Monuments & Museums

Christina, Jeff, Rachel & I had to rise and shine early so we could get to our ticketed time for the Washington Monument. We had it worked out pretty well until we had to get off the Metro early because the train schedule was wonky on a Saturday morning. So we power walked all through the Mall and got there just in time. Thank goodness we had tickets because it was sold out for the day for standby.

 I have been up there before but it never gets old. Such an amazing thing to go up. The views are amazing of course and there is so much to discover. They have lots of cool exhibits up there now too to check out. The rangers said they are talking about opening it up so you can walk down soon and we were bummed we missed that. That would have been pretty amazing.

You can just barely see the Washington out on the horizon. Oh ya and there's the White House.

We are pretty darn good at selfies!

 So while we were up there we couldn't help but reenact the time when an Asian stepped right in front of everyone to take a picture out the observation window. So much for personal space. We might have gotten a little dramatic about it but all in all I think Christina pretty much nailed it here!

 Oh look the mall is under construction...again!

 So in the elevator on the way down they slow down and dim the lights so you can see the state blocks that were donated in their fund raising project. Very cool and we are always looking for Nevada.

 After our fun tour (thanks Rachel) we walked over to see the Jefferson Memorial. It's actually quite a hike so we felt like we deserved ice cream on the way. We were hoping to get a tour to the bureau of printing & engraving but it's closed on the weekends darn it.

 

 Here's the girls getting a few mandatory pictures looking back at the Washington Monument.

 After the hike we started slowing down a bit needless to say. We just decided to eat nearby and try to save some time and energy. We had seen a food court a few days before so we went through the Ronald Reagan building to find it. Naturally it was all closed up for the weekend but we did finally hear about another bigger and better one a floor below. It was nice and clean and not too pricey. Jeff & Rachel and I tried the Greek food. Fabulous! We spent some time back in the Smithsonian of American History and I think that might be my new favorite museum. We all split up so we could see what we were interested in.

LOVED the dollhouse. I might be obsessed. Luckily Christina found it because I walked right by it.

 

 But my absolute favorite exhibit was Julia Child's kitchen. They really had her kitchen completely reset up all the way from Boston. It was so amazing. Christina and I were in heaven and spent a ton of time studying everything about it.

 Seriously there was a whole train engine in there!

 Christina was on a roll so we headed on over to the Air & Space museum while we were only about 2000 steps away. She's a trooper. I have to admit after awhile I was pretty focused on finding penny smashing machines since I have been there lots. Even the gift shop was fun.

 

 By the time we met up in the history of flight section we were all dying. I haven't been this tired in forever. I felt vindicated though because even Rachel was tired. And maybe a little punchy. I wish I had the video of her too tired to get up and rolling on the floor.

 After our day of museum hopping and cramming everything in we could we drug ourselves back to the hotel. Jeff & Rachel just hung out with us there and we ordered pizza. Thank goodness because I am pretty sure I couldn't have made the walk one more block to their apartment.