Inside the Beltway

The 500Jerk family had a big DC adventure last weekend, and we're still catching up. Even though we've now been home about a week, we still haven't unpacked. The laundry actually may never be done again.

At any rate, we started a beautiful Sunday at the Washington Monument.



It is very big.



It was a cool morning, and we had a bit of a wait at the base.


Boy Wonder raced around the monument until the Park Service finally let us in.


There was a short quiz at the base, and Boy Wonder failed it. It had to do with the name of the general the monument is for, you know, that famous guy, "Washington, DC." They let us in anyway.

You can see all the way up the Mall from inside the monument.

500Jerk kids with the Lincoln Memorial in the background. Doesn't Boy Wonder look thrilled?

We walked over to the White House. No sign of the POTUS.


And here's the family imp, trying to scale the White House fence; the Secret Service likely has a picture of him now. Maybe he can use this when he's campaigning for office in forty years.

The thing about traveling with kids is that they need to be fed every 90 minutes. I always forget that. Here we are having our second breakfast.

Then we took the Metro to the Air and Space Museum. It was COOL. We saw a Lunar Module for the Eagle ("Houston, this is Tranquility Base. The Eagle has landed."), rockets, jets, and the Wright Brothers' first plane.

Also, Amelia Earhart's red plane. She's one of my personal heroes. I hope Miss M will be inspired by her, too.

We touched a small piece of the moon. It was black and shiny, and I really didn't want to think about how many other people had touched it.

DC is a great place for kids, even if you just have a short time. We'll definitely go back and see the Capitol, the Supreme Court, and the Mint.

And Arlington National Cemetery, Old Town Alexandria, Wolf Trap, and Mount Vernon (you know, that famous guy's house).