee.

Coffee.

My breakfast.

Nile’s breakfast: Apple Turnover pastry, Lemon tart, and a mocha. With three extra sugars. 😂

The Lemon Tart.  It was really good.

After that, since it was only 9:30, we headed back to the hotel briefly before walking the single block to the Air and Space Museum. We joined the line of people waiting to enter and got in a little after 10 am. 

Not thrilled to be waiting in line.

As always, we enjoyed exploring the museum. We saw two movies: “Dark Universe” narrated by Neil Degrasse Tyson, and “D-Day 3D” narrated by Tom Brokaw. Both were fantastic. 

We finished up at the museum around 1:30and headed back to the hotel for a late lunch. 

Space: the lunar module

Bullets.  In many sizes. 

Tickets

Very stylish glasses

After lunch, we called for a ride to Arlington National Cemetery. We had pre-purchased a tour of the cemetery, which ended up being a good thing. Our tour started at 3:30, and we ended up on an open-air cart. It was a bit chilly. As we didn't have a ton of time, we opted to stay on the cart and didn't get a chance to see everything. However, the tour buses came around every 15 minutes and we knew we wouldn't have time if we got off a lot.

Then the evening was capped by a trip to watch the Washington Wizards play the New York Knicks. It was fun, and we had seats behind the sideline reporter for the Knicks TV broadcast. (She's the blonde in the photo).

Our seats

The view from our seats

After the game we had one more stop, to a gelato place that Nate and I had visited two years ago. It was as good as I remembered, although Nile was not as impressed. I had chocolate chocolate chip and black tea, while he had vanilla and chocolate hazelnut.

DC Day 1 Continued: The March

Once we got to Washington, DC we found the airport pretty packed.

Had I mentioned there was a major march going on in our nation's capital?  The March For Our Lives was planned to begin at noon that day.
(https://marchforourlives.com/mission-statement/)

Roads were closed, and everywhere there were people walking toward the march, carrying signs and wearing shirts with anti-gun slogans. Large groups were pouring out of buses with matching shirts and chanting. It's estimated that at least 500,000 people were attending the rally. There was a ton of news media there:

Nile wasn't interested in participating. To be honest, I would have loved to join in, to be part of something so special. Looking at the crowd from a block away was really hard for me, and I wanted to be there. But this is Nile's vacation and it wasn't my time to go. (But ohmygosh it was so cool!)

We had lunch (Quiznos), then did some sightseeing. We walked to the American Indian museum, and looked around inside. Then we headed to the Holocaust Museum. I had purchased tickets online while we sat at the airport. Tickets had been sold out for months, but they release a limited number of tickets each morning at 6 am EST.  Sitting at the gate in Moline was the perfect time to check, and we had been able to snag tickets for the 3:00 entry. 

As always the Holocaust museum was great, even though I have been there three times I am still moved. 

Later on we went out to dinner and then crashed at the hotel. Two mornings of waking before 4 am had caught up with me. 

Washington, DC Day 1: The Snow

One of our traditions is for me to take each boy to Washington, DC when they are in fifth grade. The reason for fifth grade is to make sure they are old enough to appreciate the trip, and to be able to handle all the walking.

This year it is Nile's turn. The start of our trip was ominous. For the week prior, the weather forecast had gotten progressively worse, with a winter storm bearing down on the region and promising 8-10 inches of snow. And the predictions of snow were very much guesses as the line between "a few inches" and "a foot or more" crossed straight over the QC region. It was scheduled to start overnight Friday. And we had a 6:15 am flight Saturday.

We went to bed Friday night not knowing exactly what we would wake up to. I set my alarm for 3:45 and settled in for a restless night of sleep. Finally at 3:30 I gave up and looked outside to see a blanket of new wet snow.

Ugh.

I was worried about the drive to the airport. I was worried we would get there and wait for a few hours only to have our flights cancelled. I was worried I would drive off the road. All things that had kept me from sleeping well, and I woke to find they were still true. I had hoped to wake and find the snow had tracked north.

Tom decided to take us to the airport. The drive down Wolf Road was perilous. 25 mph, as there had not been a snow plow through. My instinct to turn around was still there. It took us more than 25 minutes to go the 9 miles.

Once we got to the interstate, things looked up. It was mostly wet and 45 mph felt like 90. Once we got to the airport it was raining. Remember that line I mentioned? Seems it really had crossed right over the metro area, with snow to the northeast and rain to the southwest. It had taken us 45 minutes to make the normally 20 minute trek to the airport.

Everything at the airport was on time, so we checked in, got some breakfast, and sat down at the gate. Soon the airline was boarding - the gate attendant told us they were trying to get us out early. We were on board by 6 am, with 10 other passengers. The flight was supposed to be full, but it seemed nobody else had shown up.

After another hour wait on the tarmac for de-icing, we finally took off around 7 am. Our trip was finally on, and my stress level dropped significantly.

Introducing...Stella!

Introducing the newest member of our family. This is Stella, formerly known as Peanut Brittle.

This photo is from her first night with us - it was late and the light on their faces was from the TV so they look blue. :)

She spent the first evening snuggled up against me.  So far we have learned that she is shy and timid around new things. She loves to snuggle and loves her new bed. She has not been interested in playing with any toys yet (the boys are waiting for that part!).

We are working on going potty outside. She is doing great with lots of breaks. She likes to go potty in the tall prairie grass. We haven't conquered stairs yet - too scary.  The leash is kind of scary too, but once it's on she is fine.

The best part is that through all the new things, even the scary and anxious parts, she has not shown an ounce of aggression. With lots of love and encouragement and time, she is getting more comfortable with us every day.

DC trip day 3 - monuments, monuments, monuments

After the Holocaust Museum, we went to the National Mall and got hot dogs at a food concession stand.  It was still cold, the wind was blowing pretty hard, but it was nicer than it had been earlier.  After eating, we headed out to visit as many monuments as we could before we needed to head to the Capitol for our tour.

WWII memorial

The Illinois pillar

We visited the Vietnam Memorial (The Wall), which is one of my favorite places in the world.  However, I never quite feel right taking pictures there.  It is a solemn, sacred place.  We talked quite a bit about the Vietnam War, and the names of the soldiers on the wall, but no pictures.

Lincoln Memorial

The great Leader.

Can you find Nate?  Taken from the spot where Martin Luther King, Jr gave his "I Have a Dream" speech.

Speaking of Mr. King...

The view from the Tidal Basin.  The cherry blossoms were almost ready to bloom.

FDR memorial

Jefferson Memorial

Inside the Jefferson Memorial.

After viewing the Jefferson Memorial, we called for a ride to the Capitol building.  Nate took a ton of pictures inside the Capitol, but I won't include many of them here.  The Capitol tour was so crazy, there were hundreds of people trying to go on tours at the same time.  Our tour guide was one of Dick Durbin's staffers.  We were constantly being told to get out of the way by the "official" tour guides.  It was so noisy, that we could hardly hear what she was trying to tell us.

So. Many. People.

The original doors, that ended up too heavy for anyone to open.  They became a decoration.

A 15 million dollar chandelier.

DC Trip day 3 - lines

Finally, Monday was a nice sunny day!  It was a bit brisk in the morning (okay, it was cold), but at least the sun was shining.  

We had two things that we wanted to try and do on Monday.  Or three.  Maybe four.  Anyway, we wanted to try and go to the top of the Washington Monument, we wanted to visit the Holocaust Museum, and we wanted to visit all the monuments on the Mall.  This was our last day in DC and we had a lot we wanted to pack in.  Plus, we had a scheduled Capitol tour at 2:40 with Senator Dick Durbin's staffer.  Lots to do...

So first thing in the morning, we headed straight to the Washington Monument to try and get tickets for the tour/trip to the top.  We had read that the ticket window opened at 8:30, and that during busy periods the line formed as early as 7:00 AM.  We arrived just before 8:30.

Want to know why he's giving the thumbs down?

It's hard to see in this photo, but the line was already very long.  We decided to stick it out and wait, as the line was moving fairly quickly.

This was the line we were waiting in for tickets...

I took this picture while waiting in line.

See how tall he is getting?

Unfortunately, just as we got to the front of the line (we were no more than 10 people from the window), they ran out of tickets. Disappointed, we walked up to the monument to get a picture of the view and to decide what to do.

The view from the Washington Monument, at least the ground.

It was just after 9:00 AM.  We decided to head to the Holocaust Museum, because tickets for it would start to be handed out at 10:00 AM.  We decided to go and see how the line looked.  It was already a block long:

Long lines, cranky 5th grader.

Did I mention it was cold?  The alley between the buildings made it like a wind tunnel.

I did not pack for this!

But, we were successful in sticking out the cold wait and were rewarded with tickets to get in.

Success!

We headed in to the museum right away- thankfully the heat was on so we could warm up as we took in the museum.  Next post, the monuments!

DC trip day 2: Sunday

Long lines were the theme of our trip.  No matter where we went, it seemed that there were hundreds of other people wanting to do the same thing.  Apparently Spring Break in our nation's capital is very busy - several people in the area said it was unusually busy and "crazy."  It also turns out that many places have started to sell advanced "timed" tickets for entry to the sights.  You can try to get in line and get a free ticket, or you can go online and buy them in advance.  Well in advance.  Most of the places that we wanted to see were sold out for several weeks in the future.  More on this in the post about Monday.

On Day 2 of our Washington, DC trip, we were in line for the Air and Space Museum bright and early 20 minutes before it opened.  We weren't the first in line, but we definitely had an edge over all the other people who showed up after us.  

This museum was one of the highlights of our trip.

In line, before the museum opened.

We watched the IMAX 3D movie about D-Day.

Wearing the goofy mirrored 3D glasses...

Nate got to see the Lunar Module.

It was really cold, and a bit rainy with some sleet on this day.  I think the high this day was 38.  It was cold, but we toughed it out.

After the Air and Space Museum, on the National Mall.  Do we look cold?

Nate had really wanted to see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and Bill of Rights.  However, the line to enter the National Archives was way too long, so we decided to get a snack instead.  

A coffee shop right behind the National Archives.

After the snack we went on a walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.  

Nate and the Treasury Building

The White House!

The (under construction) American Black History Museum

After this walk, we headed back to the hotel, with a quick pit stop in the Natural History Museum for a bathroom break and to warm up.  

The cleaning staff had made Nate's bed...

Dinner was burgers at a local bar/grill/restaurant.  Then on the way back from dinner we found something that we couldn't pass by without photographing.  (This may be one of my favorite pictures from the whole trip.)

What do you think is on the placard?

"Tom's"

Distance Walked: 8.1 miles.
Total Distance: 13.5 miles