Washington DC

A 9-day adventure by Kathy Read more

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Trip start
June 17, 2017
Washington DC Kathy Eckelkamp Anderson
Robbinsdale, United States
June 17, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C
Time to hit the road. See everyone Friday night at 6:00 to pack the van and 7:30 Saturday morning to get going. Washington DC bound!
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Washington DC Kathy Eckelkamp Anderson
All packed up.
June 17, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
All of our stuff fits. Uh oh, are we really supposed to fit the girls in here too?
Ok they all fit! We're ready to go.
DC here we come.
Even though it was a long day, the girls all did great on the long drive. Much fun was had with the travel scavenger hunt. We never did find live chickens though!
We made one rule for the trip to always eat at a restaurant that was not a chain we can eat at home. First restaurant dinner was at Bob Evans. Great meal.Read more
Sara SubbyI'm so excited for you all and look forward to your next post!!
6/17/17Reply
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Washington DC Kathy Eckelkamp Anderson
Day 2 begins
June 18, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌫 23 °C
Thanks girl scouts for great accommodations. And cheap too. We stayed in a cabin at a girl scout camp in Indiana through Girl Scouts of Northern Indiana - Michiana. Bunks, bathrooms, full kitchen, heat/ac. Ok, the water did stink (due to the sulphur in the well water) and there were a couple of bugs that just freaked the girls out (I could not convince them that those bugs that looked like giant mosquitos were actually mosquito eaters.) But for $48 a night we could not beat the accomodations. And the site manager who led us to the cabin in the dark and helped us with anything we needed was a great guy and an asset to that girl scout council.Read more
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Washington DC Kathy Eckelkamp Anderson
Allegheny Mountains
June 18, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C
Beautiful scenery driving through PA. But the girls could not hold their breaths until the end of the tunnel.
Julieanna HinckHope everyone's having a good time!
6/18/17Reply
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Washington DC Kathy Eckelkamp Anderson
Dinner Day 2
June 18, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C
Had another great meal! Called &Pizza. Best pizza I've had in a long time and the girls all agreed. Always see interesting things along the way.
We're almost there. Just stopped for a few more groceries.Read more
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Washington DC Kathy Eckelkamp Anderson
Museum of Natural History Gems & Mineral
June 19, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C
Our first stop on our first day in DC. Many interesting exhibits including the hope diamond.
Sara Subby😍
6/19/17Reply
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Washington DC Kathy Eckelkamp Anderson
Bones and Dinosaurs
June 19, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C
Part of the Museum of Natural History, one of the Smithsonian Museums.
Sara Subby😱
6/19/17Reply
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Washington DC Kathy Eckelkamp Anderson
Mummies and other things.
June 19, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C
Still part of the Museum of Natural History.
Sara Subby😵
6/19/17Reply
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Washington DC Kathy Eckelkamp Anderson
United States Capitol Building
June 19, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C
Outside the Capitol Building. Building is beautiful and just awe inspiring. But have to admit, this was our first inclination of just how much walking there would be in DC. We thought we were doing good riding the Circulator bus to the Capitol, but while it was still a bit of a walk from the bus stop to the building, we then found out we had to walk to the other side of the building to get to the visitors entrance. We knew we were in trouble when we found a sign telling us the approximate time it would take to walk to the other side (I think it said about 8 minutes).Read more
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Washington DC Kathy Eckelkamp Anderson
Inside the Capitol Building
June 19, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
Beautiful building. The statue at the top is called the Statue of Freedom. Lots of history about the building of the Capitol, the statues located inside and the paintings & murals.
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Washington DC Kathy Eckelkamp Anderson
Library of Congress
June 19, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 27 °C
Not much time to spend here but it is a beautiful building and we really wanted to see it. There was a tunnel going from the Capitol building to the Library of Congress which meant we did not have to go through security again!Read more
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Washington DC Kathy Eckelkamp Anderson
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Riding the subway.
June 19, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 27 °C
The girls loved it! Christina - not so much (motion sickness). The girls called it subway surfing. We never got on the wrong train - success! Great way to get around, just wish they had stops/stations in more places in downtown DC.Read more
Sara SubbyAhh!! So cool!
6/19/17Reply
Tory Thelen Subway Surfing. :)
6/20/17Reply
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Washington DC Kathy Eckelkamp Anderson
Ford's Theatre & Peterson House
June 19, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 24 °C
Ford's Theatre was where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14th, 1865. Beautiful theatre. Not sure how the other girls felt, but I can say that Natalie was a bit disappointed to find out that the actual theatre was shut down after Lincoln's death and was used for many years as an office building and then for a warehouse and after partially collapsing, was finally rebuilt as a replica of the original theatre in 1968. Nothing in the theatre is original other than the bricks in the front of the building. Still a good history lesson.Read more
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Washington DC Kathy Eckelkamp Anderson
Chinatown
June 19, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 23 °C
We finally made it to Chinatown, after many rounds of "how much longer do we have to walk" "are you sure you know where we are going?" "I'm not walking 10 more blocks!" I finally gave up the map to Tory who took us to the exact place I was going to in the first place. Granted, it was raining and we had walked a lot already so everyone was tired and hungry. I don't think Chinatown was.exactly what the girls expected. They admitted later, while they had never been to China, that is actually what they thought it would look like, a street right out of China. Despite that dissapointment we had a wonderful family style dinner. Everyone got to try new things and we took a lot of food home. A great end to our first day in DC.Read more
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Washington DC Kathy Eckelkamp Anderson
Playing in the Waves
June 20, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
The girls had a blast playing in the waves. They were pretty big waves, but really a strong undertow so they were easily knocked off of their feet. The lifeguards were on vigilant duty.
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Washington DC Kathy Eckelkamp Anderson
Heading to the Beach
June 20, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C
Oh, the excitement! A couple of the girls have never been to the ocean before. But we also took time out of our drive to enjoy a sweet morning snack along the way.
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Washington DC Kathy Eckelkamp Anderson
At the Beach
June 20, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C
It was a beautiful day at the beach. There were clouds that kept the sun from beating down on us so that helped with the heat. Everyone had fun playing in the sand and we had a picnic lunch at the beach.Read more
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Washington DC Kathy Eckelkamp Anderson
More beach pics
June 20, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C
And of course there were the life guards. Can you say Baywatch?
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Washington DC Kathy Eckelkamp Anderson
On the Boardwalk
June 20, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C
We only walked a very short portion of the 3 mile boardwalk, but it was a beautiful evening and the boardwalk was very nice. Lots of shops to get souvenirs, great place to people watch and we had a great meal at Paul Revere's Smorgasbord. I think we can all agree Stefan was a great waiter. But I also believe we would all agree (especially Kelly and Christina) that they needed to have more public bathrooms!Read more
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Washington DC Kathy Eckelkamp Anderson
Washington Monument
June 21, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
We actually were at the Washington Monument a couple of different times. But seeing it with the sunset behind it was just breathtaking.
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Washington DC Kathy Eckelkamp Anderson
More Washington Monument
June 21, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C
Guess who photo bombed my picture?
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Washington DC Kathy Eckelkamp Anderson
Holocaust Museum
June 21, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
Very interesting, moving and VERY emotional! I believe the girls all got a lot out of this experience. While we did not plan on spending 3 hours here and we ended up not being able to make it to the American History Museum I think it was well worth it. Unfortunately we ended up having lunch so late is made everyone a bit crabby and left some not feeling well. This was the one and only time we broke our rule of not eating at restaurants we have at home. We were desparate and ate at Five Guys.Read more
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Washington DC Kathy Eckelkamp Anderson
Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum
June 21, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C
Didn't spend too much time here but we all had fun doing a ride simulator or a few of us did a virtual reality walk in space. Pretty cool stuff.
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Washington DC Kathy Eckelkamp Anderson
World War II Memorial
June 21, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C
This was a very neat and peaceful/relaxing place to be. And after a long day of walking and being hot, taking our shoes off and sticking our feet in the water was a little bit of heaven. I would have to say this was one of my favorite places that we went.Read more
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Washington DC Kathy Eckelkamp Anderson
Reflecting pool
June 21, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C
The reflecting pool sits between the Washington Monument and the WWII Memorial on one end and the Lincoln Monument on the other end. Finally figured out why they call it the reflecting pool. :) Hard to get really good pics at night but it was beautiful!Read more
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