DC - Days 7 & 8

Friday was our biggest day in DC, possibly a little too much so! We woke up early to walk 2 1/2 miles to the Capital to get in line for tickets for a free tour of the building. After getting our tickets for a noon tour, we went another 1/2 mile or so to the Library of Congress and toured that building.

In front of the Capitol:

In front of the Library of Congress:

The view of the Washington Monument from the Capitol. (This is pretty zoomed in.) Notice how dreary it was! We were thankful that it wasn't hot, though!

This is the President's Book from National Treasure 2 in the Library of Congress:

The tour of the capitol was really just a view of the decor and architecture in a few main rooms. There was a very suspicious guy in our group who kept me praying as I kept my eye on him, so I was a little distracted. It was not very bright inside and my pics didn't turn out well, so I don't have many to share.

Here is the ceiling of the rotunda:

A little lower on the ceiling:

After leaving the Capitol, we stopped for sandwiches under this quaint bench:

Here is the DC tree pic!

Next, we walked about 3/4 mile to the Museum of Natural History. Although much of it was based on Evolution and we laughed at the obsurd thoughts, some was neat.

We saw the Hope Diamond, though I was not as impressed as I thought I would be!

We also got to meet Rexie:

We left there and went across to the Smithsonian Castle - so pretty!

We continued on and walked to the National Air and Space Museum, which was much like the Kennedy Space Center, so we didn't spend much time in there. But, they had a Boston Market and that was as close to home cooking as we've had for a while now, so baked chicken, mashed potatoes and corn was on the menu for lunch!

Our next part of the walk took us about another mile to the Jefferson Memorial and around the Tidal Basin:

Thomas Jefferson (or TJ as we call him!) was an amazing man who did so many great things and said so many great things. He had a firm belief in God's hand on our country and the futility of government without God in it. Our leaders today could learn alot from him.

Us on the steps of the Memorial for TJ:

So, moving on. We had a tour scheduled for 7 PM to go up the Washington Monument and it was getting close. Now, let me be real. This is Friday, day 7 of walking, learning, walking, looking, walking, viewing, etc. with more walking. On this day, we have already walked about 4 1/2 miles, not counting walking through the buildings and we have to walk about another 3/4 mile to the Monument. Everyone was pretty much hurting everywhere! But, walk we did to the Monument for our tour. It was worth it! The ride up 550 feet to the top gives a beautiful view and at each of the four sets of observation windows (N, S, E, and W) there are pictures showing what the site looked like from that view in 1885, then about 30 years later and then in 1999 to show the changes in the landscape. Here are some of the views.

The White House:

The Lincoln Memorial:

The TJ Memorial - notice how far we walked and this is a little bit zoomed!!

George Washington was another leader that our government could learn from today. I love this plaque about him in the monument:

Here we are safe back on the ground ready for the mile-ish walk back to our hotel and some much needed rest after so many miles of walking!!

Saturday, we decided to take a light day. We had contacted Mark's brother who is stationed in the DC area and they were coming into town to meet up with us. We went to the Daughters of the American Revolution for a tour of their building and a unique perspective on history. Mark's brother Lonnie, our sister-in-law Kelly and their son Trey toured with us. Then, we went to the White House Visitor's Center, since we were unable to secure tickets for a tour to the real thing. This was supposed to be the next best thing and we were pleased with the "tour." It was nice to get to visit with family, too:

In the Daughters of American Revolution Museum, Caleb liked this room that was made completely from a sunken ship:

The docent who gave us the tour was wonderful with the kids - she even got on the floor to spin tops with Caleb!

We came back to our room early and packed up as much as we could. You are now caught up to today! Tomorrow, we leave early to go to visit Monticello - TJ's house! That is the last official stop of our vacation! I'll try to tell you all about it tomorrow night!

DC Day 6

Waking up Thursday morning, we realized that a change of plans was needed. Lots of rain, courtesy of Fay. So, we decided to take the van and head to the National Cathedral and the Zoo. Proved to be a great choice - the worst of the rain passed while we toured the cathedral and then we did the zoo with just drizzle and cooler weather. I think that I should mention that we did not suddenly become super rich - almost everything in DC is FREE!! We just had to walk there, go through security and enjoy ourselves! Both of our visits today were free as well as the drive past Embassy Row where all of the Embassys are located - beautiful!

The Cathedral was so pretty, but I am so thankful for our church! We wanted to let out a good Hallelujah to break the silence! Anyway, after the tour of the building, you are able to go up to a viewing level for a different view of the city. Again, the building had beautiful achitecture:

Next, we were off to the National Zoo and it was... a Zoo! It was very rainy, gray and cool, but the animals didn't mind.

Mark and Caleb had fun acting like apes. I like how the statue is looking at Mark like there is something wrong with him!

Caleb with a real ape:

Our favorite animals were the pandas:

We also loved the chipmunks that were running around everywhere in the zoo:

Friday was a HUGE day, so that one will be another post! Miss you all!

DC Day 5

Some of you have wondered about my ability to blog on vacation. Well, we have our laptop with us with internet connection in our room. As for time, everything in the north closes between 5 and 6. So, by early evening, we are pretty much done with anything we can do and have the evening to regroup, relax and recover! Yesterday was the exception - Friday was FULL!! So, here we go for DC. We are all enjoying the museums, the architecture, the history, etc. but are not enjoying city life! Traffic, smoking, noise and business to name a few make it horrible to be here! But, we have made the best of our time and I will try to give you the highlights.

Our first day here, Wednesday, we played the "which way does this road go and where are we now" game for a little while. Finally, we parked the van at the hotel and went on foot. That was better! We went toward Old Downtown and walked behind the White House:

Our first official stop was The National Archives - following in the National Treasure Tour mode.

These are some pretty big columns outside the fake entrance!

Then there was the door:

The Corinthian Columns were just beautiful:

We were able to see so many things inside that I couldn't begin to tell them all here. All the main documents were there, even the Magna Carta and so many other things about our Nations history.

I pause for a commercial break here! We had a discussion this morning before leaving the hotel to come to DC that had something to do with the fact that since we were leaving Mt. Vernon and heading to DC, we would not be seeing anyone that we had seen at Mt. Vernon. Well, on we go to the Archives and are going along viewing the main documents (I have pictures, but the lighting was VERY dim in there to preserve the docs and you can't use flash so they are not good pics.) NYWAY... we are looking closely at each document, reading the notes and discussing what we were reading - like any good homeschool family would do. As we were nearing the end, I noticed a family in front of us and immediately recognized them as a family that toured Mt. Vernon at the same time we did!!! We left behind them and confirmed that it was them and that our second guess was correct as well - they homeschool! Too funny to run into them again in a whole different area and of all the places we could have gone to first in DC:

Lunch was coming quick and we went on a search of a place we had seen while driving around and were able to find it. It was Ollie's Trolley and they are family owned and make the most delicious hamburgers ever! I highly recommend it if you are ever in the DC area!

Next, we went to the Old Post Office where there is a tall tower that you can go up and have a great view of the city.

I have no idea what this building is, but we liked the patio on each level:

A view of the Lincoln Memorial from the opposite side of the city:

Constitution and Pennsylvania Ave. The slab of concrete to the right had the most amazing quotes by former presidents:

This is the elevator that we took to get to the tower - wayyyyy at the top!

We did a lot more walking around to get our bearings and sightsee. We took our first trip past the Washington Monument and Caleb and Daddy had fun getting this shot - he has grown some since we left for vacation:

Walking toward the Lincoln Memorial - lots of geese joined us:

The view from the Lincoln Memorial across the Reflecting Pond:

Abraham Lincoln and us:

MaKenna grew a little since we left too!

More about our visit here in the big city in the next post!

Mt. Vernon - Day 4

We woke up early this morning for our 2 hour drive to Mt. Vernon - home of our first president.

Here is Caleb and I outside the grounds - just thought it was too cute to not post!

This is the view out of the breezeway on the way to the tour of the house. We were not allowed to take pictures inside, so you will have to go on your own to see it for yourself!

This is the view from the back porch overlooking the Potomac River:

The kids on the grounds behind Mt. Vernon:

Mark and I behind Mt. Vernon:

Our tree pic. for Mt. Vernon:

That tree was found by Caleb in this cluster of bushy looking things behind the house!

After touring the property, we walked (and walked and walked...) the grounds. It is so beautiful here! I have truly decided beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am definitely a country mouse and not a city mouse!

This is the site where George and Martha Washington are buried:

I have to include some pictures of the trails that we walked along, because they were just so beautiful. We took the back trails and were basically alone the whole time - no one else was up for the challenge of the hikes, I guess!

Climbing the trail:

Another beautiful site:

Can you see the bridge through the trees:

Here is the same bridge - we walked across this to get back to the main area:

A photo op on these steps. BTW, almost all of the family pics are taken with the help of the timer on our camera. There were not many people around the areas we tended to be in during the whole trip - we like to go off the beaten path!

This is an interesting item for those of us who mill our own wheat. George Washington designed and invented this barn and the system in it to get the wheat separated from the chaff. There was still some grains on the site and Mark picked up some as we walked saying that I could make some bread from George W's grain!

OK, now it gets really neat. We went on a National Treasure 2 Tour - behind the scenes. We LOVE NT2, so this was a special treat! This is in the basement where Ben Gates takes the president in the movie.

This is the cornerstone that is the inspiration for the one in the movie that is used to get to the secret tunnel (which doesn't really exist!)

If you look across the picture along the wall, you can see a hole - that is where Ben Gates comes out of the water to enter the party at Mt. Vernon.

The tour guide had some great stories to tell about the whole process of making the movie there and how hard the directors all worked at preserving everything on the site.

I have to say that Mt. Vernon was our favorite place to visit so far! I hope you liked it too!