Washington DC
We have been staying near Alexandria Virginia at Pohick Bay Regional Park for nine days. We still have so much left to experience here in Washington DC that leaving will be very hard to do. Erica and I both came here as kids and remember the city in a much more dirty way. Government officials have done something right with our tax money to clean things up. Never once have I felt unsafe. It helps the clean up to have so much police and security presence all over our capital city. This must all be a result of September 11th we think.
We enjoyed dipping into many of the free museums and monuments during our time here. We walked a lot but everything is so close in proximity that you didn't feel it was too much. The kids complained a few times and will appreciate a break from large museums for a while after hitting four huge historical cities in Boston, Philadelphia, New York and now DC.
We visited the FBI Headquarters at the J. Edgar Hoover building in the city after enjoying a school day our first full day here. I had to request tickets a few months ago from our Congressman's office and all four of us were required to go through background checks prior to our arrival. It took almost two weeks to get final approval and our designated date and time for our tour. They only opened the FBI Experience tour a year ago since they shut it down post 9/11. It was an amazing experience. The kids watched agents qualify in target shooting and the interactive tour is really well done for kids and adults alike. I shaved my beard off in order to not be profiled while I was here. It was time and was beginning to take on a life of its own. I'm glad I did because the agents were on top of us throughout the entire tour. It felt like they were really uncomfortable with us being on the campus. I am sure they have reason to be this way as times are very tough right now in law enforcement. Despite this they were all very polite and answered all of our intimate questions as best as they could without giving up too much.
We walked the National Mall and toured both the World War II and Vietnam Memorials on our walk from visiting the Washington Monument (under construction) to our sunset experience at the Lincoln Memorial.
We spent a day at Claude Moore Colonial Farm, a registered National Park property that I found a discounted Groupon for. It was really interesting to see how the common folk lived pre-1776 who came to America before we were the United States. They had very little material things but made a life with their small farms and what few animals they could afford. Their biggest crops were tobacco and corn for which they grew enough to send over to England to pay for goods. It was hard work to make it in America especially when much taxes were owed and used to support England instead of your local government. We met a new friend named Pat, the gift store clerk here. She bought us our new favorite dice game called Shut The Box off the store's shelf. Boyd has since become the family champion. We were so blessed to have Pat's kindness shown to us on our visit.
The following day we experienced this contrast of poor and wealthy firsthand as we toured George Washington's Mt. Vernon Estate. He led a very privileged life. Despite this privilege, he was known most for bravery in war. His fierce determination to win battles when it mattered most is really inspirational. He and many others risked everything for the chance to give the states freedom from England's oppressive government.on a side note...one constant theme that is apparent with all the founding fathers is that they owned slaves. The Washington's were like most prominant families of the time and had more than one hundred slaves. The slave's stories are beginning to be told on the properties as they should. The freedom our country's founding fathers espouse was not to come to their slaves for many more years.
The White House tour was granted to us last minute by the Congressman's office but we were only allowed to tour the South Lawn. We were grateful to get to see all it and the kids enjoyed the president's limo and Michelle Obama's vegetable garden.
We apent the morning touring the Smithsonian Museum of American History where all the popular culture pieces are housed like the Batmobile, Dorothy's ruby slippers and Julia Child's kitchen. We also got to see the last payment made for Charles "Pa" Ingall's homestead which we had the pleasure of visiting while we we in South Dakota this summer.
Before heading out of town we enjoyed a full day back in downtown Washington DC. There we went to the Smithsonian National Archives Museum to view three original documents that formed our country; The US Constitution, The Declaration Of Independence and The Bill Of Rights. We then went next door to the Smithsonian Natural History museum. It was almost as cool as the Harvard History Museum! We then walked to see the U.S. Capitol, a short walk from the museum, before heading back to camp.
While in DC we spent a full day relaxing at Pohick Bay Regional park where Boyd and I played frisbee golf and Blythe and Erica relaxed and did art projects and hiked. While golfing I made the mistake of taking Boyd's bet of $20 to par the 5th hole. He did it despite missing huge on the previous four holes! Later in the round he raised the ante $20 so I told him double or nothing. He made par again and I was ticked at myself for taking the bet. After foolishly doing the double or nothing bet two more times, I was down $160 to my kid and regretting the whole explanation I was going to have with Erica. Boyd enjoyed spending his winnings on a new high powered RC car and because I couldn't leave Blythe out we now have $160 worth of slime to tote around the country. Mark my words I said, "I will never bet my kids again". I kept thinking I would teach Boyd a lesson about gambling, but I got taught the lesson and Boyd might have a gambling problem now because of it. $320 might be the most expensive amount paid for a round of frisbee golf ever!