2011 Road Trip Day 7 Washington DC (Part 2)

The real DC.
Pumpkin was the first to wake up at 5:30am. We snagged her out of the tent before she made too much noise and had this dream she could lay in bed between Heath and I and go back to sleep. She thought she was a pretty big girl for a few minutes and laid there looking around then got bored and started kicking and squirming and playing. At 6:30 my alarm went off and we all got busy taking showers, getting dressed and getting our stuff together for a big day in DC. Then we headed down to the continental breakfast and ate. Pumpkin was a little grumpy but we eventually got her fed. We waited a few minutes for the hotel shuttle and then got a ride to a metro station. We sort of figured out what to do then bought some tickets and hopped on subway headed down to the National Mall. Peanut was bouncing around the car he was so excited. Heath and I had to calm him down several times or he was going to fall down when a car stopped or started. Pumpkin was regretting her early wake up and the swaying of the car made her fall asleep. We rode a little less than an hour and then got off in just the right spot.

We got above ground and it was just after 9am but was really hot. The heat index for the day was 105 so our plan was to see all the outside monuments as early and as quick as we could then head into the museums during the hot afternoon. Peanut was really excited for the White House so we started there but could see the Washington memorial from afar along the way.

It was a pretty quick walk to a good view of the White House.

And the security all around the city was crazy.

From the white house we wondered around to the visitor center and checked in at the aquarium and around the city a bit. Pumpkin was still fast asleep.

Peanut got 2 different Jr. Ranger programs to work on and that sort of steered the rest of our morning.

We went to the Vietnam memorial

To the Lincoln and we had several pages of stuff to work on there.

And got a good view of construction on the 80 year old reflecting pool being rebuilt.

Eventually we made our way to Korean War monument

and Peanut and Heath ended up getting a bunch of ranger badge questions answered by an old vet who’s twin brother had been fighting with him but been captured and was still over there.

Then we went to the WW2 monument

And right up under the Washington monument. We hid in the shade from it and decided we were done with the outside and ready for lunch and AC. We rushed over to the Smithsonian American History museum. I saw a security checkpoint going in so snuck over to some bushes and tossed my pocket knife in so it would not be taken. The security was just looking in bags for bombs so it would have been fine. We headed strait to the cafeteria and after a bathroom break found some lunch. We had snuck a few things in and we were pretty stingy with what we chose as it was all overpriced and not that exciting of food. The kids were mostly excited for the French fries.

Once we had our fill ate all we could afford we headed out into the museum. This building was 3 stories with 2 sides on each story and we read Peanut what each side had and he picked a few. Then we got after them a kids discovery science thing was first and a great stop to let them play and relax.
Peanut built a little flying plane thing and then we moved on to war stuff.

And then a few other areas. I didn’t take a lot of pictures in the museum but we saw a ton and kept working our way through. After the American History we checked out Natural history like the dinosaurs and prehistoric man and bones and mummies and stuff.

Then we had a bit of a long walk and saw the capital pretty good.

We made our way to the air and space museum and decided even though our feet legs and back were tired we were going to do it all. Pumpkin took her second nap we we maid our way up and down and around the whole place.

Peanut was really excited about a lot of it.

By the end of this museum we were pretty exhausted and headed outside. We worked on a plan and thought about walking somewhere for dinner but instead decided to give the kids a granola bar and then postpone dinner. We hopped on the metro just after 5pm and rode it back near our hotel. It was a little crowded but not too bad. We waited for our shuttle and asked people about good places for dinner. We were feeling like pizza and everyone said Dominos. We would explain that we wanted something not in Kansas City and they were pretty clueless suggesting places like Ruby Tuesday (which we also have). We headed back to the hotel and immediately put on swimsuits and went to the pool. We cooled off and got all the sweat off and felt much better. It was a quick swim then we changed and headed out on our pizza search. We drove by a few places but they were in little strip malls like the Mexican place from the night before and we decided to keep looking. We were about to get something to go and take it to the room when we found the Italian Inn.

It was a regular Italian place but we figured they had pizza. Pumpkin was tired and hungry and threw a fit about sitting in a high chair but as soon as Peanut’s kids meal spaghetti and giant meatball was in front of her she was done crying and started eating. She ate 90% of it while Peanut got 5% and the floor got 5%.

Heath and I split a side salad and snuck some of that into Pumpkin’s mouth. Peanut mostly drank fruit punch and colored batman coloring book stuff. Then our Large “The Godfather” pizza showed up. It was a monster rectangle piled high with awesome toppings. This was a real pizza.

The 3 of us were starving and tore in. Pumpkin finished her meal and helped us. We were full but kept eating and then our stomachs would take no more and only ½ the pie was gone. We had also gotten garlic toast and we were able to finish it off. We decided to keep the great ½ a pizza and eat it for lunch the next day. They boxed it up and brought our check and it was less than our tiny lunch at the museum.

We rolled out to the van and back to the hotel and up to the room. Heath got the kids in pajamas and teeth brushed while I set up Pumpkin’s tent. Then we said goodnight and she and Peanut went to bed. Heath watched some tv and I got some posting done before going to bed.