Yeah...it was awesome!!!
Even looking back on my trip it is unbelievable that I went. It all started in early September when Laura texted me that she had found cheap airfare online to D.C. and she was going September 22-27th. My mom and Katie were going with her and it was too bad that I couldn't come. Then I started to think, was it even remotely possible for me to go with them? I talked to Mitch and he said, "YES, GO!" We would figure out how to make it work later. (Have I mentioned that my husband is awesome? He really is!!)
When I was ten years old my grandparents served a mission in the Washington D.C. temple. While the temple was closed for cleaning that summer my parents took us there to visit. I have never forgotten what an awesome experience that was. It so happened that we were there on the 4th of July, talk about unforgettable! Even at age ten, I understood the importance of the things that we saw. I was SO EXCITED to go back as an adult and see the sights.
Going to D.C. was a trip NOT a vacation. A vacation is when you go somewhere to relax, sleep in, eat out, and hang out. This was NOT that. This was an itinerary filled, get up early, eat whenever you can fit it in on the run, jam packed days full of sightseeing. We left on a Tuesday morning at 6:00 am and got to D.C. at 10:00 pm that night. Our flight took us from Seattle to Oakland, CA to Kansas City to D.C. (I told you the tickets were cheap!) We spent Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in D.C and then flew home by way of Wisconsin on Sunday.
Can you see all of Washington D.C. in four days? The answer is YES! We saw pretty much everything and we walked almost the entire thing. We walked so much that we were in pain most of the time. The first day, Katie's Fit bit said we walked 14 miles. I would say that we walked the same or even more on the other days. The week we were there, the Pope was in town. This had its ups and downs. One of the downs was that most of the roads were shut down to traffic so in order to go anywhere you had to walk. I have never, NEVER seen so much security in my life. Literally at every corner there was FBI, police, and security guards all ARMED while all sorts of weapons.
Our Hotel was on the other side of the river in Virginia so each day we took the Metro (Washington's subway) into D.C. Riding on the Metro is an experience in itself. I was amazed at all the young 20 something kids that worked in D.C. that commuted via the Metro each morning and night. I have to say that it restored some hope in the future. There are 20 year olds out there that have good jobs,work full time, go to school and are actively trying to make a difference in the world and don't still live with mom and dad! We got pretty good at navigating our way through the Metro but when I got home I was sure glad to see my car. Mass transit is definitely different.
Before we left we sat down and made an itinerary of everything that we wanted to see so that we could make sure to fit everything in. Due to the Pope being in town we had to rearrange some of the things we saw, but we stuck to the list and saw everything we set out to see.
Our map was our lifeline while there. At times we definitely looked like a bunch of tourist trying to figure out where we were and how to get to the next place.
**The itinerary**
Wednesday-
National Archives
Ford's Theater
National Portrait Gallery
White House
The Mall and Monuments
~Lincoln, WWI, WW II, Vietnam Wall, 50 Signers, Korean War, Martin Luther King, FDR, Jefferson, plus other small monuments
Thursday-
Washington Monument
White House Visitor Center
American History Museum
Supreme Court
Holocaust Museum
Arlington Cemetery
Pentagon~ 9/11 Memorial
Friday-
Bureau of Engraving
National Art Gallery
Capital Building
Library of Congress
Watch Senate and House
National History Museum
Iwo Jima Monument
More Arlington Cemetery
Saturday-
Mount Vernon
Washington DC Temple
Monuments at night
**More to come...
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