On a spur of the moment decision, we spent Memorial Day Weekend in our Nation's Capitol. We flew in Saturday morning and flew out Monday afternoon, but we crammed enough activities in our 3 days to fill at least a week-long vacation. We stayed at the Hyatt which has Metro stop connected to the hotel lobby...very nice hotel and extremely convenient. D.C. has to be one of the coolest cities I've ever visited.
Day 1: After settling in at the hotel, we had a leisurely lunch at 'Clyde's,' a local D.C. restuarant featured on Rachel Ray's travel show on the Food Network...an amazing place. We then spent some time walking down the mall. We headed toward the Capitol building, stopping at the Air & Space Museum and the new American Indian museum on the way. After taking way too many pictures of the Capitol dome, we stopped in the Botanical Gardens. (The 'tropical' room was our favorite, although it looked surprisingly like home!) We made our way to the National Archives to pay tribute to the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Seeing these documents left us inspired. We made our way to the Washington Monument where, again, we took way too many pictures of the Monument, the White House, the Jefferson Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial. We did a brief walk-through of the Museum of Natural History. We ended the day visiting the new WWII Memorial.
Day 2: We started off the day at Arlington National Cemetary. We witnessed the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We saw the mast of the Maine and also the eternal flame at the grave of J.F.K. We both couldn't think of better place to be on Memorial Day Weekend. Next, we visitied the U.S.Holocaust Memorial Museum...it was an incredible experience that left us both speechless. After the museum, we completed a tour of the monuments. We saw the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the Nurses Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the WWI Memorial to the D.C. veterans who fought, the F.D.R. Memorial, and the Jefferson Memorial. This is probably my favorite thing to do when visiting D.C. It's impossible not to feel inspired by these founders and heros of our own American history. We ended the day by watching a Memorial Celebration on the Capitol Green and eating at Emmitt's Grill, another local D.C. restuarant located very near the White House.
Day 3: The International Spy Museum was first on the agenda. We learned about the tools and techniques of secret agents worldwide. It made Speech therapy look pretty lame and boring by comparison. We visited Ford's theatre and saw where Lincoln was shot. There was a museum in the basement of the theatre where we saw the murder weapon and the bloodstained pillow Lincoln was using when he died. We walked across the street to the home where Lincoln was taken after he was shot and saw the room and bed where he died. After this, we hopped on the Metro and squeezed in a visit to the National Zoo before we had to get to the airport. We saw the new baby Panda, Tai Shan, and again, took way too many pictures.
We had an amazing time in D.C. and we can't wait to go back.