Visiting Washington D.C.

I think I killed my quads yesterday.

We took the two older children to downtown D.C., planning to visit the Lincoln Memorial. If you’ve ever been to D.C., you know that the monuments are deceptive in distance. They’re grouped on the same stretch of land, but I swear, we walked for three miles. My four-year-old daughter started out skipping, excited to see the Washington Monument.

After the first half mile, the skips turned into slow walking. She was more interested in the bottle of Gatorade than the White House.

My son was disappointed that we weren’t planning to go up to the top of the Washington Monument and sulked a little. By the time we reached the new WWII Memorial, both kids were eyeing the fountains as though they wanted to sit down and dangle their feet. If you’ve never been there, it’s really beautiful, with lots of fountains and a circle of pillars with each of the U.S. states written on it. There’s also a wall of gold stars for those who died, and the Memorial is divided into the Pacific and the Atlantic battles. Some of the quotes were wonderful, but my favorite quote was actually from the Korean Memorial which we saw after the Lincoln Monument: “Freedom isn’t free.”

So true.

Later, I took pity on my daughter and carried her for part of the walk. She’s my itty bitty girl, just over 30 pounds. But of course, I had to then let my son have a turn. I opted for a piggyback ride, and let me tell you, I felt every one of his 50 pounds. Holy cow, my leg muscles are still aching. Let’s just say that I carried him for about 100 yards, and I was done. :help: I’m still feeling that one.

There aren’t many options for lunch on the Mall, but behind the IRS building, just behind the Natural History Museum, it leads to the old Post Office which has a Food Court. Definitely worth the walk for the choices. I’m not much on hot dogs from a cart.

We finished off with the Natural History Museum. I’ll confess, one of my favorite exhibits is the gemstones. Who doesn’t love diamonds and emeralds? My daughter picked out her favorite diamond necklace, but my son was far more interested in the mummies. I think it’s my favorite museum because of the diversity of exhibits.

Still on my list of things to see is the inside of the White House. I know it’s getting more difficult, but I’d love to see it one day. How about you? Have you ever been to D.C.? What was your favorite thing to see?