Our trip to Washington DC.

We usually head to a beach or amusement park of some sort for our vacations.  In the summer I always like to do a couple of "drivable" trips.  This time we decided to mix things up and headed to Washington DC for a trip that provided a bit more education for the kids (not to mention that constantly had me reaching into the recesses of my mind to remember my history).  We left at 5:30 in the morning and pretty much had smooth sailing (driving) all the way down.  I took the kids to lunch and the pool while Steve took some calls and did a bit of work then we headed to Arlington National Cemetery.  I had driven by it previously, but had never actually visited as the last time we were there they were having funerals for the Capitol building shootings.  The cemetery is a very moving place, and really makes you proud to be an American, to realize how many men and woman have made the ultimate sacrifice to keep us safe.  The kids and I were able to watch the changing of the guard (Steve was on a conference call) and we all did the narrated tour through the cemetery.

Ampitheater at Arlington National Cemetery:

It was a super hot day, over 100 degrees plus high humidity.  Juliana found unique ways to get her mind off the heat:

Tyler just wanted water, water, and more water:

There were the most beautiful flowers planted all over the cemetery:

The next day we headed to DC on the metro to the museums, we were able to go to the Smithsonian Museum of American History.  This museum was really neat and there was so much to see, too much to see, we could of spent an entire day there.

This is Julia Child's kitchen that was donated to the Smithsonian (pretty cool, eh):

These are Dorothy's ruby red slippers:

The museum with the flag flying high above:

We then headed back out into the heat and walked to the Smithsonian Air and Space museum.  It was very cool and there was so much to see, but due to the heat it was very busy.  The kids still got to see so much.  Tyler was so excited to actually touch a piece of the moon, they also got to touch rocks from Mars.  

After the museums we went to the Pentagon.  The building is so massive, there is no other way to explain it.  We visited the September 11th memorial, and I can't explain in words how very moving and how very sad it was to be there.  I sat down with Juliana and explained 9/11 to her, she was born 6 weeks before it happened and I've chosen not to tell her about it up until now because I didn't want her to know how much evil is in the world.  Being there, sitting on the little wall overlooking the side of the building and the benches representing each victim seemed like the right time.  It made her sad and she kept asking why anyone would do such a thing.  Hard to explain evil.  The benches of the memorial both face towards the building and away from it.  The ones facing the building represented those who lost their lives in the plane, those facing away represent those who lost their lives in the building.

That night we headed into Arlington, VA (it's where we stayed) and what a fabulous city it is.  Just beautiful, clean, and a place you want to spend time.  

Our last day was reserved for memorials and monuments, we drove into DC and parked at Union Station, it is stunning:

We picked up the Trolley Tour from there, it wasn't air conditioned so it was hot, but there was a cool breeze and it definitely beat trying to walk around.  The drivers were great and we learned some neat facts about DC.

We saw so many monuments and historical sites on the tour, we only got off the trolley for the Lincoln Memorial and The Vietnam Memorial (which is so sad, there are so many names on the wall).

We saw the rest from the trolley.

Washington Monument:

The Capitol Building:

The Jefferson Memorial:

The World War II Memorial:

The White House, we were hoping to get closer, but once again due to the extreme heat this was the best we could do:

That night we visited the Iwo Jima Memorial:

It was a fabulous trip and fun was had by all.  We are now looking ahead and planning another little trip for August, still trying to decide where to.