We are crazy. We know that. Crazy people drive to New Hampshire with 3 kids under 5 for a 36 hour visit. We are crazy. Influenced by our sense of crazy, we decided to head to Washington D.C. on Sunday to spend a grand total of 5 hours there. As we were driving, I turned to Ben and said, “You know this is crazy.” His response? “I know, that’s what we do.”
Did I mention that it was Inauguration weekend?
Indirectly, that was what spurred our trip. That and the fact that it may be on our bucket list. 
(We are pretty competitive and it is mandatory that we cross EVERYTHING off this year!) Ben’s cousin Casey was in town for the Inauguration. We adore Casey. And he has this new girlfriend, Alex, that we just had to meet. Anyway, Casey lives in California now, and so we hardly ever get to see him. When he is on the east coast, we try our hardest to spend some time with him.
So…that took us to D.C. on Sunday. C was selling Girl Scout cookies in the morning, so we left around 11:30 and after a 3 hour drive, we arrived at one of my very dearest friend, Katie’s apartment on the outskirts of the city (note: having friends on the city limits means free street parking and not having to worry about blocked off streets on the day before the inauguration). Katie and her sister Erin were our tour guides for the day. Our adventure started there!
Stop 1: The Metro! Of course this was the kids’ favorite part of the trip…figures. There were lots of escalators, including the world’s largest one (well, not really, but probably close) and of course, that was a bonus too!
Stop 2: Operation find Casey and Alex…success! Casey may be one of the nicest people that I know. He and Ben are so incredibly similar that it is crazy. A fantastic, genuine, “do the right thing always”, and loves family kind of guy…perfect.
Stop 3: Some great statue of George Washington where the kids continued the tradition of mimicking the statue. I wonder what they will think when they find out that not everyone does this.
Stop 4: The President’s “glass box” where he watched the inauguration parade. This was as close as we could get to the White House!
Stop 5: Classic – a hot dog stand. Meet my husband, Ben…enough said.
Stop 6: The Washington Monument – The kids desperately wanted to go up to the top. We had to tell them that we would do it another time because it wasn’t open that day. 
There was the huge grassy area right around it where H was able to get out of the stroller and C and G ran around collecting “treasures” including some from the prehistoric era (according to them).
Stop 7: Back to the Renaissance Hotel to drop off Casey and Alex. We passed by the American Museum of Natural History which is on the list for our next visit! And then the Capitol Building, all ready for the next day’s festivities.
Stop 8: Dinner! After taking the Metro back to Katie’s stop, we ate at a pizza/pasta restaurant.
Stop 9: Home. The kids were certainly spent. Each one was out before we left the city limits. It left Ben and I to enjoy one of our favorite times, conversations, just the two of us…perfection!
[Editor's note: Lauryn was asleep shortly after that. Don't let her fool you!]
*Impressions: D.C. CAN be done in a day and will be again! We are already planning a spring trip down to see the zoo and some of the museums (which are free…WOOT!).
D.C. on the day before the Inauguration has a very NYC feel to it. It was crowded and things were blocked off. The whole city felt like somewhere I had never been before (downside) BUT it was pretty cool to see all of the set-ups for the Inauguration! (upside). I am looking forward to going back when there aren’t as many fences around everything and we can get up close to statues, the White House, etc.
That was quite a whirlwind tour. But next time you go in I highly recommend slowing down a bit and discovering some great museums! There is so much to do in DC, it is one of our favorite places to visit with the kids. I don’t think we’ll ever see everything we’d like to!
Beth recently posted…From a Distance
I feel the same way! It was like a brand new city to us:) We have been to D.C. many times without kids, but it was still SO different with everything set up for the Inauguration! Next time we will be hitting some museums and the zoo.
That was fun! I actually did a walking food tour in DC about a year ago. We hit a half dozen historic sites, looked at some architecture and ate at 3 off the beaten path ethnic places. It was awesome!
Colleen (Souffle Bombay) recently posted…Chocolate Chip & Banana Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream Icing
There are some AMAZING places to eat there! I could eat for an entire weekend there but I would have to be by myself as some of us think that eating out is their reprieve from mom being so adventurous at home;)
You are crazy!!! hahah!!
Sarah Hughes recently posted…Worthy Wednesdays: Pals for Life
I know…it is undeniable:) HA!
LOVE you guys! I need some of your spontaneity! The most spontaneous I’ve been most recently was deciding to take the girls to get frozen yogurt at the new shop that opened in our downtown by myself! lol
Hey, that is pretty darn spontaneous with 2 almost 2 year old twins!