We went on a family trip to Washington, D.C. from August 12-19, 2023 at 1st Brother’s request to celebrate his high school graduation. He'd been there with an 8th grade school group but wanted to go back, especially after learning so much in his AP U.S. History and AP U.S. Government classes. We rescheduled our original late June/early July trip--our flight got cancelled as part of a whole mess in the eastern U.S. caused by thunderstorms and staffing issues--and mid-August seemed to be a better time to go with fewer family and middle school groups.
Our first day was spent at Mount Vernon, George Washington's home in Virginia:
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Since we were running out of time and I'd been to the Tomb during my first trip to D.C. in 1996, Sister and I went to Arlington House, where Robert E. Lee and his wife lived before the Civil War. (His wife was the great-granddaughter of Martha Washington). The house was occupied by the Union during the war, and soldiers from both sides were buried near it, which was the start of the property's use as a cemetery.
Day 3 was spent at the Smithsonian American History Museum, and I soon got left behind as I’m a plaque-reader. They had a bit on early Mormons that I hadn’t learned before:
We got to the airport with no trouble and were amused by the Trump 2024 items and the Biden/Harris cut outs:
George Washington's tomb is on the property:
Next we took the tram around Arlington National Cemetery, a very good idea as it's huge and hilly. The boys went to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. No one was in the amphitheater behind it when they arrived, so my husband sat in the chair at center stage:
Here is the view of D.C. from the front of the house. The white monument marks the grave of Pierre Charles L'Enfant, a Frenchman who fought in the American Revolution and created the city plans for DC. His remains were transferred to the front yard in 1909, about 84 years after his death.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is buried at Arlington:
1st Brother turned 18 that day! We celebrated by eating at The Cheesecake Factory and bringing dessert back.
Half of our second day was derailed when sister had a really bad headache that wouldn’t go away before our scheduled tour of the Capitol building. We took a quick picture before the two of us walked back to the hotel while the boys did the tour:
We were fortunately able to meet up with them later at the Air and Space Museum. I didn’t realize that Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon at 11pm EST and that he and Buzz Aldrin had to take a small ship to the moon’s surface while Michael Collins continued to orbit. We saw some amazing stuff!
The USS Philadelphia, a wooden gunboat used during the Revolutionary War, got sunk by the British in 1776 in Lake Champlain but it got dredged up in 1935 and later put in the Smithsonian. It smelled like a delicious, musty library book times 1000, and I wandered back into its room at the end of the day to enjoy it again
I was reading Cheaper by the Dozen during our trip and they had a small exhibit on the mom of the family!
They also had a comedy record that I’d learned about in an episode of the Mobituary podcast:
Young, beardless Lee and Grant!
We saw an impressive exhibit featuring the flag that inspired the writing of The Star-Spangled Banner:
It’s so carefully preserved in its own special room but it was noted that it’s missing a star because the person who had it stuffed away in their house said to a friend, “Hey do you want a star from the huge flag that flew over the Battle of Baltimore?” and cut one out.
A summary of presidential assassination attempts:
The pop culture section had Star Wars stuff among other great things:
We went to the top of the Washington Monument on the morning of our 4th day. The views were beautiful:
Then we spent time in the Natural History Museum
I have good memories of us laughing at the various part-man, part-ape masks and making silly sentences with magnetic words
At the National Archives, we saw copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and Bill of Rights (no pics allowed).
After resting at the hotel for a bit, we took the free Circulator shuttle and saw the Martin Luther King, FDR, WWI, and Lincoln Memorials:
We found the name of Bill Ackerman on the Vietnam wall. He died while serving and was a friend of my father-in-law’s:
The Korean War memorial was especially impactful:
I requested tickets to tour the White House from one of our government representatives but it was crickets from them. So we had to settle for a picture out front and going to a museum about its history that was actually quite good
The Library of Congress had a beautiful reading room:
My husband half jokingly looked into getting a library card and they gave him one! Because he had it, we were able to go via an underground tunnel area to a movie and TV research room:
In the evening we went to the memorial for the 184 people who died on 9/11 when a plane hit the Pentagon. It was sobering and got me reading various Wikipedia articles about that day
On Friday we saw some modern art at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum. The exhibit with works from young people who lived in China under Mao was impactful, as was this black and white room with quotes by Laurie Anderson:
I had a wing or two to finish at the American History museum and met back up with the family at the National Museum of Art where this lovely Van Gogh was on display:
After resting, I reluctantly bagged the idea of us going to the East Potomac Park Mini Golf Course in favor of
taking the Circulator back out to the Jefferson Memorial. We found the Nathan Hale statue on the way, which we had to visit because we’re big fans of the Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales historical graphic novels:
Family pic at Tidal Basin:
First Brother and I rented bikes and Sister got a scooter, and we rode around the sandy pathways of the Mall as it got dark
There weren’t many people out, and a crescent moon rose behind the Washington monument as we finished our rides. It’s one of my favorite memories ever.
On our last day, we toured Ford’s Theater where Pres. Lincoln was shot:
We got lunch at the National Gallery of Art and I hurried through the Phillip Guston exhibit, an artist I recognized because David Sedaris likes him:
A few other miscellaneous things I want to remember:
We didn’t rent a car but rode the Metro subway system, which was clean and nice. First Brother was in charge of the cards and would fan them out for us to take as we were about to enter and exit:
We stayed at the Residence Inn DC National Mall in a suite that worked well for us. It was a good location, but things got sketchy fast as my husband and I learned when we walked to get groceries at a Safeway a few blocks away.
We all liked Nando’s Peri-Peri, which is known for its South African grilled chicken and many sauces. The garlic bread, sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts were also very good.
