What do you get when you combine a vacation with education? A veducation of course. I took the kids to Washington DC for a veducation last week. We had an amazing time!
James had to stay home and work, so I packed up all 5 kids in the Suburban and headed out Monday morning. It is about a 10 hour drive which was not too bad. Our first stop was Thomas Jefferson's house in Charlottesville, Virginia. Having never been to Virginia we were struck with how pretty it is. Seeing the Blue Ridge Mountains, rolling hills, green, green, green - it was a beautiful drive.
Jefferson's house was impressive. It was amazing to see all of the things he invented and learn more about the author of the Declaration of Independence. If you are able, I highly recommend a visit to his home. Emily especially enjoyed seeing his books and really wanted to read them all. See the clock above the door? That is the outside face, there is another on the inside, Jefferson wanted to know what time it was without having to go in the house. He had lots of clocks and liked to stay on schedule.
Our next stop was the home of James Madison, writer of the Constitution. Although not quite as impressive as Jefferson's it was still neat to be there. They have only recently completed the renovation of the exterior. The inside is a bit bare as the curators continue to search the country for furniture that was once the Madisons' or pieces from the same time period.
The Marquis de Lafayette gave Madison seeds for Cedars of Lebanon - this tree is from one of those seeds. Very Cool!
That evening we went to the Washington DC temple to visit the visitors center. It was beautiful. Those pictures are on another camera - I will add them later.
That was enough for Day 1. We stayed in Mclean, Virginia the rest of our trip. Day 2 took us to the National Mall. The hotel had a shuttle that took us to the Metro and then we took the Metro to the Smithsonian stop. It was a fun experience to ride the Metro and the kids did great and had fun.
The first stop we made in DC was the National Archives to see The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. It was AMAZING to be there in person and see these documents with the signatures of our founding fathers. Jacob and I memorized the Declaration of Independence last year as part of a history class I taught for our homeschool group. It was terrific to be there with him and see the original document. If we had headed home after that, I would have felt like our trip was a success. It was great.
The little girls were so excited to go to the Natural History Museum and see dinosaur bones. It was neat to see all the fossils and other displays. There was no way to see everything, but what we saw we really enjoyed.
Our next stop was The White House. It was a long walk, but it was worth it. The girls called James when we got there to report that it really is white.
After The White House we needed a little refreshment. We stopped at the Ronald Reagan Building for the food court. Ice cream made our tired feet feel much better. As an added bonus, two men who are in the honor guard for the border patrol police were there in their full uniforms and let us take a picture with them. Yes, they are wearing kilts - the girls thought that was pretty neat.
The ice cream made it possible for us to continue our walk to the monuments. First stop - Washington Monument. See how it has two colors of stone. It was started before the Civil War, and finished after, using a different quarry. Interesting facts everyone should know...
The WWII Memorial is amazing. It was one of the best things we saw. There is a a feeling that you are on holy ground as this memorial honors the Americans, men and women who served and died during WWII. It brought tears to my eyes as we read the inscriptions on the columns around the memorial.
This is only half of the WWII Memorial, it is too big to get in one picture. One side is dedicated to the Pacific, the other to the Atlantic. Each column has the name of a state carved into it with a huge metal wreath at the top.
We stopped at the Korean Memorial and Vietnam Memorial as well. They were really neat. This is a view from the Lincoln Memorial looking back at where we have come.
The last memorial we visited was the Lincoln Memorial. Each January we watch Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech given from these steps. It adds a whole new perspective to be there in person, the realize the contribution that Lincoln made to our country and to imagine all the people crowded up to this memorial for that famous speech. It is hard for me to describe how awesome it was to be in that very spot.
That ended the adventures for Day 2. We walked to the Metro stop and headed back to the hotel. I think we walked at least 5 miles that day. The little girls were good sports about all the walking and picture taking.
Day 3 had us starting out at the American History Museum. The flag that inspired the writing of the poem by Francis Scott Key that became our National Anthem is on display there. It is a wonderful exhibit, no pictures allowed, but I will never forget seeing that flag in person and realizing it's worth. Another favorite experience.
The American History Museum has everything from founding father's clothes, a replica of the sunstone of the Nauvoo Temple (cool), and kermit the frog, to the camcorder that recorded the events of 911. We took lots of picture of the neat things in that museum and did not even see all that there was to see. One could spend the entire day there, we only spent a few hours.
Our second stop of the day was the Native American Museum. The architecture of this building was very unique and beautiful. We ate lunch here as they have a cafe inside with Native American dishes from lots of different tribes. It was delicious and fun to try something new.
They had this cool totem pole inside and lots of other terrific exhibits.
We had planned to visit the Air and Space Museum next, but we were running out of time and energy so we headed over to The Capital Building and The Library of Congress.
The Capital building is pretty impressive in person. We did not go inside since we had missed the last tour of the day and wanted to get to the Library of Congress before they closed. We saw a guard with a machine gun, but did not take his picture - he asked us not to. :)
I was not prepared for the beauty of The Library of Congress. The ceilings are covered in amazing mosaics. Marble columns abound and the grandeur is impressive. There is a wonderful display of all of the books the Thomas Jefferson donated to the library.
Although you can not take a picture of the reading room, Jacob took a picture of a postcard of the reading room - smart boy. This picture does not do it justice, it is an incredible place. Emily really wanted to go into the reading room and read some of the books there. Apparently you can get a library card if you have a reason to go there and you can go into the reading room. We will certainly look into doing that next time we visit DC.
That completed our activities for Day 3, and our tour of the sites at the National Mall. We had a super time at the museums and did not even see the tiniest bit of what there is available to learn about there. I look forward to going another time to learn more and see more. On the way to the Metro station, Samantha said she needed a break. Before I could answer that we were almost there, she had already fallen over onto the grass. She was such a trooper the whole time with all the walking we did. We all learned a lot and had a great time together.
Day 4 we checked out of our hotel and drove to Arlington National Cemetery. We were able to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns. It was really neat to be able to see that.
Even though there were tons of people there, it was quiet as you could sense that it was a solemn place. The rows and rows of tombstones is a sobering sight. We were really glad we made the effort to go there.
Only 30 minutes from Arlington is Mt. Vernon, George Washington's home. They have a replica of his 16 sided threshing barn there as well as animal breeds that the Washingtons would have had, costumed tour guides to teach you about what life was like in Washington's time, lots of wonderful gardens, and 12 original buildings. It was neat to walk around Mt. Vernon and visiting there certainly made me realize how hard it must have been for Washington to leave this beautiful place to lead the fight for our independence and then leave it again to run our country. It is a beautiful place right along the Patomac River.
The tour of Washington's house was neat and the visitors center had lots of original artifacts and interesting facts about the Washingtons - including George Washington's wooden teeth - cool, but gross.
We thoroughly enjoyed Day 4 and all that we learned.
After Mt. Vernon we headed to Bristow, Virginia to visit our fun friends the Lopez family. We met the Lopez family when we lived in Texas and have kept in touch over the years. It was so great to see them again and renew our friendship. Our kids are all about the same age and Jacob and Austin picked right up with their friendship. We stayed up all night playing and visiting and we are so glad that we were able to see them again. Thank you Tami, Drew, Austin, Elizabeth, Tyler and Audrey for opening your home to us, it was great to see you and a fun way to end our trip.
We drove home on Saturday. It was great to be home and we were all glad to see James again. It was a perfect trip with memories for a lifetime!
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