The past two days we have driven into DC with my in-laws in one car. Either they dropped us off or we just went to the lot with them. Today, however, we were going in different directions so we drove into town ourselves. I was a bit worried about parking, but so far the amount of people has been very light in DC, so I thought perhaps we might be ok. We put Jefferson Memorial into the GPS and off we went. It was a very nice drive with no traffic, and surprise surprise, we found a pretty empty parking lot a few minutes’ walk form the Jefferson.
We saw the Jefferson and went back to the car. Now, getting anywhere in DC is an experience, and unfortunately, the GPS cannot tell us where to find parking. We wanted to go to the Lincoln Memorial and we ended up driving around in circles for a while until we found a spot that said one hour parking. It was very near the Lincoln, so we took it. We ate lunch and saw the memorial. It is always an awesome sight for me. I think it is perhaps the best memorial in DC (the Jefferson is a close second). The kids had a good time, especially counting the steps (58, btw). Here are shots of the three of them.
Marsha took the kids and went towards the Korean War Memorial (which neither of us had seen). I went with Avi to the car since the hour was up. I did an illegal U-turn on Constitution and ended up finding a spot on Constitution closer to the Washington Monument. I am not sure it was a legal spot, but we did not get a ticket, so no problem. Avi and I met Marsha and the other kids at the World War II memorial which I found very impressive.
Each star in this photo represents 100 American lives lost in WWII. Over 400,000 Americans.
Walking back to the car we found a wonderful little memorial to the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Recognize any names?
Finally we really wanted to see the FDR memorial and we decided to drive there and if we could find a spot we would stay. Sure enough we found one right across from the entrance. The memorial is beautiful and I recommend it highly.
Through all of this, the kids were really ok. Each had their moments, but for the most part it was fine. On the way home, we did a quick stop on Theodore Roosevelt Island and saw his memorial as well. Nice place but we just took a peek and went back to the car. After dinner Marsha and I went out to get some stuff from the store, and we sneaked a few minutes to ourselves at Starbucks. Maybe not a date, but at least a few minutes without the kids!
Tomorrow we will try to get tickets to see the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and maybe we will go the Building Museum also.
That’s it for now!
Consider the Spy Museum. Kind of pricey, but definitely worth it. Your kids are probably old enough for it. Ilan loved it as soon as it opened, but I don’t remember how old he was then. It’s unique to DC.