The Finns Go To Washington, Pt. 2

See part 1 here.

Part Two: What We Did & What We Want to Do Next Time

Saturday: We left Raleigh on the Amtrak after 9 a.m., and arrived in Washington DC before 4 p.m. We walked two blocks to our Airbnb, dropped our luggage, returned to Union Station and promptly took the train down to Metro Station. We walked for a couple of hours and saw:

The back of the White House in daylight

Washington Monument (just walked by)

World War 2 Memorial (the grown ups' favorite!)

Lincoln Memorial (the kids' favorite!)

The front of the White House lit up at night

Plus all of the gorgeous architecture around the White House and downtown

We spent no time inside, and it was FREEZING. We were quite thankful to head back to Union Station, eat dinner and go to bed.

Sunday: We went to the National Mall and spent hours in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum (we even bumped into old friends from NC there!!). After Air and Space, we went to the National Gallery of Art looking for Rodin's The Thinker, thanks for Night at the Museum 2. We found it, and Fuller could not have been happier!! Sunday was a freezing cold, rainy day that was actually supposed to be a snowy day, so after spending 4+ hours between the two museums, we went back 'home' to our Airbnb. We ate cereal for dinner, put our feet up, and had a lovely visit with a friend who is a student at American University (D.S., I'm looking at you:-).

Monday: Thankfully, the rain had moved on, so even though it was cold the sun was out again. We took advantage of the sunshine, and visited the National Museum of American History, the National Archives, the outside of the US Capitol Building and Supreme Court, and the Library of Congress. We all loved seeing the Batmobile in the AmHistory Museum, but Georgia was disappointed that Elphaba's dress from Wicked wasn't on display in March (it rotates when it is on display). I cannot get over the fact that my children were able to see for themselves the original founding documents of our country, and well, I could spend HOURS in the Library of Congress (again, D.S., thank you!).

Tuesday: Before our train left mid-afternoon, we made two more stops at the National Portrait Gallery to see the Presidential Portraits and the US Navy Memorial Plaza. The Presidential portrait were delightful to see (and so varied in style and tone), and the Navy Memorial holds a special place in my heart due to my father's service in the Navy. After those visits, we loaded up at Union Station and returned to Raleigh!

Now, here's the deal. We couldn't get to everything. We couldn't even get to MOST things. I asked the children to tell me one thing they wanted to see, and we tried to accomplish that. Baxter asked for the Air and Space Museum, Georgia wanted to see Elphaba's dress, Fuller wanted to see The Thinker, and Eleanor chose Natural History. We simply didn't make it to the National Museum of Natural History. It was on our plan for Sunday, because it is right next to the other places we visited, but it was cold and wet and we were tired. Our plans with friends on Monday and our travel on Tuesday prevented us for getting there. We had also considered a trip out to Arlington, but timing didn't permit it. That made me sad, because our visit to Arlington was possibly the most moving part of our visit four years ago. We might have been able to tour the White House if we had planned our trip differently, but that is something we will have to do in the future. And, since we didn't have a car, we couldn't drive out to the Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia to see more of the Air and Space Exhibit. Our goal is to return to DC every two years, so in two years we are hoping to visit Arlington, National Museum of Natural History, tour the White House and the Capitol Building, and perhaps take in the Museum of the Bible.

Thanks for reading! More posts coming soon.

The Finns Go To Washington, Pt. 1

Dear reader(s): I realize I haven't posted a blog in months. Years, in fact. Blogs are not as popular, I think, and with the ease of social media like Facebook and Instagram, it is 'simpler' to just post to one of those sites and call it good. However, I want something more detailed and lasting than those 'here for a moment, gone in a flash' options, so I am writing a few posts about our trip to DC. That will probably be all I do for awhile, but that's okay. It's a judgment free zone.

In May 2015, Nathan and I took a weekend trip to Washington DC--our very first trip there, though we had lived within 4 hours of the capital for over ten years. We fell in love with the museums, the history, the Metro, all of it, and we couldn't wait to take our kids back. When we moved from west Tennessee to upstate SC, one of 'bonuses' was putting us closer to DC! It was an exciting day when we finalized our plans and began our countdown to the time when the Finns would go to Washington.

Part One: Overview & Travel Details
Part Two: What We Did & What We Want To Do Next Time
Part Three: Where We Ate :-)
Part Four: Tips/Suggestions/Mostly Pictures

(each of these are separate posts, so don't panic, folks!)

Part 1: Overview & Travel Details

Travel to DC: We weighed the possibility of driving into DC and parking our car at our AirBnb, but we really didn't want to have to drive much in DC. Plus, both Nathan and I had enjoyed riding the Metro, and we knew the kids would love it, so we made the decision to ride the Amtrak into the city. Due to the length of the trip, we opted to drive up to Raleigh, NC and pick up the Amtrak Silver Star from there. We stayed in a hotel in the area the night before the train left and the night it returned, but we decided that was just part of our experience. The Raleigh Amtrak station is gorgeous-- big and spacious, bright and clean, and not busy at all the morning we were there. The Silver Star took us directly into Union Station in Washington DC (total trip time, with stops, was around 5 hrs 45 minutes). Riding Amtrak into town meant we had no vehicle and were reliant on public transportation, but we just factored that in as part of the trip.

Accommodations: In DC, you have two main options for accommodations. You can stay "in city" or "out of the city", which requires a commute in (those are my terms, not anyone else's:-). Prices are lower if you stay in Virginia, but you have to account for travel times/traffic/parking or Metro rides. Different families will decide differently, but we opted to stay in an Airbnb in Washington DC. In fact, our Airbnb was just a couple of blocks from Union Station. It was filled with light, had two bedrooms and a bath and a half, plus a kitchen, dining room, and living room with plenty of space for all of us. The link above takes you to my Airbnb referral, but if you would like the link to our actual 'house', let me know. It was a perfect resting spot for our active trip. We LOVED staying so close to an active Metro Station that also had lots of meal options/shopping for us too. 

Time: We traveled to Raleigh on a Friday, rode the train on Saturday morning, then spent Sunday, Monday and Tuesday morning exploring before riding the train back to Raleigh on Tuesday afternoon and evening. We walked around looking at monuments when we arrived on Saturday, and then spent the rest of the time Sunday, Monday and Tuesday visiting several Smithsonian Museums and other sites like the National Archives and the National Portrait Gallery.

Travel around DC: Because we did not drive to DC, we relied on the DC Metro to get around everywhere. Each person riding on the Metro over five years old* has to have a SmarTrip card, which costs $2 plus any fare you load onto it. I highly recommend the WMATA app, which helps you map your trip and see when trains are arriving/departing. It is not cheap, but if you plan for one trip 'away' and one trip 'back' you can keep costs to a minimum. It may be a wise investment to purchase a 7 Day Short Trip pass (Farecard Options) to cover the fares for up to a week's time.

Thanks for reading! I'll share more in another post. Also, follow me on Instagram @lpfinn, and click on my Washington highlights to see snippets of our travels!

*I thought children five and older had to pay to ride the Metro, but a station attendant told us that children five and under ride free. We would just push Fuller in a stroller through the gate, using my card for me. Nathan also carried him through the gate once or twice. Having a child that rides free is helpful, though, to be sure!