Sorry for the extended hiatus in sharing our DC trip! I covered our first two days in Part 1 (Annapolis, Arlington Cemetery, Mount Vernon, and the National Postal Museum).
Tuesday morning, we had tickets for our US Capitol tour at 10 am. We prepared for a rainy day, and weren’t wrong. The day started with big stress, as just getting on the metro bus wasn’t as easy as I imagined (I imagined a station where we could put money on our cards/buy cards- when in actuality, it was a bus outside our AirBnb fully expecting you to already have all that done). I planned all of the activities, tickets, days, etc but deferred to Ben for transportation. After our first morning of chaos, he had it totally figured out!
Our AirBnb was super close to the bus line, so we hopped on and headed for the US Capitol. We arrived early enough that we got to see the Capitol museum and play in the Democracy Lab- both of which were incredibly cool, and I highly recommend. I’m pretty sure I liked the democracy lab better than the actual tour, but that’s probably the closet lover of politics and elementary education in me!
The tour itself was slightly uneventful, but we each had headphones that connected to our guide so we could easily see and hear what he wanted us to, despite how many other tours that were going on simultaneously. The building itself is beyond gorgeous from the floor to the ceiling. Although it wasn’t mentioned at all, it felt a little surreal seeing the security and barriers and thinking what it would have felt like for a building of such significance to be under attack.
We had a quick lunch in the Capitol Cafe, which was mass chaos. There were an insane amount of people, but we found (read: fought for) enough seats, and the food was good. It was set up food court style, so there were a variety of choices.
Out of the 21 Smithsonian museums, we basically had just this afternoon set aside to see them. Considering the Air and Space Museum was under construction, and we were limited on time, we gifted our tickets to a family who posted online it was literally the one thing their son wanted to see, and they hadn’t secured reservations. I gave the kids the choice, and they almost unanimously decided they’d rather he have their tickets. My momma heart was proud.
We knew we wanted to see the Museum of Natural History and the American History Museum. They were beyond packed, both because it was spring break week, it was raining, and these are popular. I feel like we probably missed a ton of what we could have seen, but everyone definitely saw something they thought was super cool.
We spent from 1pm until 5pm in the museums, and experienced a complete torrential downpour as we ran from one museum to the other. “Next to each other” definitely does not mean just a few steps to go from one to the other. But, we knew that, and we knew to see both, and we had to put on our ponchos and RUN!
After touring the museums, we had already walked around 13,000 steps and I wouldn’t have been sad to get on our bus and head to dinner. But, I would have missed (and caused my family to miss) another 8,000 steps AND the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, WWII Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, and Reflecting Pool on our way to dinner. My displeasure about these extra steps and lack of plan wasn’t my finest moment- sorry family. We did end up seeing tons of memorials, and found a delicious hole-in-the-wall pizzeria with board games, beer, and delicious pizza slices. Oddly, said pizza restaurant was attached to an international grocery store of sorts, so we were able to get snacks for dessert to take home. We walked home and even though crashing was #1 on my list, we packed as we’d be checking out of our Airbnb the next morning before starting our last day in DC.
Wednesday morning, we drove our rental car to the Pentagon Mall, and parked, with intent to use the metro throughout the day, and return for our van when we finished our day. Because, did we mention, parking is insanity? Like not expensive or bad traffic, like non-existent!
We started our morning at our 10am Pentagon tour. Photos aren’t allowed during this tour, but it was definitely a sobering experience to be standing in the exact spot the airplane entered the building on 9/11. Our tour guides, who are required to walk backwards throughout tour were knowledgeable and made it an experience worth doing.
We had lunch at Chick fil A, and then walked to our last DC experience, which was my favorite. FBI Headquarters hosts the FBI Experience and it was something we all enjoyed. I overheard multiple agents whispering about Liam, as he was a little impressive working through the various stations. Eli, too, but in an expected much quieter way. If recruiters had been stationed at the end of the experience, I’m fairly sure they would have had zero problem recruiting Sydney, Eli, or Liam as analysts or agents. (We were happy to learn that neurodivergence is not a disqualifying factor for the ABC agencies, as they can be for the military). (Disclaimer- I’m not saying all diagnoses, but I’m also protecting my own kids’ stories.)
On Thursday morning, we had to be ready for *another* 7 am flight. We spent the night in a hotel just outside Baltimore airport, and headed there around 4:30 am. Once on the plane, Ava Kate met the pilot. I expected he would give her ‘wings.’ He did. But he also let her wear his hat, sit in the cockpit, and gave her a special card. She was so proud, and her brothers were quite jealous!
It was a beyond exhausting trip that I have no desire to repeat, despite knowing there is so much we didn’t see. But, we saw a ton, and it was a good trip for all.
Link to our AirBnb, who were great hosts, and great location. Link to AirBnb
The Brooks Family 