Travelogue Day 1

Darling Boy and I had a fun first day of Man Time trip yesterday [scroll down to yesterday's post if you missed it].  After getting to the airport, flying down here, figuring out the DC MetroRail map, getting off the Metro at the station nearest to our hotel and then walking there [but first, walking 3 blocks in the wrong direction 'cause I'm an idiot], we were ready to cool our heals and rest up in preparation for the afternoon.

It didn’t take long for our grumbling stomachs motivated us  off our beds in search of food on the way to our first destination.  I have to give Veronica credit for finding us a hotel in a great location.  We walk out the door of the hotel and this is the site:

We walked the 3 blocks to the Capital building and DB and I starting talking about our form of government.  Maybe it’s DB or it’s just the curriculum, but he didn’t know that there are 3 branches of the government.  So as part of our trip, which I want to be fun AND educational for him, I want him to see the 3 buildings that represent the three branches.  Obviously seeing the Capital Building was easy, and we spent some time hanging out on the Capital steps and taking some pictures.  It was a cloudy day with rain in the forecast, but it was still nice to sit on steps and look down the length of the mall and point out some of the sights.  I took a ton of pictures, but most of them include DB, so I actually don’t have many that I’m comfortable sharing.

Our grumbling stomachs reminded us to keep moving towards the first museum on our agenda and fortunately a hot dog stand on the way satisfied our hunger.

I think we spent a little over 2 hours in the Air and Space Museum and I was little disappointed that DB did not enjoy it more, as he talked about seeing it A LOT before our trip.  But it was a rainy Saturday and VERY crowded, so I think that was part of it.  But we still enjoyed our time there.  My dad spent his entire working life [and his time in the Army before that] working in aviation and I’ve always been fascinated by flight, so I had a great time.  I was last there when I was about 16, with my dad, when we did a day trip, so seeing some historically significant aircraft was great.  Who wouldn’t be impressed by seeing Chuck Yeager’s Bell X-1, Lingbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis, a mock-up [I think] of the Wright Bros plane, or the Apollo 11 Command Module?  But the trip isn’t about me, I want DB to have fun, so when he was tired of this museum and wanted to go, I readily agreed, even though I could have spent several more hours there.

But, I insisted that we DO NOT go back to the hotel, which is what he wanted to do.  It was only around 3pm, so we walked across the mall towards the Museum of Natural History.  It’s easy to lure him with the thought of seeing dinosaurs!  On the way, the rain really started to pick up as we were passing the National Gallery of Art, so I suggested we go inside.

While we were there I took this picture with my camera phone and Tweeted [or at least attempted to, the signal was really week in there] “He only lasted 25 min, but I got DB into an art museum!”  Don’t ask me about this painting, all I know is that DB was wondering why someone would paint a picture with a dead bird.  He was really impressed when I explained that the 6 foot tall marble scuplture started out as a single piece of rock and someone painstakingly carved out the final result we saw in front of us!  But then the though of seeing dinosaurs took over and we headed down the street to the Museum of Natural History.

We spent about an hour there, but I could tell he was really starting to fade.  And to be honest, so was I!!  And we had a mile or so to walk to our hotel, so we headed back.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing in the hotel, going out for dinner, then picking up a pint of ice cream to bring back to the hotel and share.  We ended the day sitting in bed together, watching football and passing the ice cream back and forth, arguing over who would get the last bite.

Today the weather appears to be more pleasant, which is a good thing, since we plan on walking past the US Supreme Court and all the way down the Capital Mall, seeing the White House, the Washington Monument, and the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial on the way to the Lincoln Memorial.  We also plan to taking the Metro across the river and seeing Arlington Cemetary and The Tomb of the Unknowns.

Now, DB is once again grumbling that he’s hungry [though I am too!] so it’s time to find that bagel store we passed last night.  The adventure continues….

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