Spring Break: Washington DC

Our second half of the trip was all about exploring Washington DC! Scott has a soft spot in his heart for DC since he used to visit so often for work, and he was chomping at the bit to explore the museums with the kids.

Day 1: Arrival by bus, National Archives
Supposedly there are cheap train tix between NY and DC but we must have booked too late because they were about $150 one way! We said no thank you to that and instead opted for a bus ticket - $35 per person and about 4.15 hrs to get there. It was an ok ride - we snagged "covid safe" seats which basically meant you had a free seat next to you, which allowed all of us to spread out and have space. 

We arrived at about 2pm and after checking in to the hotel and dropping off our luggage, we immediately headed out to walk the 2 blocks to the White House. It's too bad that there were massive gates around it so you couldn't really see much. Later, as we walked to the National Archives, we got to experience a crazy east coast thunderstorm when the skies suddenly opened up on us and we had to duck for cover. Just as quickly as it started, it ended! 

In the National Archives, we got to see the actual Constitution, Bill of Rights, etc. It was very cool to see - well, what  you could see of it anyway. It was fairly crowded in the room and the lights are very dim, and the writing quite faded, but in theory it was very neat! 

For dinner, we went to a fun cuban restaurant where the adults had a few too many rum drinks and the kids gorged on a dessert sampler. It was a good end to the first day in DC.

White house

Desserts at the cuban restaurant

Pool time back at the hotel

Day 2: Museum of Natural History, Sculpture Garden, National Portrait Gallery, Foggy Bottom, Monuments at night
On Day 2, Scott made us get out of bed early to grab breakfast and then line up for the Museum of Natural History. We got there about 15 minutes before it opened at 10am and was able to be one of the first people in line! I don't know if it helped though because this museum got crowded, fast! I can understand why this one is so popular though - there was lots of fun stuff to see. We spent lots of time in the Early Human section, Mammals area, and then oohed and aaahed at mineral and rocks, including the one and only Hope Diamond.

We were warned ahead of time that museum food is really not good but there's not much in the way of food options nearby so we grabbed lunch at the food trucks outside and sat on the grass for a bit. Then we walked over to the Sculpture Garden next door where we did not notice the signs to stay off the sculptures and got yelled at by a security guard.

After we slunked away, we headed to the National Portrait Gallery. This museum wasn't really on our radar but we went in because it was nearby and I'm glad we did! We saw the portraits of all the presidents - Trump's portrait was the only one that was a photograph vs a painting. And Obama's portrait was the "hope" campaign poster which seemed misleading.

Then, we headed over to dinner in Foggy Bottom to a bar/grill that was okay, but it was fun to check out a different neighborhood. To walk off the calories, we did a night time stroll around the National Mall to check out some of the monuments lit up at night. It was really very pretty, and surprisingly busy and windy at the Lincoln Memorial! 

We were probably 5th in line for the museum.

What would Nora look like as an early human?

Like this! 

Visiting the mammals section

Sculpture park

This is the "sculpture" that a bunch of kids were playing on. We all got yelled at.

Outside the National Portrait Gallery.

Honest Abe!

All lit up at night

My artsy photo of the Washington Monument

Day 3: Lincoln's Waffles, Library of Congress, Botanic Gardens, Art & Industries, Hirschorn Gallery of Modern Art, Georgetown
Bright and early the next morning, we walked the few blocks over to Ford's Theater (where Lincoln was shot) to eat at Lincoln's Waffle House - an old school, local joint that's well known for their chicken and waffles. I liked the chicken wings we got, but the waffles were pretty floppy. 

After our bellies were filled, we headed over the Library of Congress. TBH I wasn't sure what to expect here but it was pretty neat! The reading room is gorgeous, and the kids had a ton of fun doing a scavenger hunt that had them looking at every nook and cranny of the very ornately decorated building. I also got to see one of 3 remaining perfectly preserved original vellum printed Guttenberg Bibles, books from Jefferson's library dating back to the 1700's, and an original map of the United States that included notes on where savages were located.

After a picnic lunch on the lawn of the Capitol Building, we walked through the National Botanic Gardens (small, crowded, hot), then took a quick look at the Arts & Industry "Futures" exhibit (sort of interesting but mostly too far fetched) and then spent a quick hour at the Hirschorn Modern Art Museum before it closed for the night. The Hirschorn had the Yayoi Kasuma exhibit but we weren't able to get tickets and instead went into the Laurie Anderson exhibit, which I thought was pretty neat. It was weird like all modern art installations are, but pretty fun too!

Afterwards, we took an uber/lyft to the Georgetown neighorhood. We felt very hip walking around the stores and having dinner at Sovereign, this belgian bar/restaurant where we were the only table with kids amongst a lot of couples on dates. 

Ford Theater

When we left, this was the line outside Lincoln's Waffle Shop!

The reading room in the Library of Congress

Old map of the US. Look how big Connecticut was!

Guttenberg Bible

Best view lunch! And uncrowded too!

Inside the Botanic Gardens

Using your eyes to play Minecraft in the "Futures" exhibit.

One of the Laurie Anderson installations. This was pretty funny.

Feeling hip at Sovereign

We passed by the White House on the walk back home after dinner.

Day 4: Spy Museum, Waterfront, Scootering, Memorials
On our last full day in DC, we got tickets (paid!) to the International Spy Museum. This was one of the reccos that I heard from multiple people, and even though Scott was only luke-warm about visiting this museum since he had been here before, I think this one ended up being our kid's favorite museum of the entire trip. This one museum may even be the tipping point for them to say DC was better than NY! :P

When you first get to the museum, you are given a secret mission and identity. Then, throughout the museum, there are various interactive displays that you can log into to help you get clues about your mission. The kids loooved it and I appreciated that it worked for little ones like Nora but also older kids like Evie. And then interspersed throughout was regular museum artifacts about famous spies or spy tactics throughout history. Super neat and informative!

The spy museum was only a few blocks from the waterfront, so after spending several hours at the museum we walked over to the wharf to get lunch. The moms got fresh seafood from the seafood vendors there (I got steamed shrimp and clam chowder) while the dads and kids got a burger from Shake Shack. 

Afterward, we decided to finish up seeing the rest of the memorials were hadn't gotten to on our late night walk previously. Scott got it stuck in his mind that we HAD to rent scooters so that it would be faster to get from site to site. Great idea except that we weren't able to get 4 working and we ended up getting separated! I spent all my time trying to find where everyone was and then finally gave up, only to have a heck of a time figuring out where/how to park the thing. In the end, I gave up and texted the customer care rep to complain and sent pictures of where I "parked" the scooter. Eventually, the app noticed that I had been inactive for a long period of time so stopped charging me. Lesson of the story is: have a game plan in case we get separated on scooters and don't rent from Lyft! It was an expensive lesson to learn - $35 down the drain!

For dinner, we went to Chinatown and got lured in by an add for fresh pulled noodles but it was really not great and a disappointing meal for our last night in DC.

Donuts for breakfast. Can you guess which ones we picked?

Who is excited for the spy museum?

Nora's disguise while on her secret mission. To see the rest of our disguises, check out the pics in our Google photo album.

I got fresh steamed shrimp for lunch!

Evie pretending to scoot. We actually had 1 kid ride with 1 adult.

Albert Einstein memorial

Day 5: Navy Museum, American History Museum
Since our flight back to Seattle wasn't until 5pm, we had the morning to check out one last musuem! Scott and Edmond chose the Navy Museum, which was in a Navy Yard that we had to uber/lyft to. It turned out that you had to get a background check to get past the front gates! Once we were cleared about 20 minutes later, we walked over to the museum and spent a good hour or so looking at the model boats and displays. I didn't find this museum particularly interesting, but Scott did. 

The volunteer at the front desk of the museum mentioned the commissary/food court nearby so we decided to check that out. I was expecting it to be more like a cafeteria but it turned out to be just a regular foodcourt where we stood in line to get Panda Express. I guess now I can see I once got a background check to get orange chicken from Panda Express haha!

After lunch, we headed back to the Smithsonian row to see the Museum of American History. The main exhibit here is the original flag that inspired the Star Spangled Banner, and a pair of the ruby slippers from Wizard of Oz. 

Then, we grabbed our luggage and took the subway over to the airport. We had just enough time to grab dinner to bring onto our flight, and then we were back in the air headed west. This time, none of us had first class but we were upgraded to premium seating again which is always a nice bonus! 

Outside the navy museum

Inside the navy museum

All in all, our trip was very fun but also super exhausting. As you can see, we went everywhere and walked and walked and walked all over. The kids were super troopers though. They did complain but it wasn't nearly to the degree we were expecting! Can you guess which city won out as best part of the trip?