I flew standby to Washington, D.C., in October with two of my children. I wanted to take them on a trip to D.C. to reinforce what they’ve been learning in history.
Our plane left while it was still dark. I could see the lights of our city. We got to see the sunrise as we were flying into the Capitol area. It was beautiful.
We got on the metro from the Reagan Airport after grabbing some coffee and breakfast and headed to our hotel to drop off our bags. (Travel tip – call the hotel ahead and see if they will store your bags until you can check in.) We then got back on the metro and headed to the National Mall.
Our first stop was the Washington Monument. There were no more tickets available for the morning, so we didn’t go inside, but we walked up to it so we could see the three different types of stone that went into building it due to some pauses in construction. We then slowly walked along one side of the mall to get to the WW2 monument. I took some time to give them an overview of the war and we walked around the monument, finding Ohio’s pillar and contemplating the stars that represented all the American military who died in the war.
We then walked down the side of the Reflecting Pool until we got to the Lincoln Memorial, enjoying the antics of ducks along the way. There’s construction going on at the Lincoln Memorial to add an underground museum. We climbed to the top and stayed silent as we looked at the statue of Lincoln, as requested by the monument.
We found a hot dog stand for lunch and then visited the Vietnam Wall. The amount of names is somewhat overwhelming. We saw the statue dedicated to the women who served in Vietnam, too. Then, we found the Korean War Memorial. Seeing the representation of soldiers walking through mud in the rain and another long list of names really had an impact on my children. I was able to tell them about their great grandfathers – all served in the military and between them, they fought in WW2, Vietnam and Korea.
We found the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial and figured out the significance of the entrance being a break in a wall. Then, we found where the cherry blossoms bloom and could see the Jefferson Memorial across the water.
We then stopped at the Holocaust Museum. Very profound and a very important place to visit if you’re in D.C. Admission is free and the museum takes you chronologically through the years leading up to WW2 and ends with the Memorial to Righteous Gentiles – people who helped save Jews during this time.
It was just mid-afternoon at this point, but we had done a lot of walking. So, we left the National Mall area and took the metro to Arlington Cemetery. It was along the way back to our hotel so I thought it would be good to show them the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I had not been there before either.
We made the long walk through the cemetery and walked up to the tomb just as they were about to start the changing of the guard. We stood and watched in silence. Then an Honor Flight from Kansas got to lay a wreath, followed by an 8th grade class. We were all so glad we got there exactly when we did. We were too tired to go find JFK’s gravesite, but I plan to do that the next time I’m in D.C.
We found dinner and then went back to our hotel to rest up for one more day in D.C.
Click here for Washington, D.C., in the Fall – Day 2!
