Day 13: Trippin' out with the Rawlings - D. C.

Day 13 was the big day. The day we went to Washington DC. You can guess by the fact that this is being posted the day after, that it was an exhausting day.

We decided to head out a little later to miss the commuters, so we left around 9. We were slowed down by a police check point along the road. That was weird and slow. I don't think that is a very good use of resources. They checked Kenneth's drivers license and then wished us a great vacation. On to DC! The plan was to park at the closest metro station and ride in. We stopped at the first and the lot was full, to the point that it was closed off to all new comers. We stopped at the second... lot full, third... lot full, fourth... we turned the wrong way, drove into town, which was actually a fairly nice town, killed a spider that was in the car, turned around... lot full. By this time we were pretty much out of road because the next thing we knew we were in DC. What?

Since we were so close to Arlington Cemetery at that point we decided to stop there first. We were sent the wrong way to the Tomb of the Unknowns, which we never saw, but we walked around in the heat and took pictures of the amazing amount of graves.

I have never seen so many people in DC before. Then I realized that it was still the Cherry Blossom Festival which I thought would be so cool to see, well it's not. You can see Cherry Blossoms anywhere and it brings a lot of people, so don't come during the festival. So not worth the extra people.

We considered walking across the river to the Lincoln, but finally decided to risk it and drive into the city. So we drove, and drove, and drove, around, and around and around, praying for a parking space. Our spirits would rise, Is that one? No, it's handicapped. Point is if you are handicapped go to DC because they have plenty of parking for you. Did I mention there were a ton of people?

After over and hour of driving around and seeing the Kennedy Center more than anticipated we finally ended up on the far side of the Jefferson Memorial along the Potomac. It was now 2pm.

We hadn't planned on seeing Jefferson because he was so far away from everything else. We thought maybe we would just walk to the monument and then purchase some tickets on the tourmobile, which is this bus that drives around to all the sites and you can get on and off anywhere. That was the plan because it couldn't be that expensive, right? So wrong. I think if we had planned on it beforehand we would do it because now we know what a pain it is to walk everywhere, but just walking up to the bus and seeing the prices I about had a heart attack. $26 for adults and we had 2 kids that counted as adults, so 4 adults and $13 for kids, which we had 3, for a grand total of... $143. All of this would not even be an issue if we had been able to ride the metro in.

Anyway, we decided to hoof it. So walk we did. It's not just the miles, which we are estimating was between 6 & 7 for the whole day, but there are stairs, a lot of stairs, and there was a 6 year old that needed to be packed around for parts of it because he was so tired, and then there were more stairs and by the end I put on my pioneer spirit because if I hadn't I would have just been on the pavement in tears.

We did the whirlwind tour of the mall. We did Jefferson where Dylan bought a flag pin. Then we walked to Washington.

Then we walked to WW II, which I have never seen.

Then to Lincoln, snapping a quick picture of Vietnam and Korea on the way past. I had not seen Korea before either. Then up all those steps to Lincoln. So much pain in my legs, so much pain.

Then down all those steps and we walked to the Natural History Museum. Where Orion bought a saber tooth tiger, Dylan bought a dinosaur kit and Ian bought a key chain with his name flashing on it. We stopped to see the Hope diamond and some of the gems, but that was it.

Then we walked over to Air and Space. They do have the Einstein bobble heads from Night at the Museum if you are wondering. Air and Space is my favorite museum. Theron bought a Newton's Cradle, Sophia bought a necklace and Dylan bought a Rail Twirler that lights up. There, money spent, memories made, move on.

This is my favorite picture of the day because it's really real. They were so tired. Now Smile!

We then started the long walk back to the car. I really just had to grit my teeth and do it. The kids were amazingly strong through this all. They were champs, pioneers, warriors, troopers, tough guys, strong and relatively non-whiny. We finally made it back to the car and collapsed into a whimpering heap. We gulped down water and snacks. We did bring water with us on the walk, but we were all a little hungry.

The weather for the most part was nice. It was a little hot in Arlington in the morning, but by the time we parked the wind had picked up and cooled it down. The rest of the day was windy, but it felt great. We were finally hit by the rain on the drive home.

We decided to try and make it back before the barbecue place closed. We did not make it. So we ended up eating at Hardee's. They still have my favorite burger here which they don't have at Carl's Jr., the sourdough bacon cheeseburger.

We ate, had some ibuprofen and went to bed. Bodies aching, but we did it. The kids all said what their favorite thing about the day was:  Ian - Natural History Museum,  Sophia, Orion and Dylan - Lincoln Memorial, Theron - Washington Monument. Their universal thing that they did not like about the day - the walking.

Haiku to this day:
Walking a long time.
So much to see in D. C.
Calf muscles so sore.