DC Day Two :: Let's See EVERYTHING!

We woke up ready to tackle the day and did breakfast at our hotel. Bayley ate a mountainous plate of bacon. Hey, that's what vacations are for, right?

We planned this trip so that we could pack in as much as possible in a short time. There is just so much to see and do, you can't possibly work it all in, but we tried! We started the morning with a walk to the Capitol Reflecting Pool. Only, it was too windy to see our reflections.

On the way to Union Station to catch the trolley, we paused to take a picture with the cherry trees. Bayley even got extra credit for sharing the picture with his teacher!

The trolley took us to the opposite end of the National Mall so that we could (mostly) walk back and explore the monuments as we went. It was a great way to get a lay of the land and gauge distances for our other excursions.

The Jefferson Memorial was great. A ranger was there explaining the thought process behind the placement (so that the statue of Jefferson was in sight of the White House). The boys read to us the quotes carved into the walls, which became something we did at most monuments. It forced the boys to slow down and think about why a monument existed in the first place.

We walked through the FDR Memorial, which worked through his life and had some great quotes. And the waterfalls are lovely and calming. It leads into the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. By this point, the kids were done with walking. But we had to make it to the Lincoln Memorial.

I could have sat on those steps all day, just people watching. But my minions were tired and hungry. Not the best combo. We hopped back on the trolley, and let it take us towards the National Portrait Gallery. But first, we wanted to check out Shake Shack. We'd heard great things, and they were on all the lists of what to do in DC. We really wanted to like it. But can't say it's something we'd repeat.

Hayden's class is studying American History, and the National Portrait Gallery takes you through history one president at a time. I could have stayed there for hours. But most of the exhibits didn't hold the kids interest. Bayley decided Teddy Roosevelt was the coolest president we've ever had, and you can't really argue that. His exhibit had many of his hunting rifles, which really intrigued Bayley. Maybe we'll hit the NRA Museum when we're in Virginia.

The trolley took us back to our hotel, and on the way Hayden fell asleep. We didn't realize he'd crossed from resting to passed out until the trolley stopped and he rolled onto the floor!

Since our pick for lunch went sideways, we opted to take Gabe's advice for dinner and went to R.F.D. Real food! Great beer! Just what we needed after a long day.