Washington DC - Day 2

Wake up: 7:00am
Breakfast: 8:15am
Metro: 9:00am

...and we're off...

Today was monument/memorial day:
The weather was GREAT!! Mostly sunny, fairly cool, and extremely NOT humid (yesterday was...it felt nearly like home)...a good day to be outside most of the day.
Right off the Metro we stopped at the ticket counter for the Washington Monument and got tickets for 5:30pm...not too bad for not getting in line until 9:30am rather than 9:00.
WWII Memorial was first: we found Louisiana and took a pic by it.
Then we took a really really really loooooooooooooooooooong walk to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial...and took the elevator up to the portico level.
Next stop: Franklin Delano Roosevelt National Memorial...cheap water in the visitor center (only $1.65 plus tax per bottle!!!!). This memorial had lots of water features and lots of quotes...and lots of places to sit down.
Next stop was supposed to be the Lincoln Memorial, but today happened to be the day the city picked to have a re-dedication ceremony in front of it so we decided to try again another without all the chairs and banners and sound systems...and people.
Korean War Memorial was next up. Dad almost got a really cook reflection pic but some kids kept getting in his way.
Last stop on today's Memorial tour: Vietnam Veteran Memorial. Again, lots of people [as usual in any small areas I'm beginning to discover] and lots of names.
Wow! We've been walking since about 9:15am...and it's, uhhh, nearly 2, oh my! Time for lunch...let's head to one of the Smithsonians. We ended up at the American History Museum's cafeteria-thingy. Dad and Evan had BBQ pulled pork and Mom and I split a grilled chicken salad wrap...oh and I had a chocolate cupcake!
We decided the Museum was too big to try to do in the 2 hours we had so we moved on down the street to the National Gallery of Art - West Building. We were all tired of walking so the gallery seemed extremely big...we didn't even make it all the way through the second floor, but we did make an effort to see Thomas Cole's The Voyage of Life (M'mel has prints of the 4 paintings) as well as Monet, van Gogh, and Degas.
At 4:00 we left the Gallery and began making our way toward the Washington Monument stopping in at the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden to sit in the shade and rest.
at 4:45 we got up and headed back to the Washington Monument for our 5:30 ticket time.
Even more people there now...but we weren't there for very long. We rode the elevator up 500 ft. to the lookout part of the tower and looked North, South, East, and West...and then went down to the 490 ft level to ride the elevator back down. We were back on the ground at 5:45.
Break time again. We laid on the benches surrounding the Monument (which felt absolutely amazing, btw) and took a couple of pics looking up at the Monument before heading back down the hill again.
It was too early to call it quits for the day (though I'm quite sure we all could have come back to the room and crashed) so we headed to something that didn't close at 5 and wouldn't take forever to get through...the Old Postal Office (and it was near a Metro stop that we needed).
Inside we went up an elevator to the 9th floor then took another to the 12th floor (the top) to see the city from above (again). Then we went back down to the 10th floor to see the bells that are periodically (and manually) rung. When we got back down to the ground, it was nearly 7:00 so we decided to head back to the room...we were definitely all ready by this point if there was any doubt after we finished with the Washington Monument.
Oh, wait dinner...there's a Quiznos' right near the Metro stop. We all got sandwiches and headed for the Metro - exhausted.
Next stop: the hotel - home sweet home (for now) to eat and crash.

Mass down the street at 9:00am Sunday...bring it.

Washington DC - Day 1

Leave NOLA: 4:20pm
Supposed to leave NOLA: 3:50pm
Leave Birmingham: 8:40pm
Supposed to leave Birmingham: 6:oopm
Arrive in DC: 11:25pm (Eastern time)
Supposed to arrive in DC: 8:00pm (Eastern time)
Arrive at The Melrose: 12:34am (Eastern time)

...not a good start...
but, things got better...

Washington, DC - Day 1 (East Coast time)
Shower: 7:00am
Breakfast: 10:00am
11:00am - off to the Metro (blue line from Foggy Bottom to Capitol South)
[we had to figure out how to work the machine to put money on our SmarTrip cards]
We came off the Metro and just followed the people that came off after us because we didn't know where we were (or where we were going) and ended up at the Library of Congress. 2 1/2 hrs later, we went through a tunnel to...the CAPITOL!!...(after checking dad's bag at the LOC because it had food in it)...
The lines for the tour were ridiculous so we walked around the Visitors' Center [the coolest part was the many models of the city and watching the growth and change that took place over the years]. We hadn't had anything to eat or drink since breakfast so we went to the restaurant in the Center and got drinks (thankfully!!). Dad went to see about getting tickets for the Capitol tour for Saturday and the lady didn't even let him ask...she handed him tickets for the tour that was actually supposed to start at, umm, 1:50pm (20 min before), but hadn't started yet (don't worry). Yay!! We got to do the Capitol tour without having to wait forever and ever with tickets.
The Rotunda was cool as was what I've come to call the Echo Room but I liked the room with all the arches (don't remember the name) with the spot where the 4 quadrants of the city meet. Oops, tour's over...Gift Shop time (didn't buy anything though...stuff here's soooooo expensive).
Oh, let's go walk around the outside of the Capitol...oh snap, it's starting to rain = umbrella time.
We walked toward the Botanic Garden and saw some of the outside part but then continued on to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum...and spent the next 3 hrs walking around (Mom and I were finished, but Evan and Dad were pretty far from done) - dinner was (thankfully) included in this trip at the food court in the museum (BigMac for Evan, Donatos Pepperoni for me, and a Carver sandwich for Mom and Dad). Soooo, tired...back to the Metro for the ride "home". We stopped at the "grocery" not far from our hotel to get drinks and a snack then back to the room to crash
...loooooooooong day...
tomorrow's coming fast...