Let's Go on an Adventure: Washington D.C. part 2 (and some rain!)

 I confess I started writing all about our D.C./Philly trip last year and never quite got around to finishing it. . . partly because I took a break from blogging to survive distance learning.  So here I am, hoping to get caught up on my Travel posts. . . because we've been to some pretty great places. . . despite a crazy pandemic season.  You can read all about the first two days here.  

Our third day in D.C. was marked by torrential downpour. . . the same one that hit us the night before! We decided to take advantage of the rain and UBER (too wet to walk) and hit up the Smithsonian American History Museum.  I am so glad we did it when we did, because we were able to see a lot of the exhibits before it got too busy.  One really cool thing about the museums in D.C.  is that they are all free.  (It looks like you don't even need a timed pass either!). It was probably one of my favorite museums of all!  Dorothy's ruby slippers, Julia Child's kitchen, all the first ladies inaugural dresses, a batmobile.  There was so much to see!  We spent about 3 hours here and then moved on since the rain had stopped and sun started shining.

Next on our plan was to walk the National Mall. . . a big reason why we did the museum while it was raining.  The museum is just a teeny walk from the Mall and since it wasn't raining, we got to get started.  But first, we needed substance.  All along the Mall are a bunch of food trucks, so we found a burrito truck and got burritos. Well. . . let's just use that word loosly. . . it was more of wrap. . . and not so much a burrito.  But it was tasty!  Also, please note that the sun was indeed out and the sky was a beautiful blue hue.

 From there we mosied over to the Washington Monument. Please note that the dark clouds very suddenly started moving in.

 

By the time we actually got to the monument itself it was sprinkling.  It didn't really bother us because #humidity is no joke!  Please note, we did bring 1 umbrella. . . for 4 of us.  ha ha! 

And then from there it started pouring. . . like torrential downpour!  It's cool though.  We just kept walking and enjoying it (we don't get much of it back home in California. . . cuz endless drought. . . sad face).  So, we walked through the

It ended up being a lot of rain and a lot of fun!  It only lasted an hour because by the time we made it around the Reflecting pool to the Lincoln Monument, the sun was back out and it was a beautiful day.  A BIG perk was that because it had been raining quite a bit, not as many people were out and about, which means we didn't have to fight through some of the typical crowds for middle of July in the Capitol.  Also, because it's July in Washington, the humidity was like 500 percent and we dried pretty quick!  We also took the time to have a snack break. . . that stretch alone was quite the little walk!

We kept on walking towards the other War Memorials, including the Korean War one, which was my favorite.  And then on to MLK, FDR, and Jefferson.  We had so much fun!  It had rained so hard, some of the paths on the edge of the Potomac were very flooded, so we had to go the long way.  We didn't mind because we got to see some stuff we probably would have missed otherwise. 

After that, we Ubered over to the Founding Farmers restaurant. . . a really neat farm to table restaurant we had heard so much about.  It was a lot of fun, however they messed up on our meal (they didn't do no dairy well) and Weston ended up having to take his food back to the hotel to eat.  It was very tasty though and beautiful though!  

 The next day, we took an Uber out to Mount Vernon and enjoyed the tour and then spent some time exploring the grounds.  It was really quite beautiful!  Ethan and Jon found some important landmarks from National Treasure (ha ha). Plus the view of the Potomac is lovely!

From Mt. Vernon, we headed over to Old town Alexandria for lunch.  We walked around and found a great Lord of the Rings themed restaurant and cooled off while we ate.  Then, we walked around on the super cool cobblestone streets and found a cupcake place and one of George Washington's other home.  

From there, we headed over to Arlington National Cemetery and visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and then looked for a few names we recognized as we walked back.  It was really hot and humid and we were really tired. 

We ubered back home and we couldn't decide on where to eat.  Jon and Ethan went to this really cool Hot Dog place that Obama used to frequent. . . they said it was wonderful!  Weston and I walked around the block to a Noodles and Co. . . we don't have one of those at home so we wanted to take advantage! 

 

And that's it for days 3 and 4 of this crazy trip we did before the world kind of shut down.  Also. . . I keep looking at these pictures and cherishing how small these boys were. . . I mean, Ethan is shorter than me in these pictures!  ha ha!  

 

Stay tuned for more of our adventure coming soon!