I've been thinking about this blog post all day, and have been postponing the actual writing because there is just too much! And too many pictures. We had a busy weekend!
Saturday morning, we got up at 3am and hit the road. Our path took us straight south through Massachusetts to Connecticut, then New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and, finally, Virginia (where we stayed). It took us about 7 hours, and we stopped for breakfast at a rest area on the Jersey Turnpike. Exciting! Actually, it WAS exciting-- the only state I'd ever been in, other than Massachusetts (duh!), was New York. And I'd never been to MANHATTAN! And really, Manhattan in the early morning on a Saturday doesn't look like much. I saw it much better on the drive back!
Anyway, we made it to northern Virginia (Falls Church) by lunchtime. We had really hoped we were going to meet up with Niko's godparents for lunch, but they were in town for a family wedding and ended up with other obligations. So we had lunch on our own, went for a quick swim in the hotel's pool, and then put on a TV show for the kids in the hotel room and attempted to nap for a little while. Gus actually slept, but I did not.
That evening, we drove the short distance over to my Aunt Kim and Uncle Jim's house. Kim is my mom's little sister, and she moved to the East Coast when I was too young to remember. For as long as I've been aware, she has lived at this one house in Virginia, and I finally got to see it! The kids had a good time meeting their great-aunt and great-uncle, and it was fun to catch up. We were all pretty exhausted from our early morning and long drive, though, so we didn't stay too terribly long.
The next morning, after a blissful night's sleep (everyone slept! woohoo!), we got up and headed out for a day of hardcore tourist activity! I had purchased us all tickets on the hop on/hop off trolley that runs between all the major attractions, so we drove into D.C. itself and made sure we were at the station when the first trolley pulled up. Our first stop was supposed to be the Capitol Building, but that road was closed due to a Labor Day concert that was being set up. Instead, we got off at the next stop: the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum! But... it was only 9am, and the museum opened at 10. So we hiked the few blocks back up to Capitol Hill. It was accessible by foot, just not by trolley!
Just before 10, we started our walk back. We stopped by the National Botanic Gardens for a few minutes and enjoyed their benches. Maya wanted to smell some flowers. Typical Maya. :)
Then we continued our trek back down to the Air and Space Museum. We got there shortly after 10 and immediately enjoyed the air conditioning. It was hot and humid outside! The museum felt FANTASTIC!
We actually spent quite a bit of time here, and saw most of the exhibits. We also paid $3 (!!!) for a bottle of water. I guess the profit goes to the Smithsonian, though, so it's for a good cause. Still... $3!! And it was small!
Anyway... We hopped on the trolley right outside the museum, and rode down alongside the mall. I got some cool pictures of the Jefferson Memorial along the way! We simply didn't have time to see everything the city had to offer, and had to be strategic about what we did see. Visiting this memorial wasn't going to happen. But I'm glad I got such a good view from the trolley! You can even see Jefferson himself, staring at the White House for all eternity (his wish).
Then we got off at our stop: the Lincoln Memorial! This is one place I was really looking forward to. I wanted to stand on the steps and look across the reflecting pool at the Washington Monument. And I did!
Next up... a short walk over to the Vietnam War Memorial. Very sad. I told the kids a little about it, but they didn't understand. That was a LOT of names on that wall...
Then we ate lunch. We were all hot and sticky. Maya was complaining constantly. Food was necessary! If only the horseflies hadn't been biting at my ankles repeatedly while we sat and scarfed down our food! ugh!
Then we hopped back on the trolley (best. purchase. ever.). The plan was to get off at the Washington Monument stop, but we were treated to the "long view" of the White House along the way!
We got off at the Washington Monument, where I had really just wanted to get a look at the mall itself. We were walking along, and Maya suddenly announced that she had to go potty. So... we went into the nearest museum, which happened to the the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. It had sounded interesting, of course, but it wasn't on "the list" of places we'd planned to see. Well... this ended up being one of the highlights of our day! Such a happy accident! Both kids were in love with the vast collection of dinosaur fossils!!! We had to take a look, after making our pit stop!
The big draw for the day (for the kids) had been the National Zoo, which we dangled like a carrot in front of the kiddos. In retrospect, we probably should've just stayed in the air conditioned pleasantness of the Natural History Museum! But, they wanted the zoo. We went to the trolley stop just behind the museum and waited. The next trolley arrived, and it was full! No room for us. We ended up walking two (very long!) blocks to another stop, passing the IRS and FBI buildings along the way. But we made it, and got on another trolley line that headed up to the zoo. It was a longer ride. What we didn't realize was that the trolley stop was nearly a mile from the zoo entrance, and the entire walk was uphill. In 95 degrees and disgusting humidity. Maya complained a LOT, but she still made it. I hate to say it, but we were kind of sick of the zoo before we ever even got there! We did take a picture, though. For posterity and all. You'd never know how miserable we all were by looking at this, huh??
And a picture of Maya drinking water out of the $3 Smithsonian water bottle... we refilled that thing COUNTLESS times!
We spent about 20 minutes at the zoo. We saw cheetahs, some gazelles, and a zebra. We went to the panda exhibit, but they weren't out. And then we suggested leaving and not a single person complained! I think that my favorite parts of the zoo were the water misters. Gus will surely agree. We were really tired and hot at this point!
We hiked back down to the trolley stop, after buying four ice-cold water bottles at a frozen yogurt place just outside the zoo. Best water I have ever tasted in my entire life! Then we sat and waited. That part was actually quite nice, though you can tell how hot the kiddos were! Look at Niko!
We had thought about getting off at the White House stop, but we were running out of time and, to be honest, we were WIPED OUT! So we sat on the trolley and enjoyed the narrated tour. We saw the gigantic National Cathedral:
We drove through Georgetown, and all down Embassy Row. We saw Ford's Theater, and the house where Lincoln died. And we drove this close to the front of the White House, which was good enough for me!
We passed the National Treasury Department building, and got an awesome head-on view of the Capitol Dome:
Then we made it back to Union Station, and our car, and drove home. I can't speak for the others, but I know that I slept like a log! And both my feet have blisters. We did some SERIOUS sightseeing!
The drive home yesterday was pretty long and boring, except for the huge thunderstorm we drove though in New Jersey. And I got to see a very foggy New York City skyline as we drove over the George Washington Bridge. It's good to be home. But wow-- what a weekend!!!
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