Washington DC was an absolute blast, it was the perfect anniversary getaway! We were exhausted at the end of each day, and there’s absolutely no way we would have been able to get through as much as we did if we had kids with us. By our second day we had to even take short “sit breaks” after almost every exhibit in the museums! We weren’t used to walking or standing up that long, so doing that from 8am-6pm for four days wore us out. We did as much as we could in a short amount of time, and we are also the type of people who have to read every word on every exhibit.
The metro is the best way to get around. We used about $30 each on the metro cards that we bought when we first got to the airport, and we (foolishly) didn’t even use the metro the first site-seeing day.
We stayed in Foggy Bottom, it was a good price and the location was ok. Not a ton of restaurants (only a few actually), but turns out we did have one of the "best of D.C." (Founding Farmers) across the street and once we tried it, we were hooked (plus we were so exhausted we didn't want to venture much further than our hotel each night!) We stayed at the Hotel Lombardy built in 1926. It was old and beautiful, more like a home or an apartment then a hotel. We were five blocks from the White House and two blocks from the nearest metro station.
Day 1:
We didn’t get to our hotel until 10:30 p.m. We talked about our plan for the next day, and went to bed. We both wished we would have had more time this day to do things in the afternoon or visit the monuments at night. Unfortunately, I slept terribly because we were right by the old elevator and it kept making rickety noises all night.
Day 2:
6:30 a.m. : I decided we had to switch rooms because I hardly got any sleep that night. Luckily the staff was understanding and even upgraded us. We had a wonderful stay after that!
7:30 a.m. : Walked to the White House. It was nice going this early because no one got in the way of our photos outside the gate.
8:00 a.m. – 12:00p.m. : The National Mall – National WWII Veteran’s Memorial, Korean War Veteran’s Memorial, Washington Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial (wall), FDR Memorial, MLK Memorial, and Jefferson Memorial.
Lunch @ DC Tacos
1:00 p.m. - 5:50 p.m. : National Museum of American History
8:00 p.m.: Dinner in Chinatown at Matchbox Pizza (highly recommend)
We had planned to go to a National’s baseball game today, but we were too tired. I bet it would've been fun though!
Thanks to some wrong “instinctual directions” from Jake throughout the long day we walked an extra two miles that day. That brought the total up to 8 miles, which doesn’t sound bad until you realize how much it hurts your feet.
Day 3
9:00 a.m. : National Archives – Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights, and more
Lunch @ Shake Shack
11:30p.m. - 5:00p.m. : National Museum of Natural History
5:30 p.m. : Anniversary champagne run
8:00 p.m. : Dinner @ Founding Farmers (farm-to-table food that's to die for, all of it)
Day 4
8:30 a.m. : U.S. Capitol line and tours
10:30 a.m. : Coffee break @ L’Enfant Plaza area
Lunch Break and Band-aid stop for blisters @ L’Enfant Plaza Food Court because that was closes to the CVS where I needed band aids desperately from. (Sperry's were not a good walking shoe)
12:30 p.m – 5:00 p.m. : Air and Space Museum
8:30 p.m. : Dinner @ Founding Farmers
Day 5
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. : Arlington National Cemetery
Lunch @ Chipotle
1:00 p.m.- 5:30 p.m. : Holocaust Museum - you have to get tickets at the desk (free, but they limit the number of people in at a time)
9:00 p.m. : Dinner @ Founding Farmers
(We had beignets every night!)
Our walk was close to four miles total today, but since it was the last day it sure felt like it was the worst on our feet. I recommend visiting Arlington earlier then we did, it was hot and since it was mostly walking, it’d be more pleasant to do in the cool morning. Also you can pay $12 for the trolley at Arlington to take you around...that's a good idea if you don't want to walk.
Everything we saw was so amazing. The monuments were breath taking, but all of the awesome things in the museums really stuck with us. The American History museum takes you through each war and the their artifacts, they also have an awesome innovation exhibit that goes through life-changing inventions in time. The Natural History museum has bones, ocean artifacts, rocks, bugs, dinosaurs, human origins and so much more. The Holocaust Museum is powerful, emotional, and extremely important so that history doesn't repeat itself. It was educational about the culture and lives of all sorts of people living in Europe during WWII and Nazi takeovers - definitely a memorable experience to learn from and remember. The National Archives are not to be missed, and the Capitol Tour (reserve in advance online) was great too.
To see more trip photos head to my Facebook page.