Back East: Washington, D.C.

We had an awesome day in Washington D.C. We were going to take the metro, which is what we always did when we lived back there (Red Line from Shady Grove). But I looked it up the night before, and it would have cost our family $70, plus I think we needed to buy a $5 resusable card for each person. So I looked into other options, and I found a parking garage through Parking Panda  just a couple blocks away from the Smithsonians. We got a discount paying for it ahead of time, and it only cost us $17 for the day! What a deal. 

The main Smithsonian the kids wanted to go to was the Natural History Museum (we went to Air and Space last time). We didn't get through the whole thing, like we never even made it to one of the floors. Maybe next time. 

Dodo bird

Had to take a panoramic to fit it all in.

No boring pictures with my kids. 

They really liked the mummy section.

Yuck.

The kids learn all about ancient Egyptian history in 6th grade, so they were excited to teach us stuff. That was fun.

Hope diamond. The exhibit had been closed for awhile (can't remember why), and it had just reopened. I personally like white diamonds, but that's just me.

 I may have been a little more interested in the gems section than the boys were.

 I love squares and cubes

 Lots of rocks.

 So pretty!

After lunch (we packed turkey sandwiches with leftover turkey from Sunday - yum), we went over to the American History Museum. I remember really liking this one, but no one was as interested. It didn't help that half the exhibits were closed. What they really wanted to see was the Lincoln Memorial, so we ditched the place and started walking there. It's a mile away.

   

I'm so glad we did this! It's a beautiful walk past the Washington Memorial, reflecting pool, White House (in the distance), and WWII Memorial. Levi and Chloe kept needing rides on dad's shoulders, and it was hard on Dave's mom (she didn't quite make it to the Lincoln Memorial and needed to take a Taxi ride back to the parking garage).  Christine and Juliet came with us too.

I made sure the Washington Memorial wasn't sticking out of anyone's head. By the way, I think one of my legs must be longer than the other, because all of my pictures are slightly crooked! It isn't usually too noticeable, but this monument made it very obvious. I had to straighten all of these a little on Photoshop.

 The Lincoln Memorial!

 There isn't much to see there, but somehow it is powerful. We took lots of pictures.

The cherry blossoms were just barely showing - they were in full bloom the following week. By the time we got back to the car, it was close to rush hour, so it took us awhile to get out of the city, Then we stopped in Clarksburg and had dinner with Dave's sister Mary. She had her whole house boxed up, because they were getting ready to move. but it was really good to see her (she's one of the funniest people I know!), and we just ate Chinese take-out on a blanket on the floor. By the time we got back on the highway, the traffic had all cleared up.