After a day of hiking and roaming Harpers Ferry it was time for the kids to see Washington D.C. The great thing is the drive only took about an hour but it turned out to be a scorching day in the district!

The day of our visit Washington was experiencing unseasonably hot conditions and many of the water fountains were not working meaning we had to be fully aware of our hydration. The fact that much of the city is still blocked by fencing requiring more walking made this even worse! Even worse is that a vast majority of the Smithsonian Museums are still closed and the public is not allowed to visit public buildings! Fortunately there are plenty of outdoor sites to fill a day in addition to the National Zoo! And let’s not forget having the cooling towels we brought from the Grand Canyon.

ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

Just across the Potomac River from Washington lies the hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery. These grounds hold the remains of our nation’s heroes who have fought to preserve our freedoms for centuries. The grounds are expansive but I felt it was important to have the kids experience the site so they could better understand the gravity of what we have as Americans.

During our walk around the grounds we visited the grave of President John F. Kennedy and the eternal flame marking his resting place. After following J around searching for Kennedys we made our way to the Tomb of the Unknowns to observe the sacred ceremony of the changing of the guard.

I made sure to prepare the kids in advance for what they were going to see here and explained the expectations of them. I would suggest the same for anyone else visiting with children. We all feel that it is extremely important for kids to see this ceremony and fully understand the reasons for it. Dignity and respect is expected here at all times.

THE MONUMENTS

The main sites the kids wanted to see were the Lincoln Memorial, The White House and the United States Capitol. We were able to easily visit the Lincoln Memorial after a longer walk around. The National Park Service still had the National Mall blocked by chain fencing almost a week after the fireworks celebration. Moving from here we were able to get close enough to the White House to get some fair pictures with the kids through the layers of fencing still in place. Unfortunately the U.S. Capitol Building is still completely off limits to visitors. We weren’t enthused about being denied access to the “people’s house” as this was not the situation I wanted my kids to experience on their first visit to Washington.

The three of us had quite a discussion about what we were able to see based on what I saw last in 2008. I can say that the district is in MUCH worse condition than ever and that the American public has already lost most of what we used to have access to in the district. This page isn’t about being political but I can’t help picturing an old indian meme that stated “What if I told you the right wing and left wing are connected to the same bird?” I don’t care where people stand in this time but I DO CARE about children not being able to see and learn from history because the government is taking it away. I’ll leave it here. Just know that a contact with your congressman could help.

NATIONAL ZOO

The National Zoo was one of our highlights of the day starting with the fact that we caught a secondary release of a few parking passes. This meant we could come into the zoo without having to deal with the hassle of the timed entry passes. It also meant we could go right at opening and hope to score Panda passes!!!

We arrived to the zoo shortly after opening and were placed in a back lot close to the rear of the zoo. We were allowed to just walk in from this point without any further checks. Fortunately the Panda kiosk is the first thing I noticed as we entered. I scanned it and, as expected, no passes available. The bright spot was that new tickets are released every half hour which meant Daddy here was walking around with a timer in hand a phone ready to hit the request button!!

We continued walk around the zoo checking out other animals………well the kids did………I was on a mission!! As the kids mad it to the seals my timer was going off meaning CLICK, CLICK, SEND……………..”I GOT THEM!!!!! WE HAVE TO BE THERE IN 15 MINUTES!!!”

The kids came running and then it hit me……I didn’t know where in the zoo we needed to be so it was off to find the closest map hoping things would be close. We found the map, located the “you are here” pin and then……..NO WAY!!!!!! The Pandas were all the way across the zoo by the main gate. Not only did that mean we had to strap on the hustle shoes but we had to do it mostly up hill the entire way!!!!

We did make it to the Asian trek just in time and were able to roam through at our pace…..which was nice because we found some air conditioning!!!! After that it was on to the lines for the various houses to see the animals lucky enough to get A/C because we wanted to share!!!

The zoo did appear to be undergoing some fairly extensive renovations and many exhibits were closed without animals. Hopefully they’ve just been using the closure times to complete some much needed upgrades. With free entry I wouldn’t write it off for a future stop along the way.

After an overall disappointing day in Washington we loaded up and turned back toward a bright spot in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. It was time to return to camp, relax and have some family fun on the mini golf course! Stay tuned because the trip isn’t over!! There’s more to come and many YouTube videos to check out. Please take a moment to like those videos and subscribe. It really does help us out in keeping things like this going. Until next time…….