He had two requests: to see the White House and to see the big air planes.
Mission accomplished--and quite a fancy photo for an eight year old with an old iPhone.
From the National Airport....
to our home station Capitol South...
we rode the rails (and the buses) and made our way on a whirlwind tour.
Just a short hour and a half train and bus ride from the Hill, you'll find the Udvar-Hazy Air & Space Center. It's a Smithsonian museum, but it's not your grandma's air and space museum on the National Mall. It sides a hop away from Dulles, and it's home to the Space Shuttle Discovery, a Concorde jet, and a Blackbird (sponsored by the Mars Bar family--for real--I looked it up).
He was jazzed.
Completely blown away.
We worried eight might be too young.
We kind of knew four, nearly five, is probably too young.
But what better time to start educating children? They learned that people aren't always nice. Sometimes they fight; sometimes planes crash; and sometimes countries even go to war.
She also learned that girls can be astronauts. And judges. And president. "I'd be great at that job [Supreme Court Justice]. Because I'm smart, and I'm pretty, and I already smell good. So mornings would be like, BAM! I'm ready to go to work. Oh, with lipstick."
I'm not sure what she's learning from having a working mom, but I think I like it.
So many lessons were taught: things like, listen to your mother, and my personal favorite, "because I said so."
Four, almost five, is almost too young to tour Washington D.C.
G," I asked, "What was your favorite thing?"
"Nothing." We got tired.
And totally over photographs.
But those Smithsonian folks are smarty pants. They know what kids like. Be forewarned, while the museum is worth the transit time, the dining option (singular) leaves much to be desired unless you favor McNuggets. Though, a hot fudge sundae goes a long way on a long day. "RJ," I asked, "What was your favorite thing?" "Everything!"
We slept twelve hours after the first day.
And found ourselves refreshed.
Our hotel, Capitol Hill Suites, was an easy twenty minute walk from Union Station where we embarked on day two's adventure--the double decker bus.
Sidenote: Capitol Hill Suites is delightful. This was my second stay, and I'm sure I'll repeat again. Breakfast is complimentary, reliable, and tasty. The rooms are renovated, and the neighborhood is quiet with two highly rated restaurants nearby--We the Pizza and Good Eats for those interested. Pizza and burgers with a corner deli to fill in gaps. I could have fed the family for two weeks on what we spent in four days, however.
We took the City Sights double-decker bus. The tour bus, I recommend. This particular company, I do not. The bus was an open top double decker--something I knew, to be fair. It was 95 degrees, which I also knew. I did not know the hop-on feature of the tour would require us to hop up and down and signal frantically to the third bus to nearly bypass us.
We took a tour bus at night, and we self-toured at night. The Capitol was minutes from our hotel.
Vacation mom loves selfies. Even when vacation doesn't involve basking on the beach.
The American History Museum is one of my favorites.
As it turns out, it's one of the kids' favorites too.
Even the littlest of the crew.
Ice cream refreshes on the National Mall.
But at the not-so-near-the-end of a long day, ice cream sometimes isn't enough.
Our evening City Sights tour took us to the Roosevelt Monument, a beautifully crafted peaceful retreat replete with
reminders that ring true even today.
Night photography is hard.
Mr. Beatty went to Washington,
along with his family, and
even though an almost-five-year old is almost too young, we're idealists; we'd do it again. And again. And even once again.
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