Washington DC

This past week we went to Washington DC. This was Ammon's first time in DC. Although I've been there a few times, we did some new things that I hadn't done before! We decided to drive there (instead of flying)even though we parked the car at the hotel and didn't use it almost the whole time we were there! We drove all day Monday to get there. We were offered to stay at the home of some relatives, but decided that since this was our big vacation for the year, we'd stay in a hotel. Although it's nice to save money, it's also nice that we're NOT college students anymore (meaning we can afford a hotel!) We stayed in a really nice hotel in Alexandria, VA.

Tuesday morning we packed a lunch and took our bikes into DC. It was so much fun seeing the monuments by bike! The Washington Monument is still being retrofitted, so we couldn't go up in it, but we rode by it (a few times).
We went to:
WW II Monument
Korean Monument
Lincoln Memorial
Arlington National Cemetery (we took the tram tour - so glad we did! It was very interesting!)
Iwo Jima
Vietnam Memorial
White House
Capital Building
Martin Luther King Jr Memorial
Theodore Roosevelt Memorial
Thomas Jefferson Monument
Then we rode to Union Station and ate dinner, then headed back to the hotel. By the time we got back to our hotel it was around 8:30-9pm. It was a very full and fun day!


Wednesday:
Today was another busy, packed day! We started off going to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. This was a very interesting tour! We really liked it a lot! Then we went to the Holocaust Museum. It was really good - a lot like the one in LA. Then we went to the Air and Space Museum. We only got to see a small part of it before we needed to head to the Capitol Building for our scheduled tour. After the tour we went to the Postal Museum and then to Union Station for dinner. We went to the Natural History Museum, and again only saw a small part of it. We got back to our hotel and crashed! Our feet were so tired!


Thursday:
We saw the backside of the White House. We also went into the White House Museum. We finished the Natural History Museum. Then we went to the National Archives building where we say the Declaration of Independence, Bill or Rights and the Constitution. We walked a few blocks to the Spy Museum. We were so excited to go to it because it sounded so cool! When we got there we found out it cost something like $15/person. We decided to skip it :( But we were really close to the Ford Theater, so we went there and to the house across the street where Abraham Lincoln actually died. We walked back to the American History Museum. After that we went back to the Air and Space Museum to finish it up. Then we headed back to our hotel. We changed clothes and headed to the Washington DC Temple. When we were walking into the temple, we ran in to Uncle Joel and Aunt Laurie who were also in DC on vacation! After the temple we stopped and grabbed a very late dinner.


Friday was our drive home. We had such a fun time! The museums were so wonderful - especially since they were all free! It was definitely a well-worth-it vacation!