Day 5 - 1st Day in DC

Our first night in DC was pretty much a total mess after we arrived at our Airbnb. Among other issues, the electricity was off in part of it, after hunting for a while we finally got it back on, but then the new washer/dryer didn't work right, so we spent that evening wringing out our mountain of clothes until about 1100p. The next morning we woke up to loads of thundering footsteps at 630a, so we were tired and cranky and frustrated.

While I spent the morning hunting for a laundromat, I dropped Nate & the boys off at the Smithsonian National Zoo to run out their energy. (The boys' energy, not Nate's. He was wiped out like me.) The Zoo was a great experience for the boys. While they did that, I alternated between laundry and dealing with Airbnb to try and cancel our reservation.

After a couple of hours of dealing with laundry stuff, I picked the guys up and headed to our one scheduled event - the Air & Space Museum. Our favorite things to see at the Museum were the Wright Brothers' original plane that they flew at Kitty Hawk. There were great interactive exhibits throughout.

After Air & Space we started exploring the Mall and monuments. Holden was quickly crumbling from fatigue & so we grabbed some scooters and he quickly perked up at the prospect of riding. The Washington Monument was much more impressive than I expected. E has been most excited to see the Lincoln Memorial because of what's he's studied at school. His only disappointment was that he thought it would be bigger. I appreciated reading the words of Lincoln's address after being inaugurated the second time.

From there we walked over to the Korean Veterans Memorial. When I visited DC 25 years ago I took pictures of that memorial to share with my Grandad who fought in that war and was able to share some of that with the boys. We walked down to the WWII Memorial then found some more scooters and made our way to the White House for a quick pic. There were so many folks there we didn't bother staying too long.

We eventually made our way back to the car and hit up a local spot called the Banana Leaf for some great pan-Asian bites before heading back for the night.

While the day got off to a rough start, we had a great time what rest of the day. I feel really lucky that we got to share these places with the boys and am especially thankful that a cool front came through just before we arrived so it was much nicer to be outdoors all afternoon than when we were in NYC.Baca lagi