Playing Tourist in DC

Yes, we are still in DC!  Thank you so much for joining us again for another exciting week of touring Washington DC!

As Jerry mentioned last week, there are 74 museums in DC.  Trust me, we are NOT going to all of them, but by the end of this trip we will have entered into all the ones that are open on the National Mall.  We have the Metro Public Transportation thing down!  Who knew I would enjoy public transportation?  Beats driving the truck in traffic worse than the Bay Area, and trying to find a place to park.  It has truly been so easy and relaxing.

This week we went to the Ford Theater where Lincoln was shot, and the house across the street where he passed.  It was definitely a history lesson.  Honestly, being in DC is a history class.  Every museum and memorial we have visited, we are being educated.  It’s actually quite embarrassing for all that we do not know.  I’m not sure if it is because I zoned out in history class or it was just not part of our curriculum.  The bottom line, we are embracing our history now.  As the saying goes, you are never too old to learn.

We finished up at the National Gallery of Art, the Asian Art Museum, National Museum of American Indian, Art & Industries, and the Hirshhorn Museum, where we found out that Jerry does not like modern art.  It was a long day of museums, but we were up for the task.  We walked 6.7 miles that day.  We have the National African American History and Culture museum to do on Tuesday of this coming week.  We are really looking forward to that.

We took two tours this week from the RV Park. On one of them we went to Arlington Cemetery. If you have not been there, it is a must-do when you are in DC. Thank goodness it was a sunny day as we walked all over the cemetery. We saw JFK’s eternal flame. The Arlington House, and of course, the Changing of the Guard. What an emotional ceremony that is. We both had tears watching this amazing tradition. Not only was the Changing of the Guard incredible, but they also did the wreath ceremony. The wreath ceremony is when a school or business donates a wreath for the unknown soldier’s tomb. It is done twice along with delegates from those schools or business right after the changing of the guard. So, every 30 minutes!

I asked the information desk how many wreaths a day.  I was completely blown away when I was told 2 wreaths every 30 minutes until closing.  It starts at 8:00 am and closes at 5:00 pm. But, a guard is posted 24/7 at the tomb.

The other tour we did this week was of Georgetown and the White House Visitor Center.  Right across the street from the Visitor Center is the WWI memorial.  While Jerry and I were standing taking pictures, all of a sudden the sirens started going off and a motorcade drove by with the Ukrainian Prime Minister.  Be sure to watch next Thursday’s VLOG with footage from that experience.  It was impressive and very loud.  Also, the helicopters flying over the city all day long with the Secret Service was very interesting. 

While we were in Georgetown, someone important was shopping as there were Secret Service in almost every entry to the different stores on M Street. Of course, my adorable husband actually talked to a couple saying to them, “thank you for your service”.  They actually responded, “thank you sir” and smiled at him.  

We saw the stairs in the Exorcist movie where Father Karras falls down the steps to his death at the end of the movie.  That was freaky!!  

We ate lunch at this great waterfront restaurant in Georgetown called Tony & Joe’s. It’s an institution. Many famous people have dined there. We were sitting next to this very interesting gentleman, who told us he was dating Maria Shriver and is very good friends with Nancy Palosi. He was a distinguished looking fellow, but not too sure about him. He loved to drop names, I can tell you that. I finally had to turn my back away from him so we could enjoy our food. Of course, I did it very nicely.

We have so much more to do before we leave on May 1st.  Last night I received an email from our South Dakota Congressman’s assistant that he booked us a tour of the Capitol for Wednesday.  How excited are we???  He was so sorry he couldn’t get us into the White House as they are booked up until the end of June.  But, hey, we are thrilled that we get to tour the Capitol.  Of course now, we have to read up about South Dakota as we spent a total of 48 hours there when we exchanged our Driver’s Licenses.  We don’t want to be embarrassed if they ask us anything about our “city”, now do we?

Make sure to catch up on our videos every Thursday and to subscribe to both YouTube and our Blogs.  We will be finishing up DC next week!

Just One More…..tour (we have 4 more this week)