Spring Break in Washington DC; Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials

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Washington DC is a fantastic location to take a budget vacation. Most of the attractions in the District of Columbia are run by the government and free of charge.

The kids are out of school so we piled into the car this past Wednesday and headed down to the Maryland/DC area where I have lots of family. We usually get to visit this part of the country twice a year. Each time we come I try to find something different for the family to do. By the time the boys are grown up, they will have seen everything there is to see in our nation's capital.

Today's agenda included a visit to the Lincoln Memorial. Trying to get there today, I realized why we've somehow not yet seen it on any of our trips to DC. It's surprisingly difficult to get to. There is no parking nearby, and the closest Metro stop is at least a mile away. With three kids 7 and under, it wasn't really convenient to walk a mile or more to get there. If you splurge on a Tourmobile bus tour ($86 for our family of 5; www.tourmobile.com), you can get dropped off closer to the monument, but since this is a budget vacation, our only option was to take our car down there even though we knew parking would be horrendous.

After driving around the memorial a couple of times, we decided that in order to see it, my husband was going to have to drop me and the kids off and then swing back around to come get us. Now would be a good time to interject that my husband is really a good sport about this kind of stuff. He's pretty self-sacrificing when it comes to things like this. Today he dropped us off close to Lincoln, then waited about 40 minutes in a no parking zone, all the while keeping an eye out for the cops who would make him move the car if they saw him.

That was a pretty generous thing for him to do, but what's even more generous than that, is tomorrow night he's going to be braving the weather and camping outside in a pop up tent on the Ellipse Pavilion in order to secure tickets to the White House Easter Egg Roll (but more on that later). Yes, let it be said that I have the best, most accommodating husband in the world (ok, maybe I got some help writing this last paragraph here).

The Lincoln Memorial was really amazing. I caught my breath as we were walking toward the monument and I got my first glimpse of Lincoln peeking out from around one of the pillars. Standing in front of his imposing statue, I got a little misty eyed when my son read the quote aloud that was written above Lincoln's head; “In this temple, as in the hearts of the people for whom he saved the Union, the memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever.”

But by far the most awe inspiring part of the visit was standing in the exact location Martin Luther King stood to give his famous "I have a Dream" speech. The very spot is marked with an inscription. We looked out over the reflection pool towards the Washington Monument trying to imagine what Dr. King saw when he was there some 45 years ago. The sun was setting and I quoted as much as I can remember of the speech for my children. It was beautiful.

I know this must sound like an after thought, but we were also able to see the Jefferson Memorial earlier today (for us, it just wasn't as memorable as the Lincoln). Thankfully, we found parking for this one. They have three lots labeled A, B, and C behind the Jefferson Memorial and we didn't find any of them crowded when we arrived late in the afternoon. We also saw a few cherry blossom trees near the Jefferson Memorial. It looks like the blossoms are starting to come out but they will be in full bloom by next week.

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Photos

Spring Break in Washington DC
The cherry blossoms are just starting to bloom.

Sunset at the Washington Monument
This is the view MLK Jr. might have had as he gave his "I have a Dream" speech