Fall Break in DC

This year Brent and I decided to put some money where our mouths were and start taking the kids traveling. We have talked about how fun it would be to take more trips but haven't really committed to it. After San Fran was such a success we decided to start looking at their breaks from school and planning some trips. We figure there are plenty of short-ish road trips to take in our area before embarking on come bigger ones.

So for their Fall Break we decided to head to DC. I had only been there a couple of times and had never been to the museums. Brent had lived there for a period of time but neither of us had been back in well over 10 years. We decided not to use all of the fall and to make it a shorter trip. I found another place on AirBNB. Come to find out it was really an illegal sublet but was in a great neighborhood and met our needs - quiet, clean, safe and convenient and a good value.

Our first day, we drove up on Tues, leaving NC about 10am. After arriving and dropping our stuff we headed another hour west to visit some friends in Northern VA. Tony and Brent roomed together many years ago before Tony headed towards DC and met his wife, Sue. We attended their wedding and have yet to meet their 2 kids - Jess who is in 10th grade and Josh who is in 6th. They were gracious to have us out for dinner and we really enjoyed the visit. Josh was great with Sam, playing some games and Hannah got to do a craft. We stayed longer than we should have, but it was such a nice time. On the way back into town, Brent was at the wheel and it got pretty hairy. We happened to start back into town on the back side of some fierce storms and we followed it all the way back in to town. The kids slept through it all for which we were grateful. Brent did a great job. We then parked at Union Station and took a cab back to the apt (b/c parking is so tricky here). We didn't end up getting into bed until midnight.

But true to form our kids were up by 7am. So we got ourselves together and headed out for a day's adventures. Hannah and Sam amaze us with their ability to walk. Sure, there is a fair share of complaining and bribery with some carrying mixed in, but at the end of this day we covered almost 11miles on foot!! We stayed in Dupont Circle  (thanks to a great recommendation from a friend) and headed south. We passed the White House and headed to the Mall. It was simply a gorgeous day! Slightly cool with blue and sunny skies. So grateful and blessed to have such great weather. We enjoyed our walk to see Lincoln's Memorial - Sam wanted to see the "man in the chair". We enjoyed the reflecting pool and other water features along the way. We used a frisbee that I threw in at the last minute to keep the kids moving :) You don't realize how far things are apart (even though they seem so close) until you start walking the distances. By the time we made it back to the Washington Monument, we were ready for lunch, so we headed toward the White House and had lunch at a great spot - Ebbitt's Grill. It has been there for over a hundred years, with plush velvet seats and oil lamps - quite a swank place for lunch. But they were great for the kids b/c they had a kids' menu and were quite accommodating. After refueling we headed to a bench for Sam to take a brief snooze and then back toward Thomas Jefferson. We stopped to take the kids on a paddle boat ride. We had an hour but didn't make it that long before the kids wanted to come back. It was fun though, because it was an activity that Brent had never done in DC. We finished our walk to Jefferson's Monument and that was just stunning. The afternoon light was spectacular on the Washington Monument and on the water. We were glad to make the trek! We coaxed the kids back up town with promises of a souvenir and ice cream. We then were glad to have cousin Richard meet us for dinner. He left work and headed in from Maryland on the Metro. We found a fun pub - the Elephant and Castle. Again a hit with the kids and good food/beer for us. We enjoyed our visit with Richard immensely but had to part ways at the Metro to get the kids to bed.

Day 2 started out with more adventures. We had eaten most of the breakfast foods we brought so we headed out in search of some local fare and found the Firehook Bakery. Then, instead of walking, we opted for the Metro to head to the Zoo. Honestly, I wasn't so impressed. After having been to the NC Zoo and the San Fran Zoo the Capital Zoo just doesn't compare. We saw some cool animals and were thrilled to see the pandas!! Hannah needed a rest, so Brent and Sam headed into the see the reptiles. Sam was super pumped with what he had seen :) We decided that we would finish the trip with a ride around the Carousel and headed out. We opted for exiting out the back entrance and found the Rock Creek Greenway which gave us a great walk along the water and in the woods! The kids were troopers because it was a little longer than we anticipated but such a pretty walk. We had some lunch at a local place at the corner of Calvert and Connecticut then hopped the Metro to the Smithsonian Station. It was early afternoon by this point and the kids weren't thrilled about going to a museum but were quickly turned around when we arrived. We took a truly whirlwind trip of the Natural Sciences museum. We were bummed (although we knew) that the Dino exhibits were closed but enjoyed the mammal exhibits and bugs and gem exhibits. We then coaxed the kids to go the Air and Space Museum. Hannah was the most resistant to the idea but has been the one to say how much she liked it since :) We only had a couple of hours but covered much of the museum at the speed the kids' wanted to travel. I just enjoyed the opportunity to step inside the places and will look forward to another visit a few years in the future when I know the kids will enjoy them even more! When they announced they were closing for the day, we decided to head back to the Dupont Circle area where we enjoyed some italian food at Sette and then an ice cream treat at Larry's Ice Cream. The area was a great choice, very safe, lots of people out, several families that we have seen, near an elementary school - we enjoyed our walk back. Again we hit about 11 miles on foot! The kids are quick to go to sleep after days like this.

Our last day was a bit of a slow start. We got up and packed our bags and had breakfast. Then we headed to the Metro at Dupont Circle where we began our trip to Arlington Cemetery. We had to transfer on the metro which was easy. I really enjoy the Metro system in DC. The tunnels remind me of Star Wars or Star Trek. The cars have gotten dingier since we were in town last but it is still easy to navigate. The Metro rides were actually a highlight of the trip for the kids, in part because of the train rides but also for the super long escalator rides that accompanied them.

It was a cloudy day and cool. We were so thankful to God for the beautiful weather we have had previously on the trip. We found our way to Arlington and it was a very short walk to the Women's Memorial. This is a Memorial that has been recently completed that honors women who have and do serve in the military. Dad submitted mom's name at the time of construction and we went in search of her name. They have an extensive computer database that can be searched and we found her name easily. The memorial is built into the hillside of the cemetery so we were able to see some tombstones as well and talked to the kids about the sacrifices so many have made for our freedoms. We then headed back to Dupont Circle to wait for Brent as he went back to our apt for the car keys. When he returned we got on the metro again and headed to Union Station, where we had stowed the car for the trip. We all loaded up and drove back to the apt to gather our bags. On the way in we met the folks who were staying after us which was fortuitous for us to had off keys. We then headed home. We opted for a scenic route to avoid 95 construction before Richmond which made for a pretty drive down the peninsula of Maryland. Both kids lamented already missing our trip so we are planning our spring break :)