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Today we finished up our tour of the National Mall that included stops at the White House, Washington Monument (to pick up free tickets for our later visit to the top), National Archives, McDonald's for a cheap lunch, the WWII Memorial, back to the Washington Monument for our reservation, Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, a half-price Frappe at Starbucks, then back to the Four Points for take out Domino's Pizza (courtesy of a Groupon). What a day!
As for highlights from this busy day, we saw the President leave and fly right over our heads in Marine One from the South lawn of the White House. Unfortunately, we were headed toward the Washington Monument at the time and security wasn't letting anyone closer than a few hundred yards, so we couldn't really see anything other than the helicopter and a crowd of people taking pictures. But we did keep some guys in unmarked black Tahoes busy while we watched from a sidewalk.
The visit to the National Archives was rather hectic as we had to work with a few school groups again, but we did get to see the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Bill of
Rights. This was probably one of the least interesting stops for the kids, so we tried to keep it relatively short.
The girl's highlight of the day was the elevator ride to the top of the Washington Monument that offered a really nice vantage point of the Capital, White House, and Lincoln Memorial. We also got to read and hear about the very lengthy history of the monument construction, which took nearly 40 years to complete due to the Civil War.
The remaining visits were mostly hit-and-go as all of our energy levels were running low after walking all day. But it was a good day to just finish up the highlights that we wanted to see so that we can spend our last day exploring the rest of the area via Metro.
After a full 'work' week, I think everything has come together pretty nicely for the planned portion of our trip. Our kids are absorbing information quicker than ever and we are learning about the local cultures and customs as we go. We have had the opportunity to be back in our hotel before 6 p.m. for several relaxing evenings eating dinner and watching Iron
Chef which is good to keep our energy levels and sleep patterns in check. Hotel hopping is probably the most stressful activity we have had to work through, but I have been able to adapt our future plans to limit this. Traveling with a single suitcase also helps tremendously by allowing us flexibility and the ability to move via mass transit. We watched a family of four check in today with an overflowing cart load of luggage and just smiled with no envy, but a little pity.
Washington D.C. has turned out to be an incredibly cheap city because of the free attractions and sights. I don't think we have spent a single dime for anything other than living and travel expenses so far. The ability to stay in one place has an added advantage of letting us stock up on groceries at a local CVS which drastically cuts our dining costs in a place where the average casual lunch for our family is about $25-$30.
With two weeks left in our available time window, we are excited and ready to see what else we find in the remaining cities on our agenda. We aren't pressured to fit
everything into a typical week long vacation schedule, although we do end up seeing everything we are interested in with time to just live the local life. The remaining two weeks should actually be more relaxed and spontaneous as we will be going to cities with fewer major attractions.
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