Family Trip – Day 5
Today was a GREAT day but also VERY tiring! We walked so much we thought we were going to die! 🙂 It was very fun though. We drove downtown and parked way out in the free parking, a good walk from the Jefferson memorial. We walked around the tidal basin and saw stuff we didn’t even know was there! The cherry blossoms were out in full bloom and it was absolutely beautiful!
Although it was a little on the chilly side, it was a beautiful day and the walk was nice. We came across the Roosevelt memorial which is to the west of the basin, between the Jefferson and Lincoln memorials. We didn’t know it was there (although it probably has been for some time). It’s usually not where we would go walking. It is very large and points out highlights of his presidency, including the depression, etc. We got some interesting pictures…
From there, we walked over to the World War II memorial and had an interesting time talking to the boys about what it stood for. There was a high school band playing patriotic songs there and so we stopped to listen (and take a break for our tired feed)! 🙂 We then started making our way west, down the mall toward the Lincoln Memorial. We split and some went to see the Korean War Memorial while the rest kept walking and we met at the Lincoln memorial. Ben thought that was pretty cool!
The Viet Nam Memorial was next on our list of sites to see, and that is always a highlight. It is so quiet and peaceful there and an awesome site to see all those names on the wall. We explained to the boys what the names were and they hushed right up and were very reverent at that site.
We had to pick up the pace and get to the Washington Monument for our 1:30 tour and made it with a little time to spare (we were the first in line to go up). This is the first time that any of us had gone up into the Washington Monument and it was very fascinating! The day was pretty clear so you could see almost everything!
I couldn’t post all the pictures we took from up there but it was neat to see where everything was from up in the air. I don’t think the kids realized how big the National Mall area was until they looked at it from up above! They couldn’t believe how far we walked and still had to walk to see everything! 🙂
We then watched an Indian performance for the Cherry Blossom Festival before going over and taking a quick look at the Holocaust Museum. We didn’t have time to see the whole thing, but the kids (especially the boys) were amazed at how sad the whole thing was. They couldn’t believe that others would treat people like that. We also saw a few sets of missionaries from the church walking around the mall enjoying the blossoms. It must have been their P-Day. 🙂
By that time, we were starving, so we asked a security guard nearby where we could sit down and eat some food and he recommended the USDA cafeteria, so we walked over and ate there. You would think that being the USDA, that the food in the cafeteria (which was gigantic, by the way) would be very healthy and calorie-conscious… NOPE! The food was very fattening not at all what we expected (greasy burgers and fries, etc.). They did have some healthy stuff there, but there was plenty that was not. 🙂
We hurried and ate and then ran (literally) over to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing for our tour on how they make money. That was a highlight for Ben and Zach! Everyone really loved it, but the boys thought it was the coolest thing on how the US prints all the money! Just when we were there, we saw a few million dollars being printed ($1, $5, $10, $50, and $100 bills). Ben wanted to stay longer but we couldn’t because the tour was over. He wanted some of what was being printed and didn’t want to take no for an answer! 🙂
After the tour, it started sprinkling and it was later in the afternoon, so we started walking back to the car. Angela took Ben back while the rest of us took a detour and they checked out the Jefferson Memorial. By that time, all our feet were killing us! We estimated we had walked about 5-6 miles or more. Whew! 🙂
On the drive home, we took a wrong turn and it took us forever to get back to the right road to get back to the hotel. We ate a quick dinner, went swimming, and now we are going to crash and sleep WELL! What a great time we had in DC! Tomorrow, we are going to see some battlefields and start making our way back west and home…
