The Sights (DC Part Two)

So I've already posted about the scavenger hunt...now I'll upload some photos about the stuff we actually did while in DC earlier this month.  First of all, both of us have taken week-long family trips to DC before, so we'd been almost everywhere.  The two places that I really wanted to go to and had never seen before were the Holocaust Museum and Arlington National Cemetery.  Not only had I never been, but I also teach two large units a year about the Holocaust and JFK, so this was perfect!  Kyle wanted to go to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History to see the dinosaurs, so we made sure to plan for that, too.  I'll just give you the picture tour:

Holocaust Museum.  No pictures inside, unfortunately.  Only cried once and it was when reading a key passage from the novel I teach next to a mold of a crematorium door.  I'll never look at that passage the same way ever again!

First morning in the hotel.  Gettin' our Arlington on!

Took the metro everywhere, and this was the most vacant stop.  I loved Arlington...everything was so peaceful, which is weird, since it's like right next to the interstate.

Used to play "Taps" at JFK's funeral

Taking his artsy pictures

It stretched as far as the eye could see...so pretty!

Eternal flame, JFK and Jackie

Weird picture, I know...but in front of the eternal flame, freezing my butt off!

At the amphitheater deal behind the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Challenger Memorial

Where Lincoln lives, of course :)

All I could think about was Night at the Museum 2:  Battle of the Smithsonian where Lincoln talks to people...

So if I were on the OTHER side of the Reflecting Pool, it might have been where Jenny got in the water to run to Forrest!  Maybe?

We decided to look up our last names on a whim at the Vietnam Wall...guess what we found!

Dorothy's ruby slippers in Smithsonian American History Museum.  Also saw Singin' in the Rain sheet music, the first Wicked Elphaba costume, Harry Potter's robes, and Archie Bunker's chair...

Kermit!

Jackie Kennedy's pearls!  We also saw her Inauguration Dress as well as all the other First Ladies' dresses, including Michelle Obama's.  Kyle asked me, "What will they do when we have a female president?  Include her dress, or put her husband's tux in here instead?"  GOOD QUESTION!

Hungry, hungry hippo at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History...

Going beserk taking all the pictures of dinosaurs!

Me as a cavewoman!

I'd also never been to the Air and Space Museum.  I'd also venture to say we'll probably never go back!  YAWN!

Amelia Earhart plane

So this is some sort of wishing tree in the gardens of the Smithsonians.  Apparently in the summertime, you are supposed to write your wish down and hang it on the tree, but in winter months when the branches are brittle, you whisper your wishes to it instead.  So I'm whispering my wish, but I'm not gonna tell you what I wished for!  Then it might not come true!

Replica of the statue on top of the Capitol building

Inside the Library of Congress...so neat!

Overall, pretty great trip!  A LOT of driving, a LOT of walking, and a LOT of windy coldness, but a good couple of days away with my sweetheart.  We discussed the next time we plan to go back...think we'll wait until the kids are teenagers, that way they can appreciate it a little more!