Fall Vacation - Washington D.C.

Dave says: We decided that it was the right time for one last big adventure before the baby arrives. Rather than our usual biking/hiking trips around the West, we decided it would be a good time to head back to the East Coast and see some of the sights. Our timing was perfect as we enjoyed great fall weather with a lot of sunshine and pleasant temperatures. The only bad weather that we experienced was on the flight to Washington DC as a storm cause the airport to be shut down and we were rerouted to land at a different airport and then waited for a few hours for the storm to clear before we could fly in. It was a long travel day but we were excited to arrive and woke up bright and early the next morning to start seeing the sights. We had not previously used Uber as a means of transportation but on this trip we found it to be a very effective way to get from our hotel to the sights and back with drivers who were readily available and more friendly than taxi drivers. 

 

We started on the National Mall at the Lincoln Memorial. There's a nice view and corridor to look down with the reflecting pool and Washington Monument in the background followed by another open space with the Capitol building at the end. The White House is also nearby and we walked past various war memorials, gardens, and other smaller historical sights on our way around the White House and through the related visitor's center.

After the White House it was time to start checking out the Smithsonian Museums. They are all free and are some of the best museums that you will find anywhere. We started in the Museum of American History and then made it to the Air and Space Museum which is cool because they have huge planes and rockets hanging from the ceiling and mounted everywhere. Alisha wore her GPS watch and was recording 10 to 15 miles of walking on some of the big days of our trip like this one. By the evening, we were in need of a rest break and watched a one hour film in the Smithsonian's IMax theater on space travel. 

Throughout the day, parts of the mall were quite crowded as it was the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March and there was a huge gathering on the mall by the Capitol. We avoided the crowds throughout most of the day until the event ended and there were people everywhere. We ate dinner at an Indian restaurant called Grand Trunk with some of the craziest decor we've seen anywhere. Finally, we finished off the day with a night time visit to the Jefferson Memorial.

Day 3

After a huge day 2 on our feet, we knew that we needed to mix things up a bit and so we rented bikes and headed into the countryside on a big bike path loop. We rode past crazy old graveyards, along narrow winding paths following a river, down a railroad grade, and finally back along the grand Potomac River and back into the heart of the city.

We left the bikes behind for the afternoon so that we could see this famous WWII memorial as well as Arlington Cemetery with it's endless rows of white tombstones. There were some notable points of interest here such as JFK's grave and the tomb of the unknown soldier. By the time we walked from Arlington across the Potomac bridge and back to the mall the sun was setting and we were getting tired. We found a delicious and healthy veggie restaurant with the somewhat ironic name of Beefsteak (although it is after this type of tomato) where we found some of the best food of the whole trip. Then it was back to the hotel to chart out the next part of the adventure.