A family weekend in Washington,D.C. - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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There are other changes as well.
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It's time to move on and move forward.
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Saturday
We finished exploring the upper level and decided to eat lunch. There is a counter service cafe on the basement level of the NHM. It's set up similar to some WDW resort cs. You choose the type of food you would like in one area that is made up of several stations, then pass through the register area to pay. The food stations are very congested, but the eating area has lots of tables. The food was okay, I'm sure we would eat there again. The kids decided to pass on the main level. Here you find the ocean and mammal exhibits. We were pressed for time and they were ready to see the American History Museum. Just a short walk over and we were there. Our first exhibit was The Star-Spangled Banner. This is the actual flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write his poem that was later put to music. The size of the flag is massive and it's missing some of its width. After that, we spent most of our time walking through the American wars displays. Dh could have spent several hours in there. He is quite the history buff. We spent some time in the American culture area , where items from different time periods are shown. We saw Dorothy's ruby slippers, Lincoln's living mask, Miss Piggy, colonial children's clothes and Archie Bunker's chair. Plus, lots more. We quickly viewed an old cannon boat, other forms of water transportation and ground transportation. There were several other exhibits that we just didn't have time to visit. Our next activity - American Girl Doll store!
I've always said it would take weeks to fully explore any part of the Smithsonian, but you all are covering quite a bit of ground.
I agree. We've barely scratched the surface to the museums on our previous visits to DC, there is so much to see there, but it sounds like you're making a good headway.
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Saturday evening
We retrieved the car at 4:30 and drove to Tyson's Corner Center for the highlight of the trip for dd. We easily found the American Girl Doll store and she was giddy. She brought her doll ( Abigail ) and had the doll's hair styled in the " salon". It was a cute little treat. The stylest was very personable. After Abigail's pampering, dd was on a mission. Her goal was to buy 2014's girl of the year doll. Isabelle studies ballet, likes to design clothes and has dark blond hair. All of these are in common with dd. We surprised dd by buying the doll, so she spent her money on an extra outfit and decided to save the rest for our WDW vacation in August. The store is two stories and quite pink. I'm glad we saved this for the evening. The store wasn't crowded, we didn't have long waits for the salon or checkout and we could take our time. The store doesn't close until 9:30pm. After looking at every single item in the store, we walked down to the food court. Just past the food court are about four table service restaurants. We chose Brio, an Italian restaurant. We have eaten at one in Raleigh and knew everyone would find something they liked. They food was very good and our waiter was great. We finished out the night by window shopping.
Thanks for all the responses. First day was great and now on to day two.
Sunday
Today started with a quick breakfast in the room, then checking out of the hotel. After loading our bags into the car, we drove back into D.C. and found a parking garage near the trolley ticket window. We bought tickets for the Old Town Trolley tour and realized we were at the corner of a street that was being blocked off. Instead of hopping on the trolley, we walked around the corner and saw Ford's theater and the house in which Lincoln died. The theater had a about four secret service cars parked out front. A security guard told us that Pres. Obama would be there later for something related to the Tuskeegee Airmen! We could tell that it would be much later before the event started, so we walked back to the trolley stop and boarded the bus.
Sunday
We rode the trolley for a short distance and got off at a stop to look around. There were no monuments, yet. We saw a few statues and could have entered a museum in this area. No museums today. We hopped on the next trolley and made our way to the White House. After a short walk, we were in front of the gate. We took a few pictures in front of the White House, people watched and walked around for a bit. The weather was pleasant, a little warmer than the previous day. Time to catch the next trolley. We rode over to the Union Station and stopped there for lunch. It was 11:30 and we didn't think it would be easy to find food later. This worked well for our schedule. When lunch was finished, we rode to the Capitol Building. As it was Sunday, the building was closed, but we wandered the grounds and its reflecting pool and took more photos. While waiting for the next trolley, we decided to go all the way down to the Lincoln Memorial next. I remembered that this area is always more crowded and time consuming than you might think. We visited the Lincoln Memorial and all the people who just park their rears on the steps. Makes for a bit of a maze to get to the top. I know they are relaxing and taking in the view of the Washington Monument. We then walked over to the Vietnam Memorial. I was pleased to actually get to see it this trip. The last time I was there, the crowds were so thick that it would have taken an hour simply to pass through with the masses. This time we would walk by at our own pace and take it in. Our next stop was the Korean Memorial. It was beautiful and moving. It is almost a small park with different elements. There is a wide, shallow half circle fountain that is encircled by a canopy of trees. A wall creates a barrier between the fountain and a garden of life sized soldier statues. Around the sides of the garden is a larger wall with etched images of real soldiers. Dd was done at this point. The sun had come out and the temperature was rising. If we had more time, we probably would have taken a break and walked the shaded pathway up to the Washington Monument. We decided to save that for another trip, as we still needed to hop on a trolley and walk back to the parking garage. Dh bought the kids some cold drinks while we waited for the next trolley. After a bit of a tour back up into town, we found our car and headed home. The kids had a great time and wanted to stay for another day. I am sure we will be back. There is just so much more to see.
Thanks for following along.
Last edited by Jambo; 07-01-2014 at 12:19 PM..
Reason: Spelling
That was certainly a packed day - and you saw some of my favourite monuments. I love the Korean Memorial and the Vietnam Memorial and of course the Lincoln Memorial is wonderful as well.
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