Washington D.C. Trip Review

Our trip to Washington D.C. was a lot of fun. This was my first time visiting the city, so there were lots of sights to see and not nearly enough time to take everything in.

We stayed at the Hyatt in Arlington, VA just across the Potomac River from the city. The hotel was okay, but wasn't anything special. The worst thing about it was that it lacked a swimming pool which was a pretty big negative given the 90+ degree weather while we were staying there.
Getting around D.C. was really easy as you could take the Metro everywhere. For $6.50 you can get an all day pass which allows you unlimited rides for the day. Our stop was called Rosslyn and was located just a block away from the hotel. It featured the longest, steepest escalator I've ever seen which would take you from the train level up to the surface.

Here are some of the highlights of things we saw on the trip:

Day 1

• The Mall - The Mall is the area of D.C. where all of the Smithsonian museums are located. We started our day there wandering from museum to museum. While we were in town, the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival was going on, so while we walked around we were able to catch pieces of the festival as well.
• Freer Art Gallery - The Freer Art Gallery is best known for it's Asian Art exhibits, but we were most impressed with their collection of works by James McNeill Whistler and the famous Peacock Room.
• Smithsonian Air and Space Museum - Highlights of their exhibits included Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis and the original Wright Brothers' plane. I also enjoyed seeing the space exhibits and the dismantled Cold War missiles.
• Smithsonian American History Museum - I had high hopes for this one, but didn't find it to be overly impressive (though it was the end of the day and we were pretty tired). Most interesting things we saw were Abraham Lincoln's hat and the American flag that was draped from the Pentagon on 9/12/01.
• Capitol Building - To tour the Capitol now-a-days you have to stand in line for tickets at 8am EST. Yes, that's EST. In other words for us West Coasters who sleep until noon, not a chance.
• Washington Nationals Game at RFK Stadium - The game we went to was the Blue Jays vs. the Nationals, and although the Nationals are in 1st place in the NL East, neither team is exactly what you'd call exciting. The game itself turned out to be pretty good, but the stadium is terrible. Bad concessions, crappy seating...it was like the Kingdome all over again. When we were leaving I noticed Secret Service men hanging out by one of the side exits. Turns out Condoleezza Rice and George W. were at the game too! Only the second game Bush has attended at RFK this season.

Day 2

• Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - Lessons learned: 1) Kids love dinosaurs 2) Kids know more about dinosaurs than adults will ever know.
• Washington Monument - Much like the Space Needle, you can see the Washington Monument from everywhere in D.C.
• White House/Visitor Center - The White House Visitor Center turned out to be pretty lame.
• Old Post Office - So here's the thing. In D.C. when someone says 'the mall' they're talking about the place you go to see a museum. When someone says 'the old post office' they're talking about a mall. Got it?

Day 3

• Georgetown - We spent most of day three exploring Georgetown and by exploring I mean shopping.
• Lincoln Memorial - Definitely a highlight of the trip. The Lincoln Memorial is huge!
• Vietnam Veterans Memorial - It's amazingly moving and haunting to see all of the names on the wall and to reflect on the true costs of war.
• Korean War Veterans Memorial
• World War II Memorial - A relatively new memorial that opened about a year ago.

Day 4

• Ford's Theatre - The theatre in which John Wilkes Booth shot Abe Lincoln. Seeing this was the highlight of the trip for me, as the place is just oozing with history. I'd definitely get the tour as it's well worth it. Downstairs in the museum they have the gun Booth used, Lincoln's jacket, and a whole bunch of other fascinating relics.
• Peterson's Boarding Place - The house Lincoln died in. It's literally right across the street from the theatre.
• International Spy Museum - Another definite highlight. This new museum showcases spy tools such as lipstick guns, bugs, and buttonhole cameras. The museum is very well done with lots of interactive displays and neat uses of technology. Scary thing for me was seeing some of the spy tools from the 80's and realizing just how much more advanced the currently classified stuff must be!
• FBI, Department of State, Department of Commerce, National Archives, Library of Congress, and other buildings - I'm a dork. I totally dug looking at these buildings and thinking about all of the important things that go on inside them.
• Supreme Court - We walked by the Supreme Court just before their rulings on Internet Copyright law and display of the Ten Commandments was released. There were tons of reporters huddled outside waiting to cover the story live as soon as the news came out, so it was fun watching them as they prepped their speeches, readied their cameras, etc.
• Freedom Park - Got to see a cool display of several large pieces of the Berlin Wall.
• Theodore Roosevelt Island and Memorial - Roosevelt's memorial is on a small island which you can walk to via a foot-bridge from Arlington. The island is a nice park which makes you feel like you're in the woods rather than in the middle of the city.

Although we got to do a lot, there were a bunch of things we didn't get to do too. If I ever go back I'm definitely going to try to get out to Arlington Cemetery, visit the Jefferson Memorial, and try to do tours of some of the buildings.

Funny side note: On the way back to Seattle, we were on the same flight as Freddy Adu and the rest of the DC United soccer team as they were heading to Chicago to take on the Fire. In case you're wondering, despite Freddy's million dollar Nike contract he still flies coach like the rest of us :-)