Travelogue: Washington DC

For Memorial Day weekend we decided to take a trip to Washington DC because Brent had never been. I've gone a handful of times and chipped away at the mountain of things to see and do but I'm always happy to go back for more. With two little girls it took the better part of a day to get there although we took a detour to Irving's in NJ for some melt-in-your-mouth pastrami. YUM! Totally worth the stop.

I remember as a little girl when we'd travel it was mostly to see relatives. We didn't vacation very much so staying in a hotel was rather rare but I remember thinking it was the coolest thing ever. My father had done his fair share of business travel and he was always unimpressed with the room and the hotel in general. I couldn't wait to explore. This basically consisted of locating the pool and filling the ice bucket which doesn't sound like much but when you don't stay in hotels often, it was an adventure! Well, now I'm the unimpressed parent and Liesel is the eager child. When we finally reached our room she ran around everywhere with her little golden curls bouncing. She picked up the phone and said, "I call grandpa? Yeah!" as if she just couldn't wait to tell him we'd made it to DC. She searched every corner of that room as if it was an Easter egg hunt. She love, love, LOVED the pool and even more so, the hot tub. Just watching her reminded me of when I was a little girl. Perhaps Brent and I have passed on our wanderlust to her?

Saturday we took the Metro to the National Mall and explored the Museum of American History where we saw ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz and Apolo Ohno's skates. The First Lady's exhibit was insane but I managed to see Michelle Obama's inauguration ball gown and her Jimmy Choos. Her feet are huge! Just sayin'. We went to the Air and Space Museum but only made it through the first floor of exhibits. Then we hiked up to the Capitol for our scheduled tour. Once we got to the top we were ushered to the side. Apparently an "unintended package" was left behind so they had to call in security and evacuate the place. By the time they called the all clear they decided to cancel all tours. We strolled by the Library of Congress and headed to the National Archives but the wait was 45 minutes. Completely soaked in sweat, we headed back to the hotel to relax for the evening.

Sunday we took the car into town. We hit the National Archives first hoping to miss the crowds. For some strange reason, they have decided making people line up to see the documents doesn't work. Once it was our turn in the rotunda, we were told to "fan out" to see the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights among other things. I was able to see a peek of all of those but only a peek because of the inanely unaware people who camped out right in front of them and refused to move. Why we would resort to the rule of will over the rule of law in the heart of our nation's capitol is beyond me. Personally I think they should have a conveyor belt that moves you along and if you want to see more of the documents then you can jolly well get in line again. Yeah, we're still frustrated with that.

The girls were sleeping so I stayed in the car with them while Brent went to Arlington National Cemetery to visit the grave of the unknown soldiers and then to the Jefferson Monument. They had woken up in time for us all to go to the Lincoln Monument and Vietnam Memorial. It just so happens a Harley-Davidson bike rally was tying up a heck of a lot of traffic. They apparently do a rally every year since so many of them are veterans. There were some very touching things left at the Vietnam Memorial by riders which was very cool to see. From there we headed out of town. Although a good visit, both Brent and I can't wait to go back and see more.