**WED 6/26 Drive 170 miles to DC
The girls made it to stop #2! It was a weird feeling taking off without Chris from the campground today. This is a pretty cool campground. There's two pools, a splash pad, and new playground. I didn't let the kids swim until I had figured out how we are getting into and around the national mall. It took an hour, but bought our metro cards for the public bus which picks up at our campground entrance, and are ready for DC tomorrow. It is very warm out so the kids are eager to swim. We rode our bikes over to the pool because it's such a large campground and I gave them an hour on the timer so we could get ready for bed, read together, and be able to catch the city bus in the morning.
**THUR 6/27 DC
We managed to catch the 9:30am express bus to the metro, figured out the metro map, and an hour later were at the National Mall. We started at the Naval museum right outside the metro station (on a secret mission for a bathroom!); we didn't even know it was there, but enjoyed it. The sculpture garden was pretty, but our next mission is something to drink--we are thirsty already and we carried nothing but my purse so we wouldn't have to worry about security measures. At almost 11am, it is hot already, so I let them get iced treats (OMG mom let us get icee's!). To limit walking, we focused on the west side since we have a capitol tour tomorrow.
We started by walking to the WASHINGTON monument. It was the tallest building in the world at 555 feet tall when it was built in 1884. We were bummed to not be able to go up (under construction) since we were expecting to spend a lot of time there and enjoy the view, comparing it to the St. Louis Arch. I wanted to buy a bookmark at the shop with a neat quote from Washington about associating yourself with good people, but it was expensive, and another customer was arguing with a staff member with elevated voices over who-knows-what so I quietly ushered ourselves outside before something were to happen.
We moved on, taking the free Circulator bus to the JEFFERSON memorial. Thomas Jefferson was Secretary of State to Washington, Vice President to Adams, and in 1801 the third President of the Union in the new capital city at Washington DC. He was very concerned about the power of the presidency and wanted to make sure it did not evolve into another monarchy. We can thank him for establishing the metric system for money and uniform weights and measures so our money has consistent value.
I really loved all the quotes on the wall in the memorial, but this one stood out to me since the issue of how many laws we really need comes up every election cycle: "I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions. But laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."
After a quick quasi-lunch from food kiosk while we waited for the circulator bus to come by, we headed to the LINCOLN memorial. We climbed all the steps up to the LINCOLN memorial and the temple was very impressive. Amazing view of the national mall. I have to admit we hung out in the tiny shop to buy bookmarks and postcards simply because they had a/c and a fan. Then we went downstairs (the elevator actually) for a new display about Lincoln's lasting legacy. What I thought was so cool about this is that it was inspired by a group of Arizona students who felt something was missing and worked with the National Park Service to create it. It took them four years of campaigning and work after their initial visit for the exhibit to open, and I love that I could share this story of how someone of any age could make a difference and provide inspiration for future generations.
We walked down the REFLECTING POOL on the right (south) side simply because we were already over there, bought water bottles from some kids with coolers on the pathway, and continued to the WORLD WAR II memorial fountain. There we lots of people with their feet in the water so I let the kids put their feet in if they wanted. We thought it was neat that the soldiers played in the fountains of Europe to cool off and celebrate after the war, so we enjoyed the fountain in their honor. The sign said: "Honor Our Veterans-- At the end of WWII, troops celebrated in the fountains of Europe. In honor of that time, you may sit with your feet in the Rainbow Pool, but you may not walk, swim, or sit in the water." The giant inscription memorializes those who sacrificed themselves: "Where we mark the price of freedom".
We had a decision to make at this point... go back to camp because we are hot and tired, or walk back to see the things on the other side of the reflecting pool (we should have walked down the north side). I felt our visit would be incomplete without, so I bought them more popsicles and we walked more. We enjoyed our cool treat at the statue honoring the 265,000 American women who served in Vietnam 1956-1975 on our way over.
At the VIETNAM VETERANS memorial, I think the kids were more amazed by the thick list of names in the book than by the names on the wall. The pond area on that side also has a little island commemorating the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, of course John Hancock's name is the largest here too.
We waited at the circulator bus stop and posed for a picture to show how hot and tired and done we are. We all voted to look at the White House through the bus window rather than walk over there. It is getting late now so when we got off the bus we looked for a snack or water and a restroom, wandering into a free art museum. At least we had restrooms, and a cool robot, but still no food. The security guard supervising the art displays saw the kids and suggested the Postal Museum as more kid-friendly, and it was here that we found out all the Smithsonian museums are free. The info desk gave us a brochure.
We re-prioritized and headed to the Postal museum before heading home. I would not have thought the NATIONAL POSTAL MUSEUM would have been a target destination from its name alone, but it turned out to be great! The kids sorted mail on a train, drove the semi truck, started a stamp collection, and created their own mock stamp using their selfie. The metal plates for printing and perforating the stamps were neat to touch. Marissa thought the sign language stamp was neat--she wants to learn sign language.
It took a patient hour in transit back to the campground, but we finally made it back. We went to the pool for night swimming and the poolside cafe for dinner because we were hot and hungry. I am pleasantly relieved the burgers are actually tasty.
**FRI 6/28 DC
We must have been tired, I didn't wake up till about 9am, and it took some effort dragging the girls out to get dressed and fed. After a 9:55 panic over deodorant (we are NOT leaving without it!), we literally RAN through the campground to the bus, trying to catch the last express bus of the day at 10am. Piper ran ahead faster than us and the bus driver kindly waited til 10:01 and we sat on the bus already sweating.
We picked out the Smithsonian museums we wanted to do and started at the NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY. This place is amazing! We bee-lined straight for the Star Spangled Banner--the real original! Several states ago we had bought a board book about it that Marissa learned to read so we knew a bit of the story--it was neat to affirm what we knew and very exciting to see the flag in person. This is the flag that flew over Fort McHenry in the Baltimore Harbor during the War of 1812 when Francis Scott Key saw it during that battle. It was the size of a barn (originally 30' x 42') and the lady who sewed it had to take it to the neighbor's brewery building across the street to finish sewing it because it was larger than the footprint of her house. Now it is only 30' x 34' because the Armistead family gave away pieces of it as souvenirs in celebration after the war, and it also deteriorated from use. It has 15 stars to represent the colonies at the time (but only 14 now because one was given away as another souvenir). To preserve it, they keep it in a dark room to prevent fading and pictures are not allowed. We found out that the song actually had 4 verses and we stood there in front of the display and I sang them all (in a quiet voice just so we could hear--don't worry I didn't totally embarrass my kids *smile*).
 |
| (Smithsonian image) |
The next exciting find was Dorothy's Ruby Red slippers from The Wizard of Oz. There were actually 10 pairs used in filming, store-bought size 5 shoes that costume artists decked out with thousands of sequins per shoe. The display pair were faded and mismatched, but we couldn't tell the difference. We were excited to find this because we watched this classic movie on our trip, and now they feel more a part of popular culture. I enjoyed reading how its themes of self-reliance, resilience, and courage spoke to Americans in 1939 after the Great Depression and entering war.
In the presidential section was neat too. There was so much to see! The kids liked the movie about what it was like to live in the White House as a kid. We saw the hat Lincoln wore when he was assassinated.
We stumbled upon the best actresses and her "Freedom machine". She was totally in character and loved to talk about how this Freedom machine (bicycle) was such a great new thing because she could to see so much more of the world around her. She "took a picture of us" with her 1903 camera and showed us how it used two lenses. I asked her who she was voting for in the next election and her response was on cue--she said she didn't understand my question. Women were not allowed to vote yet, and I made sure to point out the lessons on sufferage and the 19th Amendment (and 15th for that matter) at other points today because the kids didn't understand why she couldn't vote.
We spent so much time there, that our next museum had to be quick! At the AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM we bought freeze dried ice cream, walked through a space capsule, and saw the Wright Brother's plane from 1903, the "First in Flight" we keep seeing on North Carolina license plates. It was interesting how they trialed their theories with kites, and that the pilot was not inside anything. This was the actual plane, not a reproduction or model.
Facts I want us to remember:
-The word congress = the people's representation, and their job is to examine, debate, and consider in order to find common ground (one tour guide made a great analogy of having to compromise in order to get along with your siblings and family to people from many different backgrounds having to agree on rules of law for our entire country)
-"E Plurbius Unim" = an important motto meaning "from many, one" (we see this on our money)
-This capitol was set on fire by the British enemy in 1812 and was rebuilt.
-We won that war in 1814 (at Fort Henry when the Star Spangled Banner was first created)
-The dome was built during the Civil War, symbolic and good PR showing people that Lincoln
approved and had confidence in the Union
We were the last tour of the day and hundreds of people were quickly escorted out the doors. The kids were patient as we made it a learning experience when we missed the city bus while waiting at the bus stop on the way home (it pulled up to the other bench/sign instead of ours and we were too tired to notice)...we had to wait 12 more minutes for the next one, (this probably worked in our favor though because it rained pretty good on the ride back and slowed way down when we got to campground and had to walk back to our site).
Overall, I am happy with our visit -- it was Piper and Marissa's first time there. Addisyn was able to experience DC differently from her trip last year with her dad. We saw lots, but there's still so much more for them to see when they come back a little older and wiser.
No comments:
Post a Comment