Washington DC
Greg's aunt and uncle live in Virginia and they were so kind to invite us to spend Thanksgiving dinner with them this year. We planned on leaving right after work on Wednesday. But Greg's coworkers told him that trying to get out of MA on the night before Thanksgiving is crazy so either leave before 3 or wait until 7. So after work we finished packing and getting everything ready to go. And then we were on the road! I just love road trips! We talked almost the whole drive there which was great. We got in to our hotel just before 3 exhausted! Thanksgiving at Dave and Bonnie's was great! Great food, we played some fun games and just had a blast!
The next days we got up early and headed into DC! Greg and I have never been to DC so we wanted to see everything. Bonnie found a great deal for a hop on hop off bus tour of downtown. It makes 20 stops around at the different museums, memorials, etc. and you can get on and off as you please. We saw so much! We drove past the Peace Monument, the Capitol, Botanic Gardens and then came to the Museums. There are like 8 we drove by and then stopped at the American History Museum. Fun fact, all of the Smithsonian museums are free!
There was so much to see in the American History Museum! We only had until 5 to see everything so we didn't get to see everything at the museum, but we saw a lot! First up was Julia Child's kitchen! I loved that!
We walked past a big train but didn't go into that exhibit. We saw the original Star Spangled Banner, pictures weren't allowed, and it was amazing! It was about 3 times bigger than I expected it to be, it was huge. Super cool! They had one exhibit for the first ladies and one exhibit for the presidents that we also saw. We saw china, dresses, uniforms, desks, etc. And then I think the last thing we saw was an exhibit that had artifacts from the Mayflower going all the way to present. We saw the Nauvoo Sun Stone there, an old telephone, jewelry, furniture, dishes, etc. Just all sorts of random things spanning the decades/centuries. It was really cool. We grabbed lunch at the food trucks outside before getting back on the bus. We drove past Chinatown, Ford's Theatre, FBI Building, the oldest hotel in Washington, and then got to the White House!
Before going to see the real thing, we walked down a little and went into the White House Visitor's Center. The building itself was really cool with these amazing ceilings and just was a big open room. There were models of the White House and you could see inside on a monitor. You could see a few different rooms, and they also had pictures of what those rooms looked like in the past which was super interesting! They also had a writing desk, a chair, china, a gold eagle, and tons of information about presidents and the White House.
Then we walked up the hill to the south lawn of the White House. It was very crowded, but we made our way through to the fence to see it.
We hopped back on the bus and saw the memorials--Jefferson, FDR, MLK, Korean War, Lincoln, Vietnam War, and the WWII. Next trip we want to walk and see all the memorials, but this time it was just from afar.
We hopped off at the last stop, the National Archives. Dave and Bonnie and their kids had to head back so Ben (their oldest) could get to work. I got them to snap a picture of us outside and then we said goodbye. Greg and I went and waited in line to get in. We were in line for probably half an hour which felt like a long time, but apparently that's not long at all. Someone said between March and August the wait can be up to 2 hours. We got in and we saw a few things and then we went and waited in line to see the Constitution and the Declaration. No pictures were allowed in the Rotunda, but it was amazing! The writing on both documents were very faded and we could only pick out a few words on each, but it was still really cool. We were pretty exhausted at this point and we still had to drive home so we decided to call it a day. We took the train back to our car and then headed out. I haven't been that tired for a long time but it was worth it! We hope to make a couple more trips down there so we can see everything we want to!
The next days we got up early and headed into DC! Greg and I have never been to DC so we wanted to see everything. Bonnie found a great deal for a hop on hop off bus tour of downtown. It makes 20 stops around at the different museums, memorials, etc. and you can get on and off as you please. We saw so much! We drove past the Peace Monument, the Capitol, Botanic Gardens and then came to the Museums. There are like 8 we drove by and then stopped at the American History Museum. Fun fact, all of the Smithsonian museums are free!
There was so much to see in the American History Museum! We only had until 5 to see everything so we didn't get to see everything at the museum, but we saw a lot! First up was Julia Child's kitchen! I loved that!
We walked past a big train but didn't go into that exhibit. We saw the original Star Spangled Banner, pictures weren't allowed, and it was amazing! It was about 3 times bigger than I expected it to be, it was huge. Super cool! They had one exhibit for the first ladies and one exhibit for the presidents that we also saw. We saw china, dresses, uniforms, desks, etc. And then I think the last thing we saw was an exhibit that had artifacts from the Mayflower going all the way to present. We saw the Nauvoo Sun Stone there, an old telephone, jewelry, furniture, dishes, etc. Just all sorts of random things spanning the decades/centuries. It was really cool. We grabbed lunch at the food trucks outside before getting back on the bus. We drove past Chinatown, Ford's Theatre, FBI Building, the oldest hotel in Washington, and then got to the White House!
Before going to see the real thing, we walked down a little and went into the White House Visitor's Center. The building itself was really cool with these amazing ceilings and just was a big open room. There were models of the White House and you could see inside on a monitor. You could see a few different rooms, and they also had pictures of what those rooms looked like in the past which was super interesting! They also had a writing desk, a chair, china, a gold eagle, and tons of information about presidents and the White House.
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| This was the ceiling |
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| One of the models |
We hopped back on the bus and saw the memorials--Jefferson, FDR, MLK, Korean War, Lincoln, Vietnam War, and the WWII. Next trip we want to walk and see all the memorials, but this time it was just from afar.
We hopped off at the last stop, the National Archives. Dave and Bonnie and their kids had to head back so Ben (their oldest) could get to work. I got them to snap a picture of us outside and then we said goodbye. Greg and I went and waited in line to get in. We were in line for probably half an hour which felt like a long time, but apparently that's not long at all. Someone said between March and August the wait can be up to 2 hours. We got in and we saw a few things and then we went and waited in line to see the Constitution and the Declaration. No pictures were allowed in the Rotunda, but it was amazing! The writing on both documents were very faded and we could only pick out a few words on each, but it was still really cool. We were pretty exhausted at this point and we still had to drive home so we decided to call it a day. We took the train back to our car and then headed out. I haven't been that tired for a long time but it was worth it! We hope to make a couple more trips down there so we can see everything we want to!
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