When we were looking at where to take our vacation this year, we decided to take advantage of the fact that we would already be near Chicago and fly somewhere from there. We found some great prices on tickets to Washington DC, and instantly decided that we would surprise Mason with a trip there. He had been convinced that he was never going to make it to DC. (Insert dramatic sigh sigh the back of the hand to the forehead here). We were able to keep it a surprise for 6 months! We finally told him by letting him read his boarding pass. I think he was a bit excited!
The boys were excited to be on a flight to somewhere fun.
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| Walking down the extremely long jetway |
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| On the plane!!! |
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| OK, we had to wake up at 4:30. Everyone was a little tired! |
We arrived to hot, muggy DC, along with every 8th grade student and 4H member in the country it seemed! Little did we know, the first afternoon would be the only time we saw sun. The rest of the week was cool and we had rain most mornings and evenings. It didn't get above 65. Crazy for the first week in June! We had rented a place on AirBnB (LOVE that site. If you haven't used them before, try them out!) of course we landed at 10:45 and couldn't get in until 12:30, so we spent 2 hours looking (and smelling) like sweaty tourists. We thought we would just find a restaurant and have a sandwich while waiting to get in. Well, things didn't work out that way, but we had fun getting to know the Shaw neighborhood. We did find a great place to eat right across from where we were staying after we dropped our bags off finally!!
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| Mason loved his kabob and his mango drink. |
After we ate, we went to the Natural History Museum. It was good, but not quite as good as the one in Denver. (Sorry Smithsonian!)
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| Sam offering gum to the Easter Island statue. If you've seen Night at the Museum, you will get it. :) |
A few weeks ago, we asked Mason where he wanted to spend his birthday of he could choose anywhere. He asked for the White House. Of course he didn't say that in the video when we asked him in the airport, but he was happy to see his future home.
While we were headed to the White House, it started to rain. While we were there, the Downpour/Flood started! We had umbrellas, but they don't do much good when there is a 1/2" of water on the sidewalks and rivers in the streets. By the time we got back to the apartment, we were soaked.
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| After this night, we upgraded to 4 umbrellas from 2 |
Tuesday was our walking tour day. Both of our FitBits were dead, so we have no clue how much we walked, but judging from the days they were working, we were pushing 15 miles. The boys hardly said a thing about sore feet. Here are some pictures from the day of sightseeing:
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| One of Sam's favorite parts, the escalators. |
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| Arlington National Cemetery |
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| John F. Kennedy's eternal flame |
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| Sam providing some shelter for Bryan at Arlington |
Sam's take on the soldiers
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| Sam's photo of the Vietnam Memorial |
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| Washington Monument and the Reflecting Pool |
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| Mr. Lincoln |
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| Korean War Memorial |
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| WWII Memorial |
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| WWII Memorial. All of the yellow coats were individuals there on honor flights. We decided we would have loved to hear the stories they could tell... |
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| The Wright Brothers' plane at the Air and Space Museum! The real one!! |
If you are a Nebraskan and you are in DC, you need to go to the Nebraska breakfast. Since 1938, it has been the place where the state Representatives and Senators come each week during session to update constituents on what's happening in their worlds. Of course we were there with all the 4h and close-up groups, so the crowd was very big. We had told Sen. Fisher that we were there for Mason's birthday and she led the group in singing Happy Birthday to Mason. One of the 4h leaders even gave up her seat so he could sit up front. He was in heaven.
We went on a Capitol tour with Congressman Smith's aide.
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| Checking out the dome |
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| Andrew Jackson |
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| William Jennings Bryan, one of Nebraska's 2 statues in the capitol |
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| Of course, the capitol would be under renovation! |
We were able to visit the Senate gallery when there were 2 senators still debating the Patriot Act Section 215. If we would have been able to take a picture in thee, you would have seen 3 of us enjoying the spirited debate. The fourth was zonked out for a quick nap. Everyone was happy.
We also visited the National Archives. There were some cool interactive exhibits, but the best was seeing the Bill of Rights, Constitution, and Declration of Independence.
We ventured out in our neighborhood for some Ethiopian food. There is a large Ethiopian population in DC, so it is a great place to get the experience.
After walking by several times, we decided to stop in and see the Library of Congress. After walking in, we wished that we had more time! We were all impressed with Thomas Jefferson's 4,700+ collection of books stored there.
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| Just a little fancier than your typical library |
Once he knew where we were going, Mason wanted to go to Ford's Theater. We toured the Museum and listened to the park ranger's interpretation of the events that night.
We also went to the Museum of American History. It was a great stop! We were in awe of the size of the flag that inspired the Star Spangled Banner. We also loved all the American Pop Culture memorabilia.
We had some time to kill so we visited the Smithsonian sculpture garden. As was common on our trip, it rained while we were there. That didn't dampen our experience.
After getting soaked, we had a little more time to spend before we needed to be at dinner, but we wanted to relax. Thank Goodness for public libraries. We went to the Martin Luther King Jr. Library. The boys loved exploring a new library.
We finished our trip with a great dinner with our family that lives in the DC area. It was so much fun to see the Connors and Liz and catch up.
I think I need a nap after typing all of that!
We had a wonderful trip and definitely didn't see everything there is to see in DC. We will be back!
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| Since it was soooo cold, the boys picked up some new gear |
What an adventure!!! The boys were wonderful travelers and got along (mostly) the whole time. We couldn't have asked for more.
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| Watching science experiments |
