Spring Break 2009 - Washington DC

Woke up around 5:30 to rassle the family together and to get down early for breakfast (I had read how crowded it could get at the Embassy Suite's free breakfast buffett, so wanted to beat the lines).  After breakfast, we headed out into the bitter cold - at least for us Texans, it was bitter!

First stop was the White House, which was not a bad walk from the hotel.  We arrived early (our tour wasn't scheduled until 9:30AM), so we walked the perimeter - and that felt a lot longer than the walk from the hotel :-)   The DH commented on how weird the fountain looked, what with being green and all.  I didn't remember it being green from the last visit, but thought maybe it was some sort of "go green" thing with the new administration.  Doh!  It hit us a few minutes later that it was St. Patrick's Day....

We made it for our White House tour and moved through security pretty quickly.  The tour was not what we expected.  It was fairly cool - we were in the White House after all - but, I had expected a guided tour filled with history lessons and anecdotal stories.  Instead, you walk through the roped-off pathway and there are security guards/guides along the way available to answer questions, if you have any.  So, glad to see the White House, but not what expected.

After the White House, we had to make a quick run back to the hotel to pick up the camera, my purse, etc. (because of security, there are a lot of restrictions on what can be brought into the White House - basically, you can bring a cell phone, keys, and your wallet).  By the time we had done that, we headed over to Old Ebbitt Grill for lunch.  We got there at 11:00 and glad we did - this place gets busy and by the time we left, it was getting packed.  We had originally planned on going here for dinner, but right before leaving on the trip, a friend from DC mentioned that getting in at night could be pretty crazy.  Since we don't do crazy, we decided to try lunch instead.  Well worth it - Old Ebbitt Grill is fabulous!  We loved the atmosphere and the food was to die for.  I don't know if we saw anyone "important" or not - but, even without the people watching, just a great restaurant.

After lunch, we walked over to the Old Post Office Pavilion.  Beautiful building with amazing architecture.  The inside has a nice food court, but it was the trip to the top that we came for.  We followed the signs to the tour elevator and rode to the 9th floor, where we exited to see the bells.  Then, we climbed the stairs to the top and took in the view.  A bit of a dreary day, but still fantastic - and the line for the elevator tour was nothing, so a big plus there.

We had scheduled our self-guided tour of the National Archives in advance, so we headed over to the Archives and even though we were 30 minutes early, they let us in.  A note that scheduling things in advance in DC is well worth it - we came in the side entrance and they moved us right to the front of the line.  We were there about 1:30 and headed straight for the Rotunda.  There was hardly a line at all - we waited all of 5 minutes before getting in to see the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights, etc.  After that, we toured the exhibits.  They had a new exhibit that just opened Friday called "Big" - pretty cool, but my favorite exhibit was the Public Vaults (I think that was what it was called).  My husband and I had commented when we arrived at the Archives that we were expecting bigger crowds (all morning long, there were people everywhere, but not the hordes en masse of spring break that we expected).  By the time we left around 3:30, the hordes had arrived - long lines at the Rotunda well past the "20 minute wait from here" and lines out the door.

After leaving, we walked across the street to The Mall and headed toward the monuments and memorials.  This day, we saw the Washington Monument, World War II Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial - and the DC War Memorial.  Of course they were all amazing and evocative and emotional - and the DC War Memorial was particularly nice to see because it's a little off the beaten path, secluded, and not heavily visited.  A bit of a neat little surprise.

And so ended our first day in DC.  We limped back toward the hotel, where we grabbed a quick bite at the Starbucks across the street.  At the end of this day - coffee seemed like the perfect comfort food :-)