Trip Report! Washington DC

[bisous]

This has the potential to be very long--reader beware!

Overall, it was such a great trip. Many of your suggestions made it into the final agenda. We felt like we really accomplished our purpose of enjoying the important historical sights of DC and making it a bit of a vacation too.

We flew out early Thursday and arrived at Dulles at 3:00 ish. We had a bit of a snafu with luggage (DS managed to leave his carryon behind while we were making our way to be picked up!) but somebody found it and called us! We got our luggage before we left the airport. We got in and checked out my sisters apartment. Then we took a trip to the public library there. DS1 LOVES to read and the jet lag meant that we were effortlessly up late. My sister and I left DS at the apartment (with a nose stuck in a book) for a bit (with his phone) while we walked out all of Old Town Alexandria.

The next day (Friday) we had a scheduled tour of the Capitol. We were pretty slow to wake up (well, DS was!) but thankfully our tour wasn't until 1:00. We rode the Metro in with my sister and saw the Supreme Court building (they were not there), and the Library of Congress. Wow, I love that building!

The Capitol tour was amazing. My sister's friend works for the Senate. We saw the usual sights and some really special things besides. He took us both to the Senate floor (we could because it was not in session and there was nobody there except for some pages) and also took us out to the Speaker's balcony. That's where DS saw the Mall for the first time which wasn't really planned but ended up being about the coolest thing we did the whole time. He was VERY impressed. We went over to the American Indian Museum for a late lunch (which was great food and mediocre service) and looked around a bit. There's a feeling of peace and order in that museum that I very much appreciated this time around. Then we hit the Natural History Museum for only about an hour or so. We also walked over to see the White House and the Washington Monument before taking another Metro train and heading home.

We kind of had to rearrange our plans a little bit because of suspected rain. So Saturday we did Mt Vernon and the Zoo as our big excursions, as they're mostly outdoors. I loved so much about Mt. Vernon. I didn't expect to. My sister lives so nearby and the school trip we were mirroring went there so I thought it was important. I was impressed with the house, the grounds, and left with a greater appreciation for Washington. There was a film at the visitors center that I think should be required viewing for all Americans. It unpacks the Revolutionary War in just a few minutes in such a way that almost anyone can understand it. I had a hard time with the slave aspect though, just as I had had when I visited Monticello several years ago. I'm really glad that they have exhibits that talk about the slaves and I know there is an effort to honor them but it still seems just to be such a terrible blight on such an otherwise grand and inspiring place.

The zoo was a good choice for our family. DS1 loved it. Saturday was his favorite day of all. We saw so many animals including the pandas. We saw bison for the first time too. And I really thought it was exceptional to get a great view of the wolves. We've had wolf exhibits here in LA for ever but I've never ever seen one. All in all, it was a great zoo. It was very crowded though!

Sunday started with church at the not too early time of 11:30. After an hour of church, we got in the car to visit Arlington National Cemetery. It was also extremely crowded and it threatened rain all day. Still, DS really loved the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Walking around the graves was very peaceful and inspiring.

Next we headed to the National Cathedral. Unfortunately it was closed early in preparation for some kind of festival. We had hoped to catch the Choral Evensong but it didn't happen that day. We walked the grounds and appreciated the outside however. We also happened to see that we were passing all the embassies. We spent a good half hour driving past most of them and trying to catch which countries they belonged to. The nerdy geography fan girl in me was totally geeking out. (That was absolutely my favorite neighborhood I've seen in the DC area too!).

We parked at Georgetown too. My sister has her MA from Georgetown so we walked around and sat in the chapel on the campus. We decided we really like the missions at Georgetown. I'm hoping to inspire DS to really think about where he wants to attend school and to make going to college part of his dreams for the future. We wrapped up the day by driving past the Mormon Temple and taking some pictures.

Monday we finally got out sort of early. We rode the Metro to the American History Museum and got there at opening. There were some exhibits that we really enjoyed there. One of my favorite things from the whole trip was the First Ladies gowns. I feel so shallow saying that but it was a great exhibit. DS counted the Star Spangled Banner exhibit as one of his three most memorable moments (the other two were seeing the Washington Monument from the Speaker's Balcony and seeing the Bison at the Zoo).

Then we headed to lunch at the National Gallery and then to the gallery itself. I adored the museums there. DS was pretty into it too--for a while. He got kind of tired of it (it is immense!) and we decided we'd let him head to any Smithsonian he wanted to see for the rest of the day. He wanted to head back to the Natural History Museum so that's what we did. He is positively in love with this magnetic rock exhibit that they have and spent at least .5 hours there both times we visited! I love the minerals exhibit. I like the gems that are over by the Hope diamond but I really enjoyed all the "lesser" gems in the way back of that museum. I feel like I learned a ton. We finally headed back via the Metro to my sister's apartment for dinner.

After dinner, we headed back in her car. We parked near the Vietnam War Memorial and visited the Korean War Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial as well. All of them were CROWDED although it was quite late at night. We also drove over to the Jefferson Memorial and it was almost deserted. The memorials are very impressive at night.

Our last day (Tuesday) we only had a few hours before we needed to get ready to fly back home. We decided to ride the Metro in and see the Archives. We were concerned that we might not have much time after we got in, since we didn't managed to get timed tickets. But thankfully, we only had about a 20 minute wait and we were in. DS was very impressed with the copy of the Magna Carta. I thought the original American documents were amazing. They're getting really hard to read. I'm glad I can be a witness that they exist and I saw them.

And that pretty much wrapped up our trip! We had another uneventful flight home. LA was the same temperature as DC when we left. However, it gets cool in LA at night and it was nice to feel the chill in the air.

[bisous]

I thought it might be interesting to write out our favorites.

DS1's favorites include: the View of the Mall from the Speaker's Balcony, the bison at the National Zoo, the soldier at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Star Spangled Banner exhibit at the American History museum, the magnetic rock at the Natural History Museum, and the Magna Carta. He picked quite a few things that I might not have had on my list, lol.

My favorites were: Also, the view from the Speaker's Balcony , visiting the Senate Floor, the Library of Congress (so pretty!), the film at the visitor's center of Mount Vernon, the view of the Mormon temple from the Beltway, the First Ladies' Gowns at the American History Museum, and the minerals at the Natural History Museum. I also liked pretty much all of the National Gallery. I like pretty things, lol.

[Percycat]

I'm so glad you had a great trip. It sounds like you and your son had a wonderful experience and made some great memories. : )

[bisous]

I'm so glad you had a great trip. It sounds like you and your son had a wonderful experience and made some great memories. : )

Thank you! We did.

[pharmjenn]

Poor Jefferson never has many people visiting him. I guess because his Memorial is so far away from all the others. Makes it nice and quiet though, which we enjoyed.

[lizzywednesday]

... DS counted the Star Spangled Banner exhibit as one of his three most memorable moments ....

The Star Spangled Banner exhibit is one of my favorites, too. <g>

I wasn't interested in the First Ladies' gowns, but everyone who I know who's seen them LOVES that exhibit. Don't feel shallow - the history of fashion is really interesting!

[american_mama]

So Saturday we did Mt Vernon . ....I had a hard time with the slave aspect though, just as I had had when I visited Monticello several years ago. I'm really glad that they have exhibits that talk about the slaves and I know there is an effort to honor them but it still seems just to be such a terrible blight on such an otherwise grand and inspiring place.

Well, slavery is a blight on our nation, isn't it? Real history is complicated and contradictory, and we don't need a fantasy version of the past to find inspiration in it. It's harder work, but also more accurate and more meaningful.

My husband is African-American and grew up in the shadow of Mount Vernon, in a black community called Gum Springs that was founded by West Ford, a former slave at Mount Vernon, on land given to him by the Washington family. Gum Springs still has many residents and long-established families that were descendants of Mount Vernon slaves. My husband would have a very hard time if Mount Vernon did NOT address slavery as part of its history. And they didn't for some time - he has negative memories of school trips there when the "happy slave" narrative was pushed very heavily or the topic ignored.

Having said all this, my husband has been has been to Mount Vernon many times but I have not, even though his mother still lives in Gum Springs. I have been saying we need to go on our next visit - I was interested, but had kind of a sense of obligation about it - but your review is inspiring me to really look forward to it.

Thanks for the trip report.

[bisous]

Well, slavery is a blight on our nation, isn't it? Real history is complicated and contradictory, and we don't need a fantasy version of the past to find inspiration in it. It's harder work, but also more accurate and more meaningful.

My husband is African-American and grew up in the shadow of Mount Vernon, in a black community called Gum Springs that was founded by West Ford, a former slave at Mount Vernon, on land given to him by the Washington family. Gum Springs still has many residents and long-established families that were descendants of Mount Vernon slaves. My husband would have a very hard time if Mount Vernon did NOT address slavery as part of its history. And they didn't for some time - he has negative memories of school trips there when the "happy slave" narrative was pushed very heavily or the topic ignored.

Having said all this, my husband has been has been to Mount Vernon many times but I have not, even though his mother still lives in Gum Springs. I have been saying we need to go on our next visit - I was interested, but had kind of a sense of obligation about it - but your review is inspiring me to really look forward to it.

Thanks for the trip report.

Oh yeah. I don't know if I was clear or not but I think the slaves should have represented a larger part of the whole thing. I feel like they're a huge part of the reason that Washington was able to live in that manner but they didn't get enough credit or notice. I'm glad they're trying! I totally feel like that is important. I have been thinking about this a lot.

When I was in Senegal, we went on an excursion to the Isle de Goree, which was an island off the coast of the tip of Senegal--the Westernmost part of mainland Africa. It is a famous port where slaves would be held before mounting slave ships and saying goodbye to their homes. It is a relatively pricey excursion for "Toubabs" (A word that really means white or of European descent) and it cost almost nothing for native Senegalese. I think the price disparity was like $20 for visitors and 10 cents for locals. But that seemed only right. It makes me wonder if Mount Vernon could do something like that. Anybody with African ancestry would be admitted for free, white people have to pay. Or if you could trace your ancestry to a Mount Vernon slave you could get a lifetime free pass or something. Just a little bit to honor the sacrifice the first time around and prove that we understand better now. I don't know if it would fly. I just think I wanted more to represent the slaves.