We go to Washington DC for MEA Weekend

For the first time ever, we decided to go on a trip together over MEA weekend.  We decided to go to Washington DC since that could be considered an educational trip.  Eric hasn't been there since he was in 8th grade, Denise had never been there, and neither had the boys.  So, we booked some tickets and spent 2-1/2 days in DC and the surrounding area.  Below are some of the pictures from our adventures.  

In order to afford flights for all four of us out, we had to grab a 6:50 AM flight out on Friday.  Although it was early, everybody was able to get up, get going, and stay awake.  Here we are waiting for our flight to board. 

Once we got to DC, we left our bags at our hotel (near Regan International Airport) and headed to DC.  We took the train to the city for this trip.  Our first stop was the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.  

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We visited the library of congress after the Capital(you take an underground tunnel to get there).  The library is open to the public, but you need to be doing research.  We were viewing it from a viewing room and we had to wait our turn to view and had to be really quiet.  They have nearly 24 million books cataloged in the Library of Congress.  Amazing and beautiful!

Our next stop was the US Capitol.  They're spending a lot of time renovating the dome.  It's made mostly of cast iron and it's corroding.  So, they're replacing sections with new castings and removing several layers of lead based paint.  We were able to get tickets to tour the capitol and we had the best tour guide!

The boys had energy to go swimming everyday when we were in DC.  We thought it was interesting they had an onsite lifeguard at the hotel while the pool was open.  If th

Once we got back to the hotel, we grabbed a quick bite to eat followed by some swimming in the hotel pool.  The boys quickly passed out after a long day.  

The next morning, we got up and headed back to DC to see more of the sites.  One of our first stops was the J. Edgar Hoover building.  One our our friends works for the FBI and it was great to be able to see their headquarters.

If you've ever seen the movie "National Treasure", you're sure to remember the National Archives.  It's where the US Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Bill of Rights is stored.  We were able to go inside after a short wait and see all of the documents.  When Eric went years ago, he remembers that they only showed the first and last pages of the Constitution because the middle two pages were damaged too much to show.  However, all 4 pages were on display now.

The old Postal Building is now being converted to a Trump Hotel.  Maybe someday we can come back and stay here.  Although Eric was interested in the historical significance of the building, the boys simply had fun watching the crane in action.  

It looked darker in person than I thought it was.

Got a chance to see the Washington Monument.  We weren't able to get tickets to go up to the top but it was cool standing at the base and looking up.

A very somber place in DC was the Vietnam Memorial.  So many people lost.  We also got to see the WWII memorial.  A great number of people have fought and died for our country.  

Capping off the day was being able to see the Lincoln Memorial and stand on the steps looking east at the Washington monument and capitol.  One of the best views in DC.

What's up Abe?

View of the reflecting pool with the Washington Monument from the Lincoln Memorial.

We spent our last day in DC at the Smithsonian National Zoo.  Admission is free (as is most attractions in DC).  Got to see just about every animal there.  We walked about 5 miles there too!

The panda was acting pretty lazy!  They have a new baby panda, but he isn't on display yet.

We watched them taking foot prints of this elephant.  We weren't sure why but thought they might be doing it to sell as artwork.  The trainers could climb in and out of that fence. We watched them giving him some treats too!

Our last night in DC we took some family pictures and the boys got dressed up.  This was taken at a restaurant we ate at our last night there.  I found a restaurant called The Good Stuff eatery that had excellent burgers.  We did lots of food truck eating in DC, because there weren't a lot of restaurants while walking around the monuments.