A Very Full Last Sightseeing Day in D.C.

We followed our "regular" routine this morning, driving to the College Park subway station, parking and getting on the Yellow Line. We arrived at the Archives stop and were downtown by about 9:30 this morning.

We first walked to the Ford Theatre, where Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth, because we’d heard those tour tickets sell out early. We purchased our tickets for the 2:00 tour since we hoped to rent some bikes so we could get around to more of the sights in less time, riding during the cooler temps of the morning. Then, we walked back around the block to the International Spy Museum because we wanted to reserve our afternoon tickets for that tour as well. (Turns out that the tickets there are not timed and would be good all day.)

We had a little trouble finding the Bike N Roll location, but when we finally did the actual rental checkout process went pretty smoothly. We got Skylar a tandem trailer bike which means he had a seat and pedals and handlebars to hold onto and rode behind Brock. Everyone else got their own bikes, helmets and locks. (Thank you, Grams and Gramps for the extra experience fund without which we wouldn’t have rented bikes!) We hopped right on our bikes and took off, not really knowing proper etiquette for city riding. We watched a big guided bike tour leave and followed them at first. They rode on the wide sidewalks so we did too, to get to the wide paths of the Mall. Brock found the tandem trailer a little cumbersome since Sky doesn’t quite have the balance thing down yet and hasn’t had any opportunities to practice. The paths were SO congested with people that we didn’t get to move very fast most of the time. We got to see the Washington Monument a little closer, the Martin Luther King Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the World War II Monument, the Korean War Monument, the Vietnam Memorial Wall, the Jefferson Memorial from across the pond, not to mention several statues. Around the Lincoln Memorial we broke down and purchased bottled waters at a refreshment stand, over $14 to get 6 cold water bottles. We guzzled them almost at once. At the actual monuments, you need to walk your bikes, BUT we were thankful that we got the bikes because we were able to ride over to the Arlington area and see the Iwo Jima monument which is officially called the National Marine Corps Monument. We couldn’t take the bikes into the cemetery area, but there was a nice bike path along the outside and we see the rows and rows of white headstones that everyone thinks of when they think of Arlington. We had hoped to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, but weren’t sure where it was from where we were and we kind of ran out of time and energy. The temperatures were in the 90’s and the humidity was fierce and we didn’t have any more water so EVERY ONE of us was red-faced and the sweatiest we’ve ever been. We had less than an hour to go from Iwo Jima to get the bikes back to the rental place and get to the Ford Theatre for our ticket time.

D.C. is really a beautiful city. I loved the buildings and the shady trees along many streets.

The Washington Monument dressed up in all its scaffolding.

A lovely little Survey Office

Pictures at the World War II Memorial

John Paul Jones

Martin Luther King Memorial

Jefferson Memorial as seen from the MLK Memorial

Viewing the Washington Monument and
the Reflection Pool from the Lincoln Memorial

Korean War Memorial

We reflect on the Vietnam Memorial Wall

Filing past the wall in a long line of others

National Marine Corp Memorial a.k.a. Iwo Jima

Another view of the Jefferson Memorial

We made it just in time, but we still had to stand outside in a line for a little while until they let us in. I cannot describe how good it felt to go from the line to that place just outside the museum doors when the gust of air conditioning reached our baking skin. Aaahhhh, so good. Once they scan your tickets you go downstairs to where the exhibits are about Lincoln’s presidency and then details about the accomplices in the assassination. We got to see the actual derringer pistol (surprisingly tiny) that Booth used and the suit that Lincoln was wearing that night. After fighting the crowds in the basement exhibit area, we got to go back upstairs into the actual theater and see the balcony area where Lincoln was seated. Then a National Park Ranger gave a 15-minute talk which filled in some details of the day. He was a good storyteller and seemed to keep everyone’s attention. Our tickets also would’ve allowed us to go across the street to the Petersen House where President Lincoln actually expired 9 hours after being shot in the back of the head, but we decided that we’d prefer to get over to the Spy Museum instead of waiting in a long line with hundreds of people.

The line outside Ford's Theatre, feeling wilt-y.

The infamous pistol

Lincoln's suit

Inside Ford's Theatre

We went around the block to the Spy Museum and saw that alas, we would have to wait in a long line with hundreds of people who also held tickets. An employee of the museum was overheard to tell another tourist that the line looked like about a 45-minute wait, most of which was in the direct sun. People were for the most part in pretty good spirits which helped a lot. Once again, we were very thankful when we were able to turn the corner and stand in the shade of the building. Then again, a blast of cool air at the door was soo refreshing. Then we had the wind-y snake-y line through the lobby to an elevator that took 15 people at a time up to the start of the exhibits. While waiting in the lobby we got to see some actual memorabilia from different Bond movies which the museum was celebrating with a 50 Years of Bond Villains campaign. There was the modified green sports car that the henchman villain drove in the Die Another Day movie and the drill from Tomorrow Never Dies and up on the wall a 6-7 foot Komodo dragon from the casino scene in Skyfall. Upstairs, we got to see tons of real spy gadgets and to learn about different aspects of being a spy. There was a whole section on spying in history. We saw a letter written by George Washington as America’s First Skymaster as well as a piece of correspondence between Benedict Arnold and Captain Andre. The displays worked up to more recent history including celebrity spies and then at the end we went downstairs into the Bond Villain exhibits.

There were a lot of interactive displays down there which I think was the most fun for the kids. There was a shark tank display where it signage said “Touch if you dare”. Several seconds after watching the sharks swimming around in the tank many people would look away, but a large shark would unexpectedly smack into the glass menacingly. It was pretty funny to watch people jump.

We got to the Jaws teeth from the Moonraker movie and for some reason this really made me miss my Dad. :o( I remember watching that movie with him when I was a teenager!

The boys interacted with a display called HangTime where there was an apparatus to lift a person 6-7 inches off the ground, regardless of how tall you are, and the challenge was to hang by your hands for 60 seconds to win a prize. Spencer was the one who could hang the longest in our family surpassing 30 seconds. I accidentally missed Brighton's attempt while I was looking at something else. This was a difficult task with how sweaty everyone was (especially their hands) and while we were at the display for probably 20 minutes, I only saw one kid who accomplished the mission. Pretty impressive.

After the Spy Museum, everyone was really hungry, since it was after 6 pm and we’d only eaten jerky, Ritz, and granola bars for lunch and cereal for breakfast, but we decided that we weren’t going to spend the money to eat downtown.

On the walk towards the White House we saw the Treasury Department building and I thought it was quite beautiful.

William Tecumseh Sherman Monument

We toughed it out and walked some blocks to take a look at the White House. There was yet another huge crowd on the sidewalk just in front of the White House so it was difficult to get any kind of good picture, but it was still a really impressive looking house and garden. From there, we started the trek back to Archives to the subway station, several blocks. Skylar was getting pretty tired and was having a hard time, so Bryn and Brock took turns giving him rides for a little bit. Pretty nice of them given the condition they themselves were in.

This just made be laugh with Ben looking all serious and standing
in front of the Old Post Office with a pigeon on his head! 

It felt so good to sit down on the subway in the air conditioning. Bryn and I noticed something that we’d never experienced before. We were coated with salt all over our bodies. ;o)

We researched places to get dinner and didn’t really come up with anything since we were mostly really thirsty and nobody really cared what we ate. We had a movie to return to Redbox at the grocery store close to Cherry Hill Park and noticed an Italian place called Mamma Lucia’s and decided to give it a try. We ordered a pizza and got side salads and I must’ve drained my water glass at least 4-5 times. Ice water never tasted so good!

We got back to the trailer after an exhausting day, glad for what we’d been able to see while in D.C. and ready to head out of the area.