I have the nicest husband ever. Nate had to go to the DC/VA area for work this summer, so as usual when Nate makes travel plans, we were already missing him before he left. Nate then said it would be so fun if Viggo and I could join him in DC for his trip. 20 minutes later, Nate had arranged a trip to Washington DC for the V-man and I. And about ten days later, we were going on an adventure.
First stop - the Twin Cities IKEA. Because why would we not.
A routine flight and taxi ride later (but the taxi had a TV, so that was marginally entertaining), Nate welcomed us to the Ritz-Carlton, where Viggo and I precisely did not fit in, being obvious representatives of our local chapter of Central Minnesota Country Bumpkins.
Viggo was out like a light.
I have to say, I was a little underwhelmed by the Ritz overall, but the beds were top-notch.
And John Brennan was there, so that was a bonus.
Viggo makes his stately entrance to the galleria on our way to breakfast.
Now here we are on the National Mall!
If you go to Washington, everything looks relatively close on a map.
Everything is close enough that you can get to your destination relatively quickly if you have a segway, but we hoofed it. It's a good 20 minutes of walking from any given point A to point B, so Viggo and I were very strategic and we made a plan that started us out at the farthest point of the Mall and then we walked west the entire day, which would end with lots of memorials.
First stop: Library of Congress.
Well, we could have spent the whole day here (or weeks . . . ), but we had exactly 48 hours to fit everything in, so we limited our time there to an hour and fifteen minutes.
There were maps galore! Many, like this one, just looked surprisingly weird.
The tour guide that we happened upon (our time budget didn't allow for an official tour) said that where we were standing at in that very moment in time was the very place that Nicholas Cage stood at in
National Treasure (which is a very entertaining, and undoubtably entirely true, movie). We were not allowed in the stacks, which was a big fat bummer, because that's exactly the part of the library Viggo and I wanted to enter.
We settled for the wonderful exhibits there - the Jacob Riis one was superb, and of course no photography was allowed, so you'll just have to take my word for it.
The floor there (along with every other surface) was amazing. I'm considering this pattern for our kitchen backsplash.
Be still my heart.
A first edition of
Little House in the Big Woods.
Viggo in Thomas Jefferson's Library.
The Capital.
It was under construction.
Our very first DC selfie.
I'm sure that once whatever they're working on is completed, it will be lovely, and then I'll want to go back to see it.
So we happened along this random and charming water fountain.
I know we were there for the sights, but you know, it's the little things.
We hoofed it over to the Smithsonian of Natural History.
There was taxidermy galore, a coral reef exhibit, and bones. But the Lesser Mouse-Deer, which is about the size of a leaf and must be the cutest mammal in the animal kingdom, was my favorite.
As far as live critters went, Viggo got to hold a cockroach.
The insect volunteer must have decided Viggo was a likable fellow. He thought it would be fun if Viggo would pretend to eat it - which of course Viggo was delighted to do.
We saw the Hope Diamond!
...yawn.
I think this would have been more exciting if I was more of a jewelry person. Actually, I'm sure of it.
Honestly all I could think of was
The Great Muppet Caper.
So this is the most amazing topaz on the planet.
And that's not Viggo in the background - just some kid that was dressed exactly like him that day.
The mineral exhibit was, hands-down, the best part of the Natural History Museum.
Wolfanite! Who knew!
How could anyone not be delighted by this bulbous blob of Irish Spring?
Some of the minerals were even having a bad hair day.
A giant grouper - a fish I'd rather not fillet.
Viggo has now seen the only two Easter Island statues in the United States - this one, and it's brother in the Natural History Museum in New York.
There was a butterfly exhibit.
We got hugs from the butterflies.
After making sure we were butterfly-free, it was time to leave the Natural History Museum.
Then we went to the Holocaust Museum.
While standing in line waiting to get into the main exhibit, we discovered the nice ladies behind us were from Sauk Center - of course. We travel all the way to DC to hang out with our neighbors.
The Holocaust Museum was seriously incredible and we didn't even make it to the extra exhibits - mostly because after going through the main exhibit we were flat, emotional, pancakes. I felt it was not really a place to take photos. But I thought this wall inside the museum, but outside of the exhibit and memorial hall, was striking, and taking a photo of it seemed appropriate.
So after the Holocaust Museum we headed over to Pennsylvania Avenue to see what was happening there. On Constitution Avenue we stumbled upon this funny little building. This is the Lockkeeper's House. Did you know there was once a
canal in Washington, DC?
Somebody had to open the lock for canal traffic.
Trains took over, and soon there wasn't a lot of canal traffic, and it created a huge, muddy mess right on the Mall, and it was also a bit of a death trap for livestock. After a mere 20 years of use, the canal was closed. The lockkeeper and his family of 13 kids moved on. Squatters took over, then it was a prison, then a restroom, eventually graced with a plaque, and now it's storage.
Why the Lockkeeper's House was not on our map of the top ten places to visit in DC, I just don't understand.
The White House!
Taking this photo with no one else in it was a major accomplishment, considering we were surrounded by dozens of energetic French teenagers.
As the day went on, Viggo and I realized that as American tourists, we were in the minority. It was unexpected and fun to hear so many different languages everywhere we went.
Then we went to the new World War II Memorial.
Each state was represented on the columns standing around the big center fountain.
There was an Atlantic and Pacific side.
4,048 stars, each star representing 100 American deaths or MIA, stretch across the length of the memorial.
Victory At Sea, Victory On Land, and Victory In The Air were emblazoned on the ground.
Nate met up with us at the WW2 Memorial, and it was really nice to have him with us for the rest of the evening.
The Vietnam War Nurse Memorial.
Something like 98% of wounded men in Vietnam were saved by the nurses there. They deserve a memorial and then some!
Vietnam Memorial.
The Korean War Memorial was my favorite one, and it was eerie.
Statues of men wandered through brush.
There happened to be a large group of South Korean children there, who had a wreath and flowers set up and had a very long moment of silence with their heads bowed. It is one thing to see a memorial; it is another to see a future generation who live in freedom because of the soldiers who fought for their grandparents.
The Korean War lasted from 1950-1953. It's known (or not) as "The Forgotten War." Look it up!
The Washington Memorial could be spotted from pretty much everywhere. Here we are with the reflecting pool behind us and the Lincoln Memorial in front of us.
The Lincoln Memorial was massive, and beneath it was a really nice museum. Lots of people were sitting on the cool marble steps, probably because they were all roasting and exhausted just like us.
Roosevelt Memorial. It is made in four large sections you walk through - one for each term FDR served.
We walked around the lake/bay/whatever body of water it was that all the memorials were strategically scattered around. I checked my pedometer. We were somewhere around step 27,352 and I was ready to drop dead and join Jefferson at his memorial permanently.
I really liked the Jefferson memorial - just not enough to actually walk around in it.
I laid down on a bench, closed my eyes, and didn't care what people thought. It seemed incredible that 24 hours earlier, Viggo and I were eating pink princess cake at IKEA, and that I could actually feel my feet.
Nate brought us to Founding Farmers, which so far is my favorite DC area restaurant.
Viggo had a square donut, known as the Jefferson donut. It is like a croissant, with creamy vanilla filling inside. (We also had dinner at 9:00, which is when all the cool people eat dinner in DC, by the way.) The perfect end to a fantastic and exhausting day!
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