Day 17: Visiting the People's House

Our last morning waking up to this view.

Because we were only going to be here for a couple more hours, we were able to find a parking spot on the mall and not have quite such a long walk.

Then we went out to see a couple more things before we had to go. 

It was cold this morning.

We stumbled across the delivery of the Capitol Christmas Tree! We ran into a couple of women who were out for a jog and said that they make sure they run by every year when the tree is due to come. They've gotten pictures with the truck for many years.

And then we had to hurry over to the capitol for our tour.

Such a beautiful building.

Inside and out.

It was fun hearing the stories

and seeing famous paintings.

We found Junipero Serra, one of CA's two statues.

Each state gets two displayed somewhere in the building.

We found a lot of people from history we love, like Rosa Parks.

(And CA's second statue: Ronal Reagan.)

This is the oringinal place the Supreme Court met.

The three chairs on the right are original. When justices retire, they get to take their chair with them, but three families were willing to donate theirs back to the capitol.

The Helen Keller statue is the first of a child, and someone with a disability, and they encourage people to touch it, just as she would have had to in order to appreciate it.

Sacagawea for ND

We really loved this tour.

And then, we made a quick stop by the US Archives to see the Magna Carta

and the Constitution.

It's cool to see the signatures.

There were some interesting "easter eggs" to find in the painting there.

And then, as it began sleeting on us, we hurried back to our van so we could get on the road. Time for more history and exploring, and a little van work.

Our home for the weekend. We found a very cute house in the forest near Williamsburg, VA. It has a couple of bedrooms, plenty of room to cook and spread out, and most importantly, a flat driveway where we can work on the van once the parts come in. Perfect base for our next few days of adventuring.

Day 16: Going Undercover

On our third day in DC, we still had no electricity in the van, but we'd come up with a plan to have parts delivered to our next stop, and there was nothing we could do about it for a couple of days, so we decided to enjoy the day.  We got some ice to use our fridge as a cooler and went on with our scheduled activity, which was new for all of us: 

The International Spy Museum!

The museum exceeded our expectations--you receive an identity and there are several spots where you check in and get certain information or have to give information that you've found in that part of the museum.

It makes it very interactive and fun.

We all enjoyed the activities.

And there are so many other interactive exhibits where you can experience spy life,

as well as learning all about the history of spies around the world.

It was great timing because we had just finished listening to the audiobook George Washington's Secret Six about the Culper Spy Ring during the Revolutionary War and there was an exhibit  in the museum about Robert Townsend and this ring's contributions to the US winning the war.

We ended up spending most of the day here, which meant we didn't have very long at our next stop, but it was worth it.

We did run into the Air and Space Museum for about 1.5 hours at the end of the day. We've been there before, and there was a major renovation happening, so it wasn't too awful that we didn't have more time.

We got to see the Wright Brothers' plane

and checked out the space exhibits. Peanut had just recently done a report about a Mars rover, so he was excited to see one in person.

And then, the museum was closing and it was time to call it a day.

Because we can't cook in the van without electricity, we found a Peruvian chicken place, District Rico, for dinner. It was a very cold walk to the restaurant--the weather had totally changed from the evening before and it was starting to drizzle a little.

So, after we ate, we got a Lyft back to our van which was parked across the Potomac again. We were too tired and cold to make the almost 3 mile walk.

And then, we drove back to the mall for our last night. We had a couple last things to check out the next day, but then we would be saying goodbye to Washington DC.

Day 15: More Monuments and Museums

Our morning began on the Potomac River again, where we got ready for the day and then walked over to the Washington Monument to get tickets to go up. I've been to DC three times now and this was the first time actually going in the monument.

The views were amazing,

although I didn't love that they wait until you're in the elevator to tell you that there is no rebar or anything connecting the stones of the obelisk--it's just very heavy rocks piled on top of one another.

But it was worth it going up to the top.

We got a good look at everywhere we walked the day before.

The insides of the very top--little bit of metal up here, but most of the metal inside is just for the elevator shaft.

And then, we spent the rest of the day visiting various parts of the Smithsonian Museum.

We started with the National Museum of American History, where we found all types of fun pop culture memorbilia, like Cookie Monster,

and Kristi Yamaguchi's figure skates.

We enjoyed seeing bits from Jurassic Park,

and Bill Nye, the Science Guy.

It was cool to learn about the preservation project of this 1776 gunboat.

One of my favorite exhibits traced a single house through 300 years of history and ownership. I loved reading the stories of some of the families who lived there during various key points in history.

And then, we headed over to the Natural History Museum, which is so amazing.

Peanut was definitely looking forward to this one.

We could have used a few more days in DC to really see everything at this museums,

but we tried to squeeze in the highlights and at least get a quick look at everything.

Love this quote.

And the dinosaurs, of course.

The butterflies are always interesting, too.

And we ran into the rocks and gems exhibit at the end, 

but really could have used more time here.

So many incredible things to see!

I'm a fan of the fluorescent ones!

This museum is just incredible. I've loved every time I've gotten to go in.

By the time we left, it was dark.

We had a beautiful walk back to the van.

Love all the lights on the water.

We stayed in our spot by the river to make dinner and hang out for a couple of hours, enjoying the nice weather. It was great to have the door open and enjoy the views.

Then, we headed to another overnight spot just outside of DC that I'd found on iOverlander. And our night went downhill. First, the spot was pretty popular and it was hard to find a level parking place on the hill. It started raining and it was pretty dark.

And then, as we were getting ready for bed, we tried to use the electricity and something popped and then everything went out. Daddy-o climbed under the bed and tried to look at our electrical set up, but it's hard to get to things with the bed in. From what he could tell, we may have blown the main fuse, which means no electricity until we can get new parts which will take at least a couple of days. But in the moment, there was nothing we could do, and so, we slept.