Road Trip to DC

The day after Christmas we left for Washington DC. It's about a 10.5 hour drive from our house, and we only made quick stops on the way there. One stop was to Del Taco, since we haven't had it since we left California, and there is one in South Carolina, right on the way. On the way home we stopped at Jack in the Box, someplace else we don't have here!

Luckily we picked a hotel that is only blocks from Union Station so we could take the subway since the roads in DC are crazy and parking is hard to come by and ridiculously expensive. We got a really good rate on our room, too!

The first place we went to was Arlington Cemetery. That may not have been the best choice, since we kept telling Ella we were going to see "fun stuff". She kept asking where all the "fun stuff" was and all we saw were tombstones. While we were there we saw where the Kennedys are buried and Robert E Lee's home. We did not get to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, since that was another 20 minute walk and we didn't bring Ella's stroller on that excursion.

We went to the Jefferson Memorial and it was very slippery since DC had just had a ton of snow the weekend before we got there. There was still a lot of snow and ice on the marble steps and Ella and I both slipped! Luckily neither of us fell.

We also went over and checked out the FDR monument. We had heard about the awesome waterfalls, but they weren't running when we were there!

We did a tour of the Capitol, which was interesting, but Scott said they showed so much more when he went in 8th grade. He said everything has changed a lot since he went before, obviously pre-9/11.

Ella so bored during the Capitol tour!

The painting on the rotunda in the Capitol

We also went to 3 Smithsonians - Natural History, American History and Air & Space. Here's a picture of the Hope Diamond.

The Code of Hammurabi

Ella with part of the Berlin Wall
Lincoln's hat that he wore the night he was shot

Lincoln Monument - we went at night trying to get as much done as we could!

The Washington Monument from the White House. We didn't get to go inside because the day we were going to go it was 14 degrees with the wind chill and it was so windy they closed the monument for the day!

Scott and Ella at the White House

On the way home we stopped at Henricus in Virginia, which was the second English settlement after Jamestown. Here are a few photos of the buildings there.

Drying tobacco

We also went to the Vietnam Memorial, The Korean War Memorial, The Marine Memorial, The National Archives, The National Zoo, The Holocaust Museum, and walked by Ford's Theater all in a span of about 3.5 days and freezing cold temperatures! There is so much we got to see and do and so much more we still need to see. It was a fun trip, but it needs to be longer next time, and NOT in the dead of winter! :)