In the previous newsletter I briefly mentioned the trip to Washington DC, so I wanted to expand a bit more on it. We had never been there before as a family or individuals. It just seemed appropriate and timely with the kids growing up, enlistment of our youngest in the Marines and other reasons. I also share a love of history with our youngest son.
It was a stellar trip. For those who have never been, I highly recommend it. It felt like a pilgrimage, almost Biblical like going back for a census. It’s something one needs to do at least once. It was not restful and we definitely didn’t have enough time, but we did okay. It was overwhelming, we had 8 days (6 effective), it wasn’t enough.
We stayed near Dulles airport, about 45 minutes away from DC. The hotel was great, being further away allowed us to save money and get separate rooms from the two boys, that at least meant relief and rest at night for Debbie and I.
We went with a rental car and drove into DC most of the time. Lots of horror stories online about parking, but if you arrive early it’s generally quite fine. However, we got lost SO many times, signage is a mess and was quite stressful. Eventually it became a source of humor as the oldest son kept sending text messages out every time we got lost. I would instead make sure to have a GPS in the rental, that's a must, handheld only if you have a good navigator and battery life. Did I mention how slow people drive out there? I mean 45 MPH posted and enforced on some freeways! I can go faster on some city streets. The HOV (car pool) lanes are interesting being in the middle and separated from the other lanes and using gates to alter the flow in only one direction at a time. Slowing WAY down for the E-ZPass toll sensor is mandatory and I learned the hard way that it really has to be that slow, I rang that bell and got a bill. I would have preferred to learn the metro (subway) earlier, we walked WAY too much early on. I would also do a tram tour thing with on/off rights, NPS (National Park Service) offers one. Metro has all day passes, I have to imagine multi-day passes. I can see why DC folks think nothing about proposing a national 55 MPH speed limit, that’s faster than they drive. Almost every single road was under construction, stimulus money is flowing all over the place around there.
Things are really close together and yet, a whole lot of walking. I should have planned even more for proximity and I did plan, but not enough. The closeness around the National Mall lulls you into not worrying about it and then you walk too much as you criss-cross and visit every single item you see.
We had contacted our congressman in advance (use web site) and asked for all the items of interest. Many things you ask tickets for don't even apply in reality, seems like an exercise to make you think you’re getting something from them just be asking. Almost everything is free too. However, we did capital tour via them, met in his office and met a staffer, that was cool and boring, but a right of passage kind of thing. The advance notice is required if you want to see the White House, we could not on only 2 months notice. However, I can’t express the feeling of actually being in the House of Representatives galley as legislation is being discussed and then voted on. It’s small and yet you feel history being present as the last minute flurry occurs and people arrive for the vote.
We did walk near the White House, I’d like to park on the lawn, right by the "holiday" tree! We also saw the herb garden from a distance and were real close to where Marine One always lands on the lawn.
Things that were really special for us:
- Segway tour (Debbie loved it too, 2.5 hours, great way to get a quick feel for where things are, we did this first, I really would have liked to have used them the entire time!). We used
Capital Segway for the tour. By the way, my favorite picture of the whole trip involves the Segway tour. Our guide took a family picture of the four of us on the Segways, three of us are pointed towards our tour guide and one was not due to trying to stay in one spot. It’s a treasured picture of the event. Yes, I’m aware the
owner of Segway died (9/27/10), I still love the product and hope for continued success for them.
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Holocaust Museum (go early and get an assigned time and return, 2-3 hours), puts a real downer on the rest of the day, but something that really affected us and is important to experience. I especially like the exhibit “State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda”. Walking through a train box car was eerie. After the tour you realize how silent and cold the whole time in the museum was. Of course artifacts like shoes also bring it home. You come out of there numb, but it has to be experienced.
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National Museum of the Marine Corps by Quantico, Virginia (3-4 hours) - In our opinion better than many of the Smithsonian museums. Just go, don’t even think about it, it is that special.
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Library of Congress (take a docent tour). Just architecturally beautiful and impressive. Constructed under budget and on time.
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National Archives to see the documents that founded this great country.
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U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima). It’s located near the Arlington National Cemetery. It’s larger than it appears in pictures and stunningly beautiful, it just takes your breath away. Make sure to see it when the light hits it just right.
Other things we did:
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Arlington National Cemetery (would take even more time and walk it after a tour, then it would be more special). It feels strange taking the trolley around and doing the official parts of the tour, except the great experience of seeing the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns. Can you imagine doing this watch during a hurricane or other severe storms? Yet they do and it’s one of the highest honors. I have been to two other National Cemeteries in California. There are eight in California. See the
whole list.
- Capitol tour (do via Congressman’s office and avoid some lines and see the HR galley which you can't otherwise, 2+ hours)
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Bureau of Engraving and Printing (near Holocaust Museum, arrive one hour before BEP opens and get assigned a time to return later). Not quite as exciting as it sounds. My favorite statistic, about 7% of the printed product is rejected for quality concerns. That’s a fascinating yield statistic compared to almost all other industries. Most of the printing is to replace worn out money.
- Various
Smithsonian museums, only a handful. They are nice, but I'm not a big fan, we have so much special stuff here too. There are 19 of them. Read the story about
Smithson and the founding of the museums. Yes, we did see numerous Norman Rockwell paintings on loan from George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, those were utterly amazing. We also saw Fonzie’s jacket (from Happy Days), Kermit the Frog, Archie Bunker’s chair and Dorothy’s Ruby Red slippers.
- Smithsonian Air & Space
Udvar-Hazy Center (not the one at the National Mall), this adjunct one has a space shuttle, an SR71, the Concorde, the Enola Gay and the "larger" stuff. The one at the National Mall has the Wright Brothers one, I like the big stuff. All the Smithsonian Museums are free, but at this one you have to pay parking.
- White House gift shop
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Mount Vernon (was too hot to enjoy, otherwise I would have spent hours. There are special tours at various times of year, I think it too would be really special then. We didn't wait the one hour plus in the heat for the mansion tour). I bought a $7 book, was a good read and had color pictures to look at. Thank goodness for the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association in 1853 for getting this wonderful property and the phenomenal restoration.
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Washington Monument-
Lincoln Memorial We sat there on the ledge to watch the 4th of July fireworks, that was special! Yep, we were right there in an ideal spot from the daytime until the evening, wow, what an experience. Getting out was a totally different experience, but I’m so glad we endured and did it.
- Thomas
Jefferson Memorial, lots of stimulus money being spent there to shore of the sinking foundations.
- Spymuseum - Somewhat gimmicky, could have been better.
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National World War II Memorial (new) Lots of water, it represents the Atlantic and Pacific engagements.
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Korean War Memorial It’s eerie to see the statues captured in their walk, certainly a forgotten war. Except for a TV show, would most people ever even remember it?
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Vietnam War Memorial The Three Serviceman statue was in the process of restoration, the stare of them towards the wall is eerie. We did get an etching for a friend.
As a note, the World War I memorial was not in good shape. There is one 109 year old survivor
Frank Buckles. This is now being restored with stimulus money.
Things we missed:
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FDR Memorial (too bad, is really worth seeing apparently)
- Inside the Supreme Court
- Near Mount Vernon, Washington distillery
- The various memorials at night
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Newseum- Pentagon tour
- Pentagon 9/11 memorial
- FBI tour (not sure if available)
- Firearms museum
- Various Smithsonians
- Kennedy Center
- Ford Theatre (Lincoln and also across the street where he died)
- Alexandria boat tour
- Williamsburg tour
- New memorials are coming: Martin Luther King Jr., underground Veteran's museum
Things that were challenging:
- Finding our way
- Making sure the toll pass device we rented with the car is read at the gates, SLOW WAY DOWN at the crossings...
- Finding a place to eat that was reasonably priced
- I would advise using a phone with GPS and "About" or similar app for walking, finding food, etc. My older generation didn't have GPS and compass
So, what’s the bottom line for this trip? The kids thought it was the best vacation ever, now that’s worth doing.