Shelley's been wanting to go to DC for a long time now, so what better time than on her birthday?
We left on a Thursday afternoon, thinking it would be a light travel day. Nope. This was a break in the crowd at Salt Lake airport. It was SO busy!
We were supposed to get in to DC at 11pm, but due to delays, we got there at 1:30 am. At least we got there and didn't have to spend the night in Chicago airport!
We stayed the first night at the Park Hyatt and it was fancy. We were upgraded to a smaller suite
The hotel manager left us a little note, some sparkling water and some chocolates
The rainfall shower was huge
The elevators had benches to sit down on - maybe in case you need a 15 second rest???
Since breakfasts are included for us at Hyatt's, we heard good things about this hotel and were excited to eat. Shelley got the Avocado Toast for breakfast
I got the caramel and berry pancakes. My pancakes were only $20, and with fresh squeezed juice and some sides of bacon, we still didn't even come close to our $120 allotment we had for breakfast. We did manage to spend almost $80 though! :-)
Capital tours started up not too long ago so that was our first stop in the morning. A short subway ride and we were there.
We were the first tour of the day and our guide kept telling us how lucky we were to see the rooms without anyone else in it. In 30 minutes, this room was full with people everywhere
Same with the rotunda room. We were the only ones there. We walked through it again about 15 minutes later, and it was packed full of people and noisy
VIDEO:
See the panel with all the people? It's telling the story of American history and it looks like it's 3D - but it's not. It's flat. And amazing
The top of the rotunda is a painting that was made with a plaster painting technique
This is the statue room. Each state can have 2 statues -they can swap them out every few years if they want. Utah's are Brigham Young and was Philo Farnsworth (who invented TV), but Utah is swapping him out right now
This is a to scale size of "Freedom" which is at the very top of the capital. It has a lot of symbolism and detail, but because it's so high, nobody ever gets to see it
See "Freedom" at the top?
This was an interesting creation out of sticks and reeds to walk around and through. Kids loved running in it and playing. I was going to, but Shelley told me no - I might get hurt and bump my head. Then we'd have to go to the hospital and miss everything else we had planned. She was right.
This is a real flying vehicle that has been used and is hoped to start production for everyday use soon
We went to the Hirshhorn Museum of Modern Art because there was an exhibit that people raved about and was a "must see". Tickets were required and were sold out, but we checked at the door and were able to get some. Wow! we thought! We were going to see a great exhibit that was worth the hour long line we waited in, and that was AFTER getting the tickets!
Well, we saw this little gem of something.........
And this little doozie of an infinity room....
And who wouldn't want to walk through this 30 second path of .....ummmm.......whatever this is?????
VIDEO:
There you go. You saw the special exhibit now. That was it - three things to see. And you didn't have to wait an hour. We probably could have missed this "must see" exhibit
That afternoon, we checked in to our 2nd hotel - the Grand Hyatt, that we would spend the rest of the trip at. It was pretty fancy inside
We walked to Chinatown which was only 2 blocks away
We had some very very very good cheese wantons, fried rice and potstickers. Yum!
We didn't get to eat in the restaurant for breakfast at this hotel, but did have a breakfast spread available instead. Notice the huge pan of bacon - it was so good
After breakfast, we headed to the National Mall again - it was only a 12 minute walk
Our first stop was the National History museum. Again, we were one of the first in and it was so nice before it got really really crowded
Yes, all these animals are real (just not alive - if they were, it would have added a little more excitement to the museum)
Most of the museums are in beautiful and ornate buildings. If you don't look around and up, you miss all that
The Hope Diamond
They had a display about natural geological formations and had this one - exactly like Paul Bunyan's Woodpile just down the street and over the hill from us here!
This is a real crystal ball - in fact, the world's largest flawless quartz crystal ball. Anyone have anything in the future they want to see?
Then we came to the mummies - these are real mummies
This one was a little boy
With technology and 3D graphics we have now, this is how the mummy boy would have looked like
It was getting to be lunchtime as we exited the museum.
But there was nowhere in sight to eat.........
Where is a good food truck when you want one???
The huge fields on the National Mall provide lots of places to play and rest
The White House announced tours were coming back on April 15. You had to have your senate office put your name in to be considered. They only do tours on the weekend so that makes it even more difficult to get one. I put in the first day the lottery was available, and got put on a wait list. A week before we left, I found out we got one of the tours.
The White House theater
This is the East Room where the President gives a lot of his televised speeches
All these rooms we toured are used during the week. For the weekends, they roll up the carpets and put out barriers and when the last tour on Sunday is over, everything gets put back in place again
The Blue Room is used by the President to receive guests and is furnished to represent the period of James Monroe.
The Red Room is used for small receptions and is often used by the First Lady.
The State Dining Room can seat 130 guests
Huge "no man's land" between the front of the White House and a park. This entire road was closed. There were barricades everywhere we went actually, and we were told that just a few weeks ago, you couldn't even get this close to the White House and the barricades were 10x more than they were when we were there
On our way back to the hotel, we passed this small and skinny government building - the "Securities Building". Everyone else gets to work in a large and comfortable building - apparently not those that work here!
I found this on our hotel window when I opened the curtains
The architecture in and around many buildings is timeless and probably often missed as everyone just walks on by
We saw the President's helicopter fly over:
We then went to the museum of American History which was a mix of all kinds of things....like this dollhouse that any kid would enjoy playing with
And this form of ancient (and very heavy) "money". This brings new meaning to "What's in your wallet"
This is called a Typewriter - an ancient computer
Dorothy's Ruby Red Slippers - which are made of simple red sequins
In the evening, the hotel has an "hors d'oeuvres" section we got to go to. It was quite the spread
Early evening, we headed out to Union Station. We really got to know the subway system - it goes everywhere and easy to use
Normally packed with people, it was very quiet this Sunday night
While we were waiting at Union Station for our tour to start, we saw a 'singing preacher' that sang the same song over and over and over and over...he did come over to us, singing, and gave us some pamphlets too.
We were headed out for an evening tour of the monuments
Legend has it that how the horses hooves are in statues, (Washington DC has more horse statues than anywhere else in the country), tells you how the rider died, or didn't die. It's said that if the horse has one leg raised, the rider was harmed in the battle. If the horse has both front legs raised, the rider died in the battle. If all four legs are on the ground, the rider survived and was not hurt.
Our first main stop, was the Jefferson Memorial
I love this pic with the Washington Monument in the back ground between the columns
One of the monuments we stopped at, was hidden away tucked behind a small park, and often missed. George Mason - he looks so relaxed in this statue of him. He is the "forgotten" founding father. He was George Washington's neighbor and had the same ideas and political thoughts as Washington did. One of George Mason's writings, the Virginia Declaration of Rights, was the basis and pattern that the Bill of Rights was formed from. George Mason was extremely instrumental and had a big part in writing the Constitution. When the Constitution was done and being signed by those who were the leaders at that time, it was a huge shock that George Mason refused to sign it. He wanted a Bill of Rights to go along with the Constitution. He wanted an immediate end to slavery. Without those things, he thought the Constitution was incomplete. In 1789, James Madison presented a Bill of Rights, that George Mason mostly authored, and it was ratified to the Constitution in 1791 - 1 year before George Mason died.
The next stop was the Roosevelt Memorial - it's HUGE with lots of water features and takes up 8 acres. He served as President the longest and during tough times with the Depression and WW II. This part of his monument depicts the "bread lines" many American's had to wait in just to get bread. This also is the only presidential monument which features the First Lady and the President's pet
This sculpture depicts families with little food or jobs
Next was Martin Luther King Jr Memorial which is the newest memorial and completed in 2011. There are three granite stone pieces, forming a mountain. The piece with his sculpture on it, is the "stone of hope" used in his famous speech and was meant to look like it moved forward out of the mountain
Next was Lincoln Memorial
The Korean War Memorial was next. It was pretty cool at night, with statues in and around shrubs and trees, like they were hiding in the brush
Tickets to the Washington Monument are hard to come by. They release 30 for each our online the day before. Literally, in 1.7 seconds they are all gone. I tried for three days. The next option was to wait for same day tickets at 8:45 am. Well, I thought it was 7:45 so I got there at 7am. I was 3rd in line. I got the tickets.
The elevator doesn't have floors, it has feet. The top is 500 feet
Next was the Zoo, just a short subway ride away. We rode the subway often - so easy to get around
They have these cables that go across the zoo for the orangutans that use them to play on and get from side to side. We didn't see any of them use it though :-(
The zoo was packed. PACKED! It was, well, just like a normal zoo. We probably could have skipped it. This was our least favorite thing we did
Next we went to the Spy Museum. It's huge and very interesting. After an hour or so, and at the end of the day though, it was enough. Go to this museum first. This little plaque was given to the US Ambassador by the kids of Russia and was put up in his office. It was there for almost 10 years until someone noticed a small listening device in the beak of the eagle. OOPS
There was so much to see in at the Spy Museum. Definitely do it, but do it early. It's not free - it was the only non-free museum we went to. Very well done.
Our last day started out going to Mt Vernon, which was George Washington's home about 18 miles south. First we took the subway to the end, and then got on a local bus to the end, and we were there! About 30 minutes total. Both ways on the bus, this is how crowded it was. This was on a Monday!
Mt Vernon is beautiful! George Washington had about 8000 acres of plantations and gardens. He was a very wealthy man. He had 300 enslaved people helping him run and take care of it. He provided well for the enslaved people he had and when he died, his will would release them all once Martha died and he provided for them financially for the rest of their lives too. Martha didn't wait and freed all of them 1 year after George died.
George and Martha often had overnight visitors about 250 nights out of the year - multiple visitors each night and fed and entertained them. This was a very popular place.
Cutaway model of the George Washington's house
This is from a movie you watch and is how it looks today and how it looked when Washington lived here
George and Martha's grave sites. Their family is also buried behind in the room
Memorial to the enslaved people - many are buried in the fields surrounding this area
The "Neccessary"
This is not stone - it's wood and then when it's wet with paint, they throw sand in it to give it texture. It has to be redone about every 3 years
The main entertaining room
George's love was farming first and family. He didn't want to be the President and spent every moment he could at Mt. Vernon on his farms
There were several bedrooms, most being used on any given night of the year
George and Martha's room
George's office
Quarters for the enslaved people...there was a section for men and another for women
The weathervane that was on top of the house
They did extensive 3D imaging and molds to determine this is very likely how George looked at the time
After spending most of the da at Mt. Vernon, back on the bus and subway and we went to Arlington Cemetery and got the last tour with 2 minutes to spare. Yes, 2 minutes. We walked fast - someone people behind us were too late and didn't get in
JFK and the Eternal Flame
They do the Changing of the Guard every 30 minutes during the summer, so more get to see it. It's very quiet and somber
The guards are highly specialized and trained and live in a bunker underneath the area. They undergo rigorous training and every step, every movement, every word has a meaning. Read THIS ARTICLE to find out everything you never knew about this
VIDEO:
These two maps were with us at all times and we used them often!!
Especially the subway map....so if you go, make sure you have this!
We had a great trip! So much to do there, and much we didn't have time to do.
Oh.....what's this? How did this get here? What is this?
