Monuments of Washington DC

One of our adventure trips this summer was to Washington DC. Bethany read a book about the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument this past winter, and was very interested in seeing them. So, I thought this would be an excellent time to go. We invited our friends Trina, Molly, Jake, and Christian to go with us on our trip. The first day in the city was spent looking at monuments and going to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. We liked the monuments, but we absolutely LOVED the Muesum of Natural History! Bethany is still talking about seeing the world's largest diamond, the Hope Diamond. She doesn't think it is that big. We loved everything about the place. It was just totally our kind of thing---animals, minerals, dinosaurs, and plants.

We went to see the monuments in the morning, but it was just incredibly hot that day. We saw the Washington Monument the moment we came up from the subway station. We walked to it first. Then we headed toward the Lincoln Memorial, and came across the new World War II Memorial. It is one of the most beautiful monuments. It has huge fountains in the middle. There are columns for each of the fifty states. I took a picture of the kids by the West Virginia column. The monument is so massive I couldn't get a picture of the whole thing.

We walked to the Lincoln Memorial. The kids enjoyed chasing the geese along the reflecting pool. On the way back we stopped a the Vietnam Memorial. Bethany reached out and touched the wall in the most awe inspired way. She was really touched by the names of the people who died. I tried to get her to reenact the moment for a picture, but it turned out happy. :)

On the way toward the Museum of Natural History and lunch we walked along the Tidal Basin. Trina stopped to get ice cream for her kids. Bethany and I were standing along the edge of the basin watching some mallard ducks duck under the water, when Bethany fell in. I was standing directly beside her and grabbed her arms. It was quite unsettling. Poor girl had to walk around in wet shoes for awhile.

The first day in the city was hot and sticky, but successful. My feet were really tired. We were glad to take showers that evening. Bethany was especially glad to wash off Tidal Basin residue. It wasn't the cleanest body of water.