We drove up on Friday, leaving at 6am, stopping in Virginia to have an impromptu lunch with friends we haven't seen in far too long and arriving in DC in time to get our car valeted, check into the hotel and get to the National Archives before it closed to see The Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence. We finished the night with dinner at Hard Rock Cafe since it was on the way back to the hotel.
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| S and Isabella at our stop in VA! |
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| This street was so cool! |
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| National Archives |
After our obligatory terrible sleep on night one in a hotel, Saturday we were up super early waiting on breakfast to be served at 6:30am because we had a White House tour at 7:15am. Yeah, we pretty much ran there after eating! It was something that none of us had done and was really neat! We were able to see all of the East Wing displays and then most of the 1st floor of the White House. There were Secret Service agents everywhere which made it even cooler of an experience! I'm so glad we got to do it! We went back to the hotel to eat a 2nd breakfast since it was still early and packed a bag to take with us on our Big Bus Tour of the monuments around DC. We opted to walk a good ways and start our tour at Union Station. We then got on the bus and saw the Capitol, Washington Monument(closed due to elevator maintenance until summer 2019), the Jefferson Memorial(we actually got off here and walked for a bit around the Tidal Basin and saw FDR Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial and then got back on the bus!). We took the bus across and saw the Pentagon and made it to Arlington National Cemetery in time to see the eternal flame at JFK's grave and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier along with the Changing of the Guard. We got back on the bus and rode it back to within a block of our hotel! We freshened up and then walked through Chinatown to Penn Quarter where we had dinner at a tavern as we watched several college football games on all their big screens. We walked about 10 miles and boy did we sleep good Saturday night:)
Sunday was a bit slower of a start because none of the museums open before 10am and that was what Sunday was all about(not to mention the clocks fell back so we got an extra hour as well!)! We walked down to the National Mall around 9am and took pictures and went into the Castle as we waited for things to get started! We first went to the Museum of Natural History, then the Museum of American History and then headed to the Air and Space Museum but not before stopping for a quick ride on the carousel before:) We walked another 6+ miles and opted for room service at the hotel instead of walking to a restaurant;)
This morning we packed up and put everything in our car but left it in the parking garage at the hotel. It was pouring, so we grabbed a taxi(a first for M and the kids) and took it to Senator Tim Scott's office where we were meeting for our Capitol tour. The people at the office were so sweet and gave us a tour of the office before our official tour started! It was a slow day on Capitol Hill since election day is tomorrow and most representatives were back in their home states! The girl doing our tour was really sweet and did a great job and I think we all learned something new! After the tour we checked out the Senate and House galleries, ate lunch at the Capitol and then literally ran back to get to our car before 1pm so we wouldn't be charged for another day! Made it with 3 minutes to spare!!
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| Sen Tim Scott's conference room |
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| The exact center of DC - underneath is "The Crypt" where George Washington was suppose to be buried, but he chose Mount Vernon instead! |
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| John C. Calhoun |
The drive back was long with fog and rain and we were all pretty tired and ready for bed when we pulled into the driveway at 9:45pm!
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