It boggles my mind that it took us two and half years to finally make a proper trip to Washington DC happen. Washington DC is only a little over 4 hour drive (sometimes longer with traffic), so not bad at all. Over the Veterans Day weekend, Katya and Alex competed in the Head of the Chick regatta in Williamsburg, VA, so we had made plans to go to Washington DC when the race was over since it was just two hours further north from Williamsburg and we had days off. The regatta actually finished a lot earlier than anticipated because of the high winds. Katya and Alex only competed once before they cancelled the event--after a few people needed an ambulance because of hypothermia and after another group of teenagers overturned their boat because of the waves. Adventures...
We arrived to Washington DC before dinnertime. Our hotel was right in the middle of the city with parking underneath, but last minute the doorman told us that we could just leave our minivan on the street as it was free to park on weekends in just that spot. We were in our unfamiliar territory in the city... You can only imagine what it looked like when all five of us, loaded with backpacks and baskets and whatever else we had, to get all our stuff up to the hotel room. Katya and I went ahead of the boys trying to look all cool BUT when we got into the elevator we couldn't figure out how to make it go up! We sort of pretended we knew what we were doing as we watched some other people who got on (because they summoned the elevator with us inside😆) and then figured out we had to swipe our room key first and then press the button. Well, that was embarrassing. The hotel was just a bit too posh for what we are used to-hahahaha. I got it at a super low rate on booking.com and now we looked a bit out of place in our "post rowing" clothes.
That night we went on a "stroll", aka I told everyone we are in the city and now there is no point of driving, despite the fact that it was absolutely FREEZING and windy (that same wind that cancelled the race). We braved the frigid weather and walked about a mile to the restaurant recommended to me by Rachel M. (who used to live in DC). This was our first city adventure, post Europe, and we were using our phone to navigate the way to the restaurant. What??? Inconceivable! 😀 I really don't know how we did it without our phones for all those years overseas, but we did it and did it well! We found La Bamba and enjoyed awesome tacos in warmth.
This is us trying to get a view of the Washington Monument from the stairs by the Lincoln Memorial.
On the way home we got some delicious warm cookies for dessert and somehow no one whined about us renting scooters as we walked another 20-30 minutes to the hotel. The minivan was still there.
Alex heard a piano as we were waiting for the elevator and right away begged me to let him come back downstairs and play. Of course, I did and then I stayed with him and listened to him create this awesome memory--playing freely at this fancy hotel (at least we figured out how to use the elevator) in Washington DC.
To Be Continued...
We arrived to Washington DC before dinnertime. Our hotel was right in the middle of the city with parking underneath, but last minute the doorman told us that we could just leave our minivan on the street as it was free to park on weekends in just that spot. We were in our unfamiliar territory in the city... You can only imagine what it looked like when all five of us, loaded with backpacks and baskets and whatever else we had, to get all our stuff up to the hotel room. Katya and I went ahead of the boys trying to look all cool BUT when we got into the elevator we couldn't figure out how to make it go up! We sort of pretended we knew what we were doing as we watched some other people who got on (because they summoned the elevator with us inside😆) and then figured out we had to swipe our room key first and then press the button. Well, that was embarrassing. The hotel was just a bit too posh for what we are used to-hahahaha. I got it at a super low rate on booking.com and now we looked a bit out of place in our "post rowing" clothes.
That night we went on a "stroll", aka I told everyone we are in the city and now there is no point of driving, despite the fact that it was absolutely FREEZING and windy (that same wind that cancelled the race). We braved the frigid weather and walked about a mile to the restaurant recommended to me by Rachel M. (who used to live in DC). This was our first city adventure, post Europe, and we were using our phone to navigate the way to the restaurant. What??? Inconceivable! 😀 I really don't know how we did it without our phones for all those years overseas, but we did it and did it well! We found La Bamba and enjoyed awesome tacos in warmth.
Katya's famous last words, "I chose the wrong type of jeans for the weather".
We half ran, half hopped back to our hotel that first night, didn't find any dessert although we tried and then squished into our tiny room with Alex sleeping on the blow-up mattress on the floor.
The following morning greeted us with fabulous sunny but pretty cold weather. We ventured out of our hotel and were pleasantly surprised that our minivan was still there. "Who would want it anyway?" we comforted ourselves. We walked around our area in search of some breakfast--found the White House. It was pretty empty at that location still because it was early and cold--great for us.
Just awesome buildings along the way.
We found a Pret-A-Manger, for the first time since London, and enjoyed some croissants (that unfortunately didn't taste the same).
Today was our major museum and sightseeing day. All for free.
First stop was the Smithsonian Museum of American History.
Old Glory was very neat to see!
Lincoln's life mask.
A carving from the Nauvoo Temple.
Apple computer!
We were visiting the museum on Veterans Day so they had a short ceremony to commemorate the veterans. They also had people staying in characters of WWI service men and women.
Oh yes, of course, we had to see Dorothy's shoes.
Lots of war exhibits too. They were pretty neat actually even in comparison with other famous museums.
Taking a break from all the museum-ing.
Finally, the Greensboro lunch counter. Greensboro is only a little over an hour away from where we live.
It was lunchtime by the time we finished with the first museum. We grabbed a bite to eat from a street vendor, just like proper DC tourists.
We made our way to the National Air and Space Museum with beautiful clear views of the Capitol.
The National Air and Space Museum was huge with a lot of new things to explore. Our kids were not as interested in it as I hoped they would be. The general consensus was that everything that they ever wanted to see about Air and Space they had seen in our Misawa Airplane Museum in Japan. Funny!
A little intimidated, perhaps?
It was awesome to see the ORIGINAL Wright Brothers' creation--the Wright Flyer from 1903!
After the museum, we briskly walked through the National Mall towards the Washington Monument.
Katya said it's her favorite picture. I love it too. This is right in front of the monument, but the monument is not significant in this case:)
Our boys.
Passing the Washington Monument, we walked over to the World War II Memorial--a beautiful open space to commemorate the US soldiers who fought in the war. The pillars all around the plaza have the names of the US states and US territories engraved. There are two sides--the European and the Pacific ones.
Finally, we reached the Lincoln Memorial!
It was a rather crowded place but we managed to get a great picture of our family.
This is us trying to get a view of the Washington Monument from the stairs by the Lincoln Memorial.
Well, here is a nice shot but without us.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is really close by, so we visited that as well. The kids said that it was the one place they remembered the most. Seeing 58,000 names engraved on the wall was very sobering...
It was around 5 pm that we left the area and walked to the famous place for dinner--Founding Farmers. Somehow I got super lucky and got a reservation for 5:30 by calling them just an hour before. The food was fantastic! It was probably the first time in a long time that I truly enjoyed the American type of menu as it was fresh and unique and delicious.
On the way home we got some delicious warm cookies for dessert and somehow no one whined about us renting scooters as we walked another 20-30 minutes to the hotel. The minivan was still there.
Alex heard a piano as we were waiting for the elevator and right away begged me to let him come back downstairs and play. Of course, I did and then I stayed with him and listened to him create this awesome memory--playing freely at this fancy hotel (at least we figured out how to use the elevator) in Washington DC.
To Be Continued...
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