Day 5: Even 2 days isn’t enough

We headed back to our College Park Metro stop bright and early today—

We have a date at the Capital!

Mom’s friend told her to call our Congressman

To get a personal tour of the White House or Capital.

So she got ahold of Congressman Cleaver’s office

And next thing we knew, we were booked for a private tour!

We got to see all the hallways and tunnels that connect the offices,

Workspaces and the Capital.

There is a HUGE gallery of pictures

Chosen from each state in one of the hallway tunnels.

Here’s the Missouri section:

Soon we popped out next to the Capital Rotunda

Meet Lady Freedom—

At 19 feet, 6 inches, she is the tallest statue in DC 

and no other statue is allowed to be taller.

Her “twin” is on top of the Capital

(This is the plaster mold used to make the bronze one on the dome)

We got to see the original Supreme Court—

It was tiny!

I guess the current one isn’t much bigger.

And then to the Rotunda.

Whoa.

George Washington’s rise to the heavens.

It was gorgeous.

All of the paintings and statues were.

So much history.

Our staffer insisted on laying down to get a 0.5 for us!

The Rotunda connects the 2 chambers—

Here’s the Senate!

Crazy to be so close.

We got to go to the gallery of the House to sit

Since they weren’t in session.

The security was insane.

We had to leave all our phones, watches and 

Even the truck keys with security.

We sat for quite a while, soaking it all in.

The decor and furnishings are unchanged through history.

It was sobering to think about people breaking into

That sacred chamber on January 6th.

It was a cool tour.

Thanks, Congressman Cleaver!

Of course, we needed a picture

Since we were in the area,

We stopped by the National Archives

Check all these out!

The Magna Carta

This was as close as you are allowed to get pictures of the biggies:

The Declaration of Independence

The Constitution

and The Bill of Rights

Crazy that we got to see them

And be that close to them.

Up next was the Natural History Museum.

Mom was really excited about this one.

The had a Moai statue from Easter Island—

It was taken illegally a long time ago

And eventually gifted to the museum

Probably as close as we’ll get to one!

Meet Henry, the African elephant in the lobby

But what we were all excited to see

Were the DINOSAURS!

There were so many of them

My favorite—

The tyrannosaurus eating the triceratops 

As a part of the dinosaur exhibit, 

There was a huge display about evolution and 2 different mass extinctions

As well as all the weird animals that survived/morphed.

Like the super weird anglerfish

We could have stayed for hours

But we had to tear ourselves away…

To go UP in the Washington Monument

How about these views 500 feet up?

We learned that there is nothing but stone in the walls

(No rebar or other metal holding things together), 

No mortar between the stone.

Due to funding, it was build in 2 phases

So it is 2 slightly different colors of stone.

There are lots of memorial stones on the inside

That you can see from the elevator

And a tiny aluminum pyramid apex at the very top.

We’re learning all sorts of stuff this week!

Speaking of learning,

We finished our Washington Mall Junior Ranger books

Which meant Mom had to find a Ranger

To swear us in to our newest badges

It’s really an awe-inspiring sight.

You know what else is?

The Hope Diamond.

After our tour of the Washington Monument,

We headed back to the Natural History Museum

To explore more.

We accidentally wandered into the mineral section

But wow.

We ended up roaming around for almost an hour

Taking it all in

Unfortunately, the museum closed at 5

And we didn’t have dinner reservations

For a few more hours…

So off to the National Portrait Gallery we went.

The Four Justices was Mom’s favorite.

Tuck and I liked Washington

And Jack really like President Obama

The Smithsonian American Art Gallery was connected 

So we wandered over there…

And found some screens.

Another 12 mile day

And we were beat.

We stopped in at Round Robin Bar in the famous Willard Hotel

For some drinks and snacks.

But our night wasn’t over…

We had dinner reservations at Old Ebbitt Grill,

Where everyone who’s anyone in DC has dined.

And now, so have we.

With that,

We headed back to the Metro for one last ride

We didn’t see everything

But we sure saw a lot.

Thanks, DC!

Until we meet again…

Day 4b: DC by Night

You’d think after a day like that,

We’d head back to the camper for some rest.

You clearly don’t know US then.

Time to see DC at night!

We’ve walked far enough—time for some biking.

As awesome as everything looked in the daylight,

They were even more impressive at night

We made a huge lap of the mall

With the first stop in the Capital yard

Then it was up to the Washington Monument

Which provided some awesome views in every direction

See what I’m saying?

It was hard to move on!

Check out the White House from here!

Next was the WWII Memorial.

It was impressive at night.  

A different perspective

How’s Lincoln at night?

Quiet.

Respectful.

Impressive.

One of Jack’s pictures to share

We’d stopped at the Korean War Memorial earlier.

At night, it really made you pause and reflect.

Our last 2 stops we hadn’t been to yet.

In fact, Mom and Dad hadn’t even been to them.

First was the MLK Memorial.

It’s halfway between Lincoln and Jefferson

And full of symbolism beyond that.

He’s looking across at Jefferson, but not directly at Jefferson.

He doesn’t quite get that respect

Given Jefferson’s views on slavery.

The memorial was full of King quotes.

Mom and I read every one.

This was Mom’s favorite:

We completed the tour with a trip to the Jefferson Memorial.

Also impressive.

The walls were filled with some of his most famous works.

It was a really cool tour.

After a little over 7 miles of riding,

We turned in our bikes

And found our way to the Metro station.

We were EXHAUSTED.

But check this out—

one more spectacle to admire:

It’s the L’Enfant Metro station.

Cool, huh?

Whew!

Nearly 20 miles done.

Now THAT’S how you do DC!

Day 4: DC by Day

One of the perks of our RV park?

It’s just a few minutes away from a Metro stop.

And who doesn’t love mass transportation???

After a ride to L’Enfant station

(And Mom and I feeling pretty proud of ourselves for navigating the Metro),

We headed for the Mall.

Our first stop:

The Washington Memorial.

We were hoping to head to the top

But we ended up with tickets for tomorrow

But we couldn’t resist a few pictures of our first monument of the day!

Next up:

The World War II Memorial.

It was impressive and humbling.

We strolled around the Reflecting Pool

And eventually made it to the Lincoln Memorial

Say hello to Abe!

This seems like a good spot to get a good family picture.

We walked over to see the White House.

They cleared Pennsylvania Avenue while we were there

So we hung out to see what the fuss was about.

No one appeared, no explanation.

We were disappointed.

It is a bit smaller than you would expect.

We toured Ford’s Theater.

It was a little spooky, walking through Lincoln’s final moments

And reading all the history.

By now, we were pretty hungry

So we headed into the city for some lunch

We were going to try out a sushi conveyer belt restaurant for Wes,

But a brewery caught everyone’s attention

And we decided to save that for another day.

On our way back to the Mall,

We passed through the Sculpture Garden

And made a few friends

And struck a few poses

Look at all those food trucks…

There must be HUNDREDS!

But we had places to be—

We scored tickets to the Air and Space Museum!

It was under renovation but there were still quite a few exhibits.

We checked out the massive Wright Brothers exhibit

And all the spacecraft

It was pretty cool.

We didn’t get any pictures but the history of commercial flight

Was actually really interesting.

It was Mom and I’s favorite exhibit.

After a full day of begging,

Mom and Dad finally relented and let us get some boba tea from a food truck.

I was brave enough to walk up first.

We decided to try one before we bought 4…

And it was a good thing we did.

It was like $12 a glass and NOT good.

It entertained us as we walked to the Wharf for some dinner…

And BETTER boba tea.

Guess how far we’ve walked today?

Nearly 12 miles.

And we aren’t done yet…