We had planned to get an early start, but when you don't get to bed until nearly 3:00 AM, you take the sleep when you can get it.
We started by walking from our Hotel near Mt. Vernon Square to the White House. We stopped by a Dunkin Donuts on the way for a bite to eat, then we stopped for photos in front of the White House. We couldn't stay there long because we had reservations for the Washington Monument.
The girls were excited. Lyla is still working on finishing one of her donuts.
We made our way to the Washington Monument (dedicated 1885) in the nick of time for our time spot. We hid the stroller behind a bench (no stroller parking) and got in line for the elevator to take us up to the top.
The next pictures are panoramas taken from the top of the Washington Monument (forgive the skewampus stitching on some of these). The first one is looking north towards the white house. The temple is visible up there somewhere.
This one is looking east towards the US Capitol.
Looking west towards the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington.
Looking south towards the Jefferson Memorial.
This is just outside the Washington Monument looking west towards the Lincoln Memorial. Also visible is the WWII memorial.
I couldn't keep myself from stopping to take pictures of the monuments and memorials during the whole trip. DC is a very photogenic city.
Another view with Kate.
Another view in front of the Washington Monument. This one was taken near the WWII memorial.
This is the Pacific side of the National World War II Memorial (dedicated in 2004).
Ada and Kate, looking towards the Atlantic side.
In front of the Utah tower.
Another view of the memorial with Ada and Kate.
This is the DC War memorial tucked off to one side of the National Mall.
Another view of the Washington Monument, this one from the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.
In front of Dr. King (dedicated in 2011).
Another view of the Dr. From this view you can see how he is hewn from the stone behind.
I liked this quote.
Next memorial was the Korean War Veterans Memorial (dedicated 1995).
Haunting soldiers coming out of the trees.
Another quote I liked. "One nation honors her sons and daughters who answered the call to defend a country they never knew and a people they never met."
FREEDOM IS NOT FREE.
Resting under the trees.
While we were resting our legs, Lyla was pushing Ada around in the stroller.
Yes another photo in front of the Washington Monument. This one taken on the steps in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
Walking to the Lincoln Memorial (dedicated 1922).
The planes landing at Reagan National Airport fly right over the monument every few minutes.
IN THIS TEMPLE
AS IN THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE
FOR WHOM HE SAVED THE UNION
THE MEMORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
IS ENSHRINED FOREVER
Honest Abe, Ada and Kate.
Ada was excited to take this picture.
This is where Martin Luther King Jr. stood when he delivered his I Have a Dream speech.
We ate an overpriced lunch at a National Park cafe near the Lincoln Memorial, then we made our way back up towards the Washington Monument, this time along the north side of the National Mall.
The next monument that we visited was the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (dedicated 1982). There are nearly 59,000 names engraved on the wall of Americans who perished in this war.
Ada standing at the wall.
Another view of the Memorial Wall.
Here are my women in front of the Vietnam Women's Memorial.
HERE IN THE PRESENCE OF WASHINGTON AND LINCOLN,
ONE THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY FATHER AND THE OTHER THE
NINETEENTH CENTURY PRESERVER OF OUR NATION, WE HONOR
THOSE TWENTIETH CENTURY AMERICANS WHO TOOK UP THE STRUGGLE
DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR AND MADE THE SACRIFICES TO
PERPETUATE THE GIFT OUR FOREFATHERS ENTRUSTED TO US:
A NATION CONCEIVED IN LIBERTY AND JUSTICE.
Look at this... Another picture in front of the Washington Monument. You can see that Alison is losing patience with my obsession of taking photos in front of this obelisk.
Another one... Alison is still waiting.
Ada and Kate. And the Washington Monument.
We took the metro from the Smithsonian to the Navy Yards for the Nationals baseball game.
The game started at 4:00 PM. We were able to get some halfway decent seats on stubhub.
We were in the sun, it was hot, but we loved being at the game. This was my 19th Major League ballpark. Hopefully I can add another couple parks this next summer.
Here are a couple of videos from the baseball game. First is the iconic President's race around the park.
They have a small playground at the park. We spent the eighth inning at the playground. Ada tried to take Lyla down the slide...
After the ballgame we took the metro back up to downtown where we met Emily and her kids for dinner at Moe's. It wasn't even 8:00 PM, but the place was shutting down. We were shocked by how hard it was to find quick meals for breakfast or a late dinner. There were plenty of fancy places, but quick and easy (let's call them fast food) places were a little tougher to come by. It was unfortunately difficult for Emily to find parking, and I was worried we would be kicked out of the food court while we were eating, but things all turned out well. After dinner, we made our way back our hotel ready to crash after a long day of walking.
Here's a map of our route up until we jumped on the metro to head to the baseball game. All told, we walked around 7 miles.
Tomorrow: We tour the Capitol and visit the Library of Congress and Air and Space Museum.
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