Some Background

Starting here, the posts for this trip are in order, so you don't have read them backwards.

About 6 months ago we started thinking about summer vacation. With the budget we had, and my vacation time, we came up with two things. Washington DC (since we spent the 4th of July last year at Mt Rushmore, we were still in a patriotic mood) or Disneyworld (I'm not going to 'splain that one) We presented these options to Morgan and Kendra. Well, we very pleased with their response...Washington DC. I started counting vacation days, and camp schedules and came up with two weeks, that included the Fourth of July. We were so excited...The Fourth of July in our Nation's Capitol. So the plans were made...plane reservations, requesting tours from our Congressman, then the hotel. We had quite a time finding one. They were either too far from a Metro station (which were told to use as much as possible) or way too expensive. After all - we needed a room for 14 nights. We finally found one that was reasonable, and close, and we made our reservations. So from here on (eventually) will be our day by day adventure. I'm hoping I can figure out how to post some pictures along with each day. Pretend the following posts were written each night of our trip...that's how I wrote them in my journal, and that's how I intend to put them here as well. I hope you enjoy this. It ought to be interesting! At least for me, it will be.

Friday June 20

10:30 pm scheduled departure...12 midnight actual departure. My seat wouldn't recline, so it was hard to sleep. Not that sleep came easy for any one else, but at least they could lay back. I 'got' to lean on the window. At least I had that! I think overall we managed a couple of hours. Kendra was so exhausted - and Morgan was a real trooper too. We're Pooped!

Saturday June 21

Finally arrived in DC at 11 am. The plane from Newark was delayed too. We rented a car to drive around and just look. We could see the Washington Monument and the Capital from the air. Found them on the ground, too, as well as Lincoln, Jefferson and the WW II Memorials.

In our driving around, we happened upon the Washington Cathedral. That was breathtaking! So beautiful. We did stop to see it...inside and out. Double click on the pictures throughout to see them bigger.

We made a turn into a park, and had a spectacular view of Jefferson. Behind us was the Washington Monument and framed in the trees was the White House.

We are staying at the Channel Inn, right on the Channel on the Potomac River. It's a really nice place. Decent sized rooms, not big, but good enough. Our room is on the river side of the hotel - 2nd floor balcony looks out over the channel. Off to the right a bit is the dome of the Jefferson Memorial. Tonight will be an early one - we haven't decided what to do tomorrow yet, while we still have the car. Then come Monday, we walk and walk and walk.

Oh - I almost forgot...Arlington...that little corner we saw was so moving, I almost cried. So Kleenex will be in order when we go tour it.

Sunday June 22

Slept in! Boy were we exhausted. I don't know about the others, but I slept like a rock. We had a great breakfast - the coffee shop's food is so good. I had grits. The potatoes were fried potatoes with onions.
We drove to Williamsburg. Cute place. Walked around a bit. Too bad we didn't start out earlier. They were tourable, but closed.

We did go down to Jamestown and saw the ships.








On the way back we stopped at President's Park. They have 16' statues of every president. Also an Air Force One from Nixon's era. The statues were very much like Mt. Rushmore. There were also First Lady dresses and an Oval Office. Really cool place.







At midnight, we were at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument reflecting in the pool with the Capitol behind. I almost cried - again - when I first saw Lincoln. That was so spectacular. There just are no words to describe how beautiful that was.

Monday June 23

Returned the car. Figured out the Metro. Took the blue line back from the airport - "more scenic". Well, it's underground! So quickest will be next time. But we made it to the Smithsonian station anyway. We spent a few hours at the Holocaust Museum. "Daniel's Story" was very well presented, from children's point of view. Then we went to the Olympic exhibit. I didn't know about all that. Quite amazing. We then went to the Bureau of Printing for our tour. That was very fascinating. We saw the four stages of printing money from the 'blank' paper to the final seals being applied. We saw a pile of $10 bills that equalled $1M and $100s stacked up - $32M. Wow! That was a very cool tour.

After that we started walking to the Jefferson Memorial. We went up to it as well. So beautiful - the monument and the view from there.

Oh - I almost forgot - we stood at the base of the Washington Monument and looked back toward the Lincoln Memorial down the reflecting pool. Before the reflecting pool is the WWII memorial. So beautiful - weaths hanging at each state pillar with a fountain in the middle and stars going along one side to represent the lost soldiers.

Now to find our way back to the hotel - that was interesting. We finally found the channel and walked to the hotel in the drizzle. We didn't find anywhere else, so we ate at Pier 7 here at the hotel. Kinda pricey, and OK food. Our one nice dinner. Our feet hurt - we're ready for bed.

Tuesday June 24

Got going late - finally ate breakfast at 10:30. Took the Metro to the National Archives. First, though we spent some time at the Navy Memorial.

Kendra briefly talked to a retiring Navy man.

Took his picture and asked a couple of questions. We walked around a bit then watched rehearsal for an evening performace.

We walked around the block to wait in line for the National Archives.

About 30 or so minutes later, we went in. Directly to the Rotunda to see the Charters of Freedom - Declaration, Constitution, Emancipation Proclamation and others. Very awesome. The room was beautiful too. We also saw some political cartoons and the Public Vault. That place was really cool too. When we left there we found out the Museum of Natural History was open till 7:30. Good thing, cuz it was 5!

We saw mammals, bones, dinosaurs, skeletons, rocks - and the Hope Diamond. And some emeralds - oh so beautiful! After than we spent an hour and a half listening to the Navy Band and chorus. They were soooo good. The chorus sang songs from Hairspray and the 60s. Then they sang each service branch's theme, as veterans and families of veterans from each branch stood. We stopped and talked to the conductor as well as one of the Navy Memorial commanders. This was what we watched them rehearse for. Earlier in the day, All in all, my feet don't hurt as bad as yesterday. Good day!

Wednesday June 25

Wandered down to the Metro. Spent most of the day at the Air and Space Museum. They have so many planes hanging from the ceiling - a 747 front end, Spirit of St. Louis,

lots of space flight -
Gemini, Apollo
lots of hands on stuff to do with all kinds of different things like specturms and telescopes. Then we walked down to the Mall. They were having a festival. We caught the end of it. That's about all we would have wanted.

We went in to the Smithsonian Castle.

It was really pretty. We walked back to the hotel then on down to the dock to ask about the Mt. Vernon cruise.

Thursday June 26

Got up early and went down the way and got on a ship to Mt. Vernon. This morning was very nice and on top of the ship there was a little breeze. The water was very calm. We saw the Fort Washington and the really pretty area of Alexandria. We rounded a bend and the red roof of Mt. Vernon mansion was coming into view. So beautiful.

We pulled in and went to the new tomb, where both George and Martha are buried. Then up to the house. The line was short so we jumped in to tour the mansion.

We were able to peek in other houses - slave quarters, etc. - in the house the rooms were still as they were in the 1700s - when Washington lived there. After that we walked around some more. The grounds we saw were so beautiful.

The ship ride back was hot - it's very humid today. On the ship there was a chamber orchestra from Oregon who played for us. They were really good. Now we're resting and are eating pizza for dinner. We're beat!

Friday June 27

Today was tour day. In the morning we went to the Old Post Office and looked out over DC - over 300' up.

We went up the clock tower and saw the clock faces from the back side and all the bells. They were from 600 to 2000 lbs. So neat to see from the inside of the tower.

We could see far and there were maps pointing at where the buildings are.

We also stopped in at the Peterson House - where Lincoln died.

The Ford Theater was closed, so we couldn't go in there.
Then we went over to Mitchell's office. He was there too. We met him and had pictures taken with him. We also had the girls' pics with him behind his desk. He seemed really nice.
Then we went on our tour of the Capitol. There were tons of people there! We walked around and looked at as much as we could. Our tour guide was new, but pretty good. We were inside the rotunda looking up.

The architecture and art work was beautiful.

She also took us to the sculpture room, where congress used to be held.

The feeling of being in the same place as those men 200+ years ago was just awesome. Then we went to the congressional floor. They weren't in session, but we were able to get a good look.
Then we went to the Supreme Court.

It was all marble inside.

There was a spiral staircase that was absolutely beautiful.
We went over for our tour of the Library of Congress. That building is really ornate - art work every square inch.

Lots of art history on the tour. Millions of items in there. It would be a fun place to go back ust to look around.

Saturday June 28

We got up early this morning and took off for New York. We didn't tell the girls anything except Gettysburg. It was a long drive. Traffic was horrible. No one cared that it was Saturday. We headed across a bridge from NJ to Staten Island., then across to Manhattan. As we were driving, I looked across the water an there she was - the Statue of Liberty.

The sun was shining on her and she was all lit up. I spotted it first and cried. We crossed over right into Battery Park, to see it up close. Well, we ran for tickets and caught the very next ferry. We were the last ones on. We sailed out to Liberty Island. She was spectacular.

We walked around a while and went back to get on the ferry. It started to rain. Then it poured. And it poured. All the way back to the parking garage. Puddles a foot deep - we looked like we swam back from Liberty Island. We were soaked - everything was soaked. We turned out of the parking garage and right there in front of us was Ground Zero. Very moving - a huge void. Our car seats were still wet in the morning. We only brought dry shirts, sox and underwear - we had to hang out our pants to dry - then ironed them in the morning and layed our shoes across the AC. Dave and Kendra's were still wet in the morning. From the island, we headed to Central Park. Right up 5th Ave in NY traffic. That was an experience! We drove up one end of Central Park. It was so big and right down the middle of town. We found the Empire State building too. It was really huge. And really pretty. We made it out of town and found our way to PA - Bethlehem - to spend the night. Very cute town and very nice pillows.

Sunday June 29

Headed out for Gettysburg. Should have been a couple hour drive - we got detoured. Saw a sign and checked the map - Hershey PA was only 15 miles away, and on the way. We found our way. We could follow our noses - the whole town smelled like chocolate!

We drove around the town, found the factory (stacks said Hershey) and Hotel Hershey. Really pretty grounds. They also have a huge school there that looked like a mansion. Of course we had to get Hershey bars - strangely enough, they tasted better there.

Even the street lights...
Then off to Gettysburg.

We didn't realize that the tour was 22 miles around the perimeter of that battle.

There were monuments all over the place in honor of all the states and their soldiers. Amazing place - almost 145 years to the day of that battle.

We stopped by the White House on our way back to the hotel. No one answered.

Monday June 30

Slept in a little today. Went to the Air and Space Museum out at the Dulles airport. That was so cool.

There were planes everywhere - all with historical significance.

The Enola Gay was there - first time in 60+ years she was totally in one piece.

Also some hang gliders, foreign planes and the Space Shuttle. Lots of other space stuff in that room too.

After that we went back to the Cathedral. We wanted to find the Girl Scout trefoil -

found it -

and we wanted to find where Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan were buried. Apparently they were cremated and buried in St. Joseph's Chapel.

Only a plaque on the wall, but we could see a marble lined room behind some gates that we think is where they are.
Then went and drove around Gallaudet University. What a beautiful campus. Morgan says she wants to go there, so she's going to look up all the info about it.