Day 10 - He's Baaaaaaack

Today we slept in a little to give Ethan some rest and to hope he felt better so we could see a bunch of things today.  When he woke up he didn't seem all that much better, but didn't have a fever and only complained about being tired.  By 11:30 we were finally out the door, and by the time we got outside we noticed more pep in Ethan's step, and more sarcasm in his voice, which we took as a good sign.  Turns out he must have broken the fever last night because pretty shortly he was totally himself again.  This was quite a relief, since even though I may have been a bit hard on Ethan in yesterday's blog post (at least according to Al), we were in fact concerned for his health and that he was going to have trouble doing anything if he didn't get better soon.

The plan today was to head to the Air & Space Museum, then hit some monuments and memorials.  Part of the reason for this plan, at least for me, was that all of these things were free.  And after the $2,845,245.44 we have spent on meals, keychains, hats, shot glasses, baseballs, etc. it was nice to be able to just go someplace and look around for free.  We also decided to partake of the DC subway system.  Excuse me, Metro system.  So we walked a few blocks to Metro Station where we proceeded to ask the Metro info guy about 24 questions and after the two Wharton grads spent 20 minutes trying to figure out how to use the ticket machine and the best use of our funds, we had our 5 tickets and headed to the platform.  A few stops later we were near the Air & Space Museum.

We had mixed reviews from friends about the Air & Space Museum, with some loving it and some completely bored by it.  I think we ended up in the middle, leaning towards the bored side.  As has been the case throughout our journeys, our kids really only enjoy museums, no matter the kind, if they can do something hands-on.  Simply looking and reading about things bores them instantly.  The first room we hit was the children's area, which was pretty much all hands on stuff.  We spent maybe 20 minutes in this room and the kids enjoyed it.  Then we went to a few more rooms where it was mostly looking and reading and within a few minutes they were not interested.  I liked the moon mission room, and they may have found some of the planets room interesting (I found it interesting when Amanda gave a very detailed explanation as to why Pluto was no longer a planet).  We decided to check out the planetarium, but when we learned you needed tickets for this and that it was mostly movie type stuff, we passed.

He's back, baby!

By now it was around 1:30 and the gang was getting hungry.  On the way into the museum we passed a ton of food trucks with all types of food.  We figured we would go to them after finishing inside.  Big mistake.  By the time we were done all of the trucks had left with the exception of a frozen yogurt truck.  We decided to get yogurts to tide us over until we found real food, and $25 worth of crappy frozen yogurt was purchased.

We then headed towards the Washington Monument.  This began the massive walking tour of the Mall area.  We got close to the Washington Monument, took some pictures, then headed left towards the Holocaust Museum. 

Washington Monument

We had been warned that some of the exhibits in there were quite graphic, and were glad that they had a whole section geared towards kids.  The exhibit takes you though the experiences of a fictional child named Daniel, and shows how his life changed from the mid 1930s through the war.  They use his "diary" and actual photos as a way to explain how things started out great and normal, and ended up the way they did.  For an exhibit geared towards kids it was quite powerful.  At the end it left Amanda in tears.

We decided that the children's section was enough for us, and I asked someone if there was anyplace to get something to eat (by now it was after 3:00).  For the second day in a row, we had an overpriced, average at best meal at a museum cafe.  This one was in the building next to the Holocaust Museum, and serves vegetarian food with some kosher selections.  That is enough detail on lunch.

From the Holocaust Museum we headed to the Lincoln Memorial, with a stop at the WWII memorial at the beginning of the Reflection Pool. 

WWII Memorial

We then proceeded to take the long walk along side the Reflection Pool to the Lincoln Memorial.  After climbing the steep stairs and taking a few pictures of Honest Abe (and going into the small gift shop primarily to cool down, since by now we were all schvitzing like a gorilla in a sauna -no clue where that came from), we walked a short way to the Vietnam Memorial. 

Lincoln Memorial

Amanda kept waiting for Abe to get out of his chair

It was very nice of the good looking family from NY to
take a picture with a homeless guy in a Red Sox shirt.

Vietnam Memorial Wall

We slowly walked the length of the wall, then headed out.  By now we were far away from the Metro.  The choice was to retrace our steps back towards the Smithsonian Station, or walk up towards GW and go to the Foggy Bottom Station.  After using a very scientific measuring tool (my fingers) on a map I had, I opted to head towards GW.  About 20 minutes later we made it to the station and headed back towards the hotel.

We arrived back at the hotel (dripping and stinking) right at 5:30 when the hotel has its Manager's Reception.  Again taking advantage of free food and drinks, we headed there for some, well, free food and drinks.  A little after 6:00 we headed up to the room to de-stinkify ourselves before dinner.  The plan was to head to a restaurant called Founding Farmers that was recommended to us as the "best restaurant" by the person who checked us into the hotel the other day.  So after we were all cleaned up, we got the car (no more walking today) and headed there.  What the person who checked us into the hotel the other day failed to mention was this was clearly a very popular place where a reservation might have been useful.  We were told that the wait was 1-1.5 hours, so we left and decided to head back into Georgetown to find someplace to eat.

I found a spot on M Street near Wisconsin (for those of you that know the area) and we headed out to find someplace to eat.  We walked a short way on M Street, then headed up Wisconsin, checking out a few places along the way, none of which really appealed to the group.  So we turned back down Wisconsin and took a right on M Street, where we looked at a few more places until we chose (and by "we" I mean "I" because Mama Bear was getting tired of walking) a Mexican food place called Bandelaros.  Luckily they had a cancellation for a large table and we were seated right away.  What we didn't know (and again by "we" I mean "I") when we chose the place was that it was kind of like a Mexican Tapas place where you ordered a few things and shared them.  Amanda was happy that they would make her a cheese quesadilla, and the rest of us picked out 4-5 items, some of which we doubled up on.  The food was OK, and a little more filling that we expected (although as I type this I'm getting a little hungry, so maybe Mexican Tapas is similar to Chinese).  Most of the dishes we ordered we liked, and we paid the bill and headed out.  We hoped to try out a second cupcake place on the street (Sprinkles), but since it was by now 9:20 they were closed.

We got back into the car and decided to drive by some of the memorials to see them "lit up" (happy Mom?).  We ended up driving by the Jefferson Memorial, the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial, although I don't think in that order.  After we passed the Jefferson I took a small road, just because it was there, and we ended up passing right by the FDR Memorial and the Martin Luther King Memorial.  We parked near the MLK Memorial and got out for a quick look. 

MLK

Jefferson Memorial all "lit up"

Debbie then consulted with the travel book we have with us about the FDR Memorial and read that it has become a favorite among tourists.  So I drove around the block, even though it turned out that the FDR was about 100 yards behind the MLK, and I double parked in front, figuring it would be quick like the MLK look.  What I didn't know was that the FDR Memorial is massive, and very beautiful.  It's one section after another and I started to get nervous that my car might get a ticket or towed.  But my fears were unfounded and after finishing at the FDR we got back into the car and headed to the hotel to get everyone to sleep after a long day.

The good looking family from NY dumped the homeless
guy and traded him for a statue of FDR

Tomorrow is our last morning in DC then we head to Philly where we will hook up with Derek and his family who will be moving Mariah into college near Philly on Saturday.  Before we head to Philly we will probably hit one or two more places in the morning.  We are debating about going to the Newseum (not sure if the kids will enjoy it based on looking at the website) or checking out the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights (this gets my vote as of now).  We may also try and swing by the Capitol.  Maybe on the way out of town I will at least drive by.  Either way, tomorrow night we will be in our home away from home.