poohmaine's trip to Washington, DC: COMPLETE 10/23
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zacksmom_1993 · 10-06-2005, 11:51 AM

The pictures of your girls at the FDR Memorial are adorable!

That's the only memorial I haven't been too; now it looks like a "must do" on my next trip. Thanks for sharing!

Karen

lauren-roxy · 10-06-2005, 01:17 PM

What a really wonderful update!! I have been to the Holocaust Museum too and it is a very moving place, a must do for anyone. Sounds like you are having such a wonderful time. Can't wait to read more!!

GoofyMom · 10-06-2005, 09:52 PM

Gross about the bird poo at the Reflecting Pool!

It sounds like it was a very full and exhausting day!

**chezp** · 10-08-2005, 04:12 AM

Another great couple of updates - the FDR Memorial is our favourite as well and I love the shots of the girls there!

Thanks for including the shots of the WWII Memorial, as that wasn't there the last time we went and we want to see it this time - it's good to get a sneak preview.

Shadowfax · 10-08-2005, 06:13 AM

Great report so far! I love the pictures, especially the one of the Washington Monument at Sunset. We hope to catch the Navy Band when we are down there this summer. More please!

loobyoxlip · 10-08-2005, 05:00 PM

[ QUOTE ]
The museum docent said there are usually hundreds in line, but that the end of August the number of tourists decreases dramatically. Good to know!

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow, that's good to know. thanks

That picture of the girls with FDR's dog is awesome! Nice shot.

KrisLuvsDisney · 10-09-2005, 05:56 PM

I have just caught up on your TR and it is wonderful! We are going to DC for our Christmas vacation and you have provided me with lots of information...thank you!

Your photos are wonderful as well! More please!

disneymom9092 · 10-10-2005, 02:53 PM

Just catching up. Great job and I love the pics. More please.

poohmaine · 10-17-2005, 07:16 PM

Today we had planned for the mint in the morning, but since we got to that yesterday, we could have a leisurely pace for the two museums we had planned: The Natural History Museum (NHM)and the American History Museum (AHM).

The girls in the NHM Rotunda with an African Bush Elephant behind and above

Evie was very, very slow to get up this morning, so we didn't get to NHM until 10:30. We started with mammals, which Hayley was eager to see, budding zoologist that she is! The Kenneth E. Behring Family Hall of Mammals, to be exact. It was interesting. I loved the movie they show in Evolution Theater (did you know we are all evolved from the same small mammal?), but I guess I just don't enjoy seeing dead animals in display cases, however lifelike they are.

[I snuck a peek into the Sikh Heritage exhibit which was right near the mammals, that was so beautiful!] But the girls loved the mammals, especially the Mammal Museum Store, where they spent way too much time and money!

Koala ears in the Mammal Museum Store (I know it's blurry, but I thought it was still cute...)

We went to the dinosaur exhibit next, and then the girls were hungry. First we tried the Fossil Cafe at the end of the Dinosaur exhibit, but the menu was very limited. So we went downstairs to the Atrium Cafe Food Court. This was way above your ordinary food court, with lots of variety for everyone, and it was all delicious. And in the hall outside, gelato! Yum!

After lunch, Ben left us to go to AHM. There were some exhibits he really wanted to see that he knew the girls would find boring, and since the girls loved NHM so much and we still had much more to see, he decided we should split up. It ended up being a very wise decision, as you will read about later.

After lunch, we went up to the second floor to the Western Cultures exhibit (mummies!); The Insect Zoo (the most popular exhibit in the place, especially with little children . . . I got a little squeemish, but got over it and held a grasshopper and a cockroach); fossils; meteors; African Voices, and gems and minerals (both the girls were disappointed, they expected the Hope Diamond to be HUGE!)

poohmaine · 10-17-2005, 08:15 PM

We met Ben at 3:30 in the AHM. Much to our disappointment, several exhibits were closed for refurbushment. And that included, of course, the exhibit I wanted to see most of all, American Popular Culture.

They did leave a few display cases out, like Archie Bunker's chair, the ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz, Jerry Seinfeld's puffy shirt--not much else. At least I got to see my beloved Kermit.

Kermit the Frog

We saw the First Lady exhibit (including the collection of their clothes) and Julia Child's kitchen (Bon Appetit!). Information Age (the history of the computer) was closed, but we saw a great Celia Cruz exhibit. We also saw the Star Spangled Banner being restored. It is lying horizontally, and the restorers are laying down on their stomachs on a platform over it doing their work. No photos were allowed because the fabric is so fragile.

As Ben as so wisely predicted, the girls found everything in AHM soooooooo boring. Too bad! They walked to the end of many exhibits and just sat down and waited for us. It got old very fast

"This museum is so boring."

Ben and Hayley had a Ghost Tour at 6:30. We walked with them a few blocks to the Old Post Office Tower which was near their Metro stop. The Old Post Office Tower has a little mall and food court on the lower floors. You take a glass elevator up to the small exhibit, and then up again to the tower for a beautiful view of the city. Definitely worth the effort!

View from the Old Post Office Tower down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol

Evie and I headed back to Union Station. We decided we wanted a nice meal, no fast food, in a restaurant with tablecloths on the tables! I didn't really want to walk around DC at night, so we picked America, which is right in Union Station.

Our table looked down onto the Main Hall in Union Station. The menu was very eclectic, themed around food supposedly native to each state in the U.S. (I think they kind of pushed it, but it was a fun mix.) Evie had a FluffaNutter sandwich, and I had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Linen napkins! Candlelight! Attentive service. Ahhhhhh.

If I can get him to do it, I will get Ben to write about the Ghost Tour in more detail. It was with a company called Washington Walks. The storyteller/tour guide was an actress and he said Hayley was absolutely enthralled with her stories. They went to (supposedly) haunted sites in the Lafayette Park area, including the Decatur House and the Octagon House. It lasted two hours. He said it was definitely worth $10.

Next: The White House

**chezp** · 10-18-2005, 01:41 AM

Another great update - both museums sounded great and the view from the Old Post Officer Tower is beautiful.

**Colexis Mom** · 10-18-2005, 05:54 AM

Another great update! We love the AHM

And eating in Old Post Office Square

Hurry back with more

lauren-roxy · 10-18-2005, 09:47 AM

Looks like another great day!! Your pictures are awesome!! The Ghost tour sounds like a lot of fun!! Can't wait to read about the White House!!

poohmaine · 10-18-2005, 09:39 PM

Another beautiful sunny day! And cooler temps (80s instead of 90s). I can't imagine what we would have done if it rained!

Our White House tour was at 11:00. We received detailed instructions about the tour from Senator Snowe's office. The rules are extreme. You must be there 15 minutes ahead of your tour time. You must have ID if you are over 15. All that you are allowed to carry in are umbrellas, wallets, a cell phone, and car keys. That's all. No fanny packs, backpacks, or purses. No cameras. No chapstick! If you carry anything prohibited, you will be turned away. Yikes.

So this morning we had to leave the hotel with almost nothing. It was weird!

Our first stop was to the Washington Monument ticket kiosk. We had been so lucky getting tickets we decided to try and get them for late afternoon. No problem! We are spoiled!

Next we visited the White House Visitor Center. It is open daily from 7:30 to 4:00, so there was already a crowd. It was also the National Park's Service's 86th birthday, so they had additional activities, mostly for children. Evelyn made a puppet. Hayley played a trivia game on presidents and their horses. All the answers were to be found in the many exhibits around the building. She got them all right, and her prize were White House cards (sort of like baseball cards) of George W., Air Force One, etc.

There are many interesting walks and talks presented all day long by park rangers. I counted 21 different presentations that day! If you do not get a tour of the White House, the Visitor Center will more than make up for it. Sorry, I have no photos of the Visitor Center: remember, we couldn't bring our camera!

Then it was time for the tour. We had to go to the southeast gate of the WH grounds. We had to be checked off on the list. We had to walk through security. Then we had to walk up the path to the White House East Wing. And go through another security check. Ben set off the alarm! We had a good laugh about that!

He was wanded!

The tour was self-guided. You could wander in the designated areas. In some rooms, there were WH staff available for questions, but that's it. The areas available were very limited. You could only look in the door of the Vermeil Room, the Library, and the China Room. It's pretty hard to see china patterns from across the room! They had some items in the hallways in display cases, but still, it would have been nice to actually go in.

Next you could go up the stairs through the East Room. Very nice, but very empty. Next was the Green Room. Most of the rooms were roped off, so you could only pass through a very small area. These rooms were small, and it was easier to see things on the other side of the room. The Green and Red Rooms were full of portraits and antiques. It was sort of overwhelming to take it all in. There was staff in each room, and sometimes a small sign with a little information. I asked lots of questions. Who's that? What was that used for? What goes on in this room? The staff would answer questions, but would not elaborate, which was kind of disappointing. For example, I would ask, "Is that a portrait of Dolly Madison?" And the answer was, "yes, it is." Period. I had to ask more questions if I wanted additional information on Dolly. Nothing like the wonderful volunteer tour guides we had been accustomed to all this week.

The Blue Room was closed to us, so all that was left was the State Dining Room. That's it. We were done in 25 minutes, and that's with us lingering in every room and letting people pass us by. The girls were not impressed at all. I guess they figured if it was so hard to get a White House tour, it would be a super fabulous tour, and it wasn't as they had built it up to be in their minds. Ben and I enjoyed it very much, but it was nothing like the VIP tour we had in 1986; we had a tour guide with us, and we saw many more rooms.

**chezp** · 10-19-2005, 01:20 AM

I'm sorry to hear the White House tour was a disppointment, but it was interesting to hear all about it, as we'll never get to do it again - we don't have a senator to arrange a tour for us.

I remember touring the White House on our honeymoon in 1999 and we were amazed by the lack of security - remember, we can't get near our Prime Minister's residence and Buckingham Palace is only open at certain times of the year. It's sad to hear how it is now, but an understandable sign of the times.