Day at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

One extra exciting thing about moving back to Virginia was being so close to D.C. I've been up many times, but Darren had never been! We had mentioned a few months back that it might be fun to go up around Christmas time to see the Christmas tree. We looked at our calendar and realized that we only had one open Saturday before Christmas, and it was the next week. We decided it was now or never for this year and went this last Saturday, the 10th!

We drove down to the closest Metro stop in Vienna and rode the Orange line to the National Mall. As we were walking up the stairs I got REALLY excited to show Darren everything. We got to the sidewalk and I told him to turn around. He did, and this was the first thing he saw:

It was so fun to see the amazement on his face. At that moment I realized how much I had taken for granted living so close to such an important place. He was seeing in real life the things he had only seen in movies and on television. I decided right then that we would come into D.C. more often and take advantage of everything it has to offer while we live so close.

Our first stop, and our main goal for the day, was the National Museum of American History.

This one happens to be my absolute favorite. We decided that this is where we wanted to spend most of our time so we took it slow and enjoyed everything.

Old lunchboxes down in the cafeteria, where we ate lunch

A baseball signed by Lou Gehrig, along with a portrait of him

The original Catwoman costume, when Batman was played by Adam West (One of the highlights for me since I grew up watching that series!)

We also saw a fedora owned by Michael Jackson, Apolo Anton Ohno's skates, the First Ladies' dresses, walked through Julia Child's kitchen, and got to see the orignal Star Spangled Banner. It was so much fun!

Our next stop was the Smithsonian Castle.

Turns out it's just an information center. But, we went in anyways to warm up a little. It was stinkin' cold the day we went. We then walked down the mall some more to the Air & Space Museum. 

That one was a little boring for both of us, so we walked around for a little bit, went through the Wright Brothers exhibit and called it good.

Darren wanted to get a good photo of the Capitol building, so we walked down to the end of the mall.

By this time I was getting a little chilly, so I put on my scarf, and soon after my hat.

After seeing the Capitol building we still had a couple hours until dusk, so Darren decided he wanted to go to the Lincoln memorial before we went to see the tree. So, off trekking we went...

Washington Monument from the WWII Memorial side

View from the base of the Lincoln Memorial. Too bad they had the Reflecting Pool all dug up...

It was getting mighty cold. Evidenced by the fact that Darren now has his scarf and hat on.

"Blah, blah, blah. I NEVER LIE!" - Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian

It was really interesting to read all the quotes on the walls from President Lincoln. I actually learned quite a bit.

On our way to the White House we walked through the Vietnam War Memorial. I hadn't been since I was really little, so I didn't have any memory of the trip. It was a really moving experience.
 

We finally arrived at the tree a little before sunset, and it was perfect.
 

While we waited for it to get a little darker, so we could see the lights better, we turned around to look at the White House.

There are a few Secret Service guys up on the roof if you look closely.

Before leaving we took one last look at the tree:

It was a great day all around, and we're so glad we had the opportunity to spend the day in the city. If you come and visit maybe we'll take you!