Life on the Road: Washington, D.C.

For the past week we have been staying in College Park, Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C.. We leave tomorrow, Tuesday, for Lancaster County (Amish country), Pennsylvania. Let me get you caught up on our activities here in our nation’s capitol.

The RV park we are staying at is a bit pricey (second highest rate we have paid) but it is located so it is easy to get into the city via Metro and the park has many very nice amenities.

Because of my previous employment with the U.S. Treasury I have spent many days in D.C. for work, including a six month detail in 2003. I would always walk around the city and take in as many sights as I could but still had not seen it all. My family has been here on a couple of occasions on trips we took but those did not allow Fran to see all the sights either. So, on this trip we had a list of places to see for both of us.

First day we ventured into the district we went to the National Holocaust Museum. Neither of us had been to this museum. Fortunately as a retired federal employee I was able to get in without having to worry about a timed ticket as the ticket line was pretty long. This time of year is a very busy time in D.C. due to spring break and many schools having field trips to the city. The Holocaust museum is very nicely done in telling the story from Hitler’s rise, through the Holocaust and finally to the creation of Israel.

Next we took a walk up the mall towards the Capitol stopping at the National Archives to see our nation’s most sacred documents. I tried to tell Fran we had been here as a family but she did not remember, so we stopped in. Cool to see that the documents for which our country is based on are still around, even though you can barely read them.

We were on our way to the Library of Congress when we came across the Newseum. This was on our list so we stopped in. Wow, what a place. It is a little pricey at $20 (look for coupons), but well worth it. You could easily spend hours at this museum. It is generally about the role of media throughout history but they have so many items from important events it was amazing. The shirt that Lee Harvey Oswald wore when arrested, the door the Watergate burglars used to enter the building, the radio tower from the World Trade Center, and the list goes on. They have the current daily paper from every state in the US and newspapers going back hundreds of years chronicling the important historical events. We arrived later in the afternoon and were not able to spend as much time as we should have. The ticket is good for two days but we could not make it back the next day. Definitely a must see!

Saturday we drove out to Mount Vernon (home of George Washington). I had been here 30 years ago and was amazed to see how much they have added and how busy it is. You have to get a timed ticket to get into the line to see the house. We were lucky in arriving early as our line time was less than two hours after our arrival time so it gave us time to see the rest of the grounds then go see the house. The house sits on a little hill that overlooks the river. The view is just spectacular.

The porch facing the river

The view from the porch

Front of the house

George and Martha’s tombs

Today we visited the International Spy Museum (very interesting), the Library of Congress, Supreme Court, Martin Luther King Memorial, FDR Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial.

The iconic reading room in the Library of Congress

Amazed by the ornate ceilings in the Library of Congress

Supreme Court

Martin Luther King Memorial

We also visited the World War II Memorial. As my stepfather is my most avid follower on this blog and a WWII veteran (Pacific) I post these pictures for him.

First a picture of him