Three Days in DC

David came to camp with the understanding that there may be a few pre-existing cabinetry clients he needed to see through to the end.  For the most part, it was a little bit of long-distance office work.  One job was a client he’d worked with on design for at least a year before we moved and it has continued to require a good bit of time since.  Mostly it’s been a lot of hours on the phone.  He’s made a few trips to DC as the job progressed but in the past two months, the afternoon trips have stretched into being gone several days at a time.  We didn’t do many field trips this past school year so I was hoping for a visit to DC or NYC this summer.  This seemed like a great coincidence.  Yes, I’d have to tour without David; but we’d get to stay instead of making one ginormous day with a two hour drive on either end.

I spent way too much time obsessing about the trip before we left.  Was I going to be able to navigate the city alone.  Almost certainly.  Was I going to be able to get allergy friendly food for Liam?  Who knew.  We arrived at the job site Monday morning, took a quick tour of the gorgeous new kitchen being installed, and left David there with his tools and the rest of the team from Edenali.  I plugged in the address for the metro station and the boys and I headed out, just a squeaky bit nervous (me) and a great deal excited (all of us).  Since it was late-ish, meaning after nine, the reserved parking spots were available and we got almost front row parking.  The boys were as excited about riding the metro as actually touring anything in DC.  I cannot say how much I love the ease of DC’s metro system. It is super easy to navigate and so incredibly convenient.

The first day I was completely in delayed school field trip mode.  We were well equipped with a stroller, two water bottles, internet printouts about the various museums, and journals and colored pencils so the boys could draw and write about things they saw.  We first went to the Museum of Natural History which was probably one of the boys’ favorites.  They were fascinated by the enormous whale hanging from the ceiling, the mummies, and the skeletons of animals they are familiar with.  It’s amazing how much smaller an animal looks when you only see it’s bony structure.

We had lunch at the cafe in the museum.  Expensive (isn’t everything in DC?), but delicious and organically grown and allergy friendly.  Liam had the grilled chicken and french fries and he cheated on a bit of cornbread even though I’m sure it had egg and milk in it.  The museum also has an enormous IMAX theatre where we saw “Flight of the Butterflies.”  Fabulous film.  A tiny hint at evolution in only one of the beginning sentences which I found pleasantly surprising.  The film is 3D and stunning in both it’s story and photography.

From there, we visited the American History Museum where the boys were a bit too enthralled with gory war history and completely bored in the Presidential section.  We all loved the lower level on transportation, but didn’t stay terribly long because they were completely exhausted from our early morning coupled with all the walking.  We joined David at the motel and had dinner before the boys got their promised swim in the motel basement.  Later when I asked Liam what his favorite part of the day was he said, “Seeing Daddy’s work job and swimming at the pool.” Apparently, museums can’t hold a candle to real jobs.

On Tuesday I expected the boys to sleep off their exhaustion, but oh, no, they were awake soon after the birds chirped.  At least it felt like it!  David was already gone so we grabbed breakfast and headed out, this time to what I think is one of DC’s best kept secrets.  The Postal Museum is housed in what was the old Post Office, of course.  It’s almost worth making the trip just to see the architecture.  I love that it is spacious and that there are so many large, interactive exhibits.  From walking down a pony express trail to sitting in an old stage coach to sorting mail in bins to typing in zip codes as fast as you can to scanning packages to sitting in a semi cab ………… it contains a plethora of fabulous activities and loads of interesting information.  I love the way history ties itself together.  On Monday we saw the Hope Diamond at the Museum of Natural History.  On Tuesday, at the Postal Museum, we saw the package it was shipped in.  There was a fascinating exhibit on fingerprinting and just the right amount of small exhibits with tiny details mixed in with large exhibits to keep children involved.  It’s a little out of the way, yes, but so easy to access because it’s directly across the street from Union Station.  Metro love again.  And as a bonus, Union Station is a fabulous place to eat lunch.  I’d read that we could find a gluten free pizza place there, but I searched the entire lower level for something gluten and soy free in vain.  It was disheartening.  Finally, I opted for Greek food because it looked the safest.  I was attempting to juggle Adam’s chinese food, the stroller, my large bag (which by now did not contain anything extra like journals and colored pencils), and keeping my place in line at the Greek counter.  The crowd was astronomical.  You could hardly stand, much less walk, and some people were standing around holding plates of food because there were no available tables.  Would you believe, just as I got close to the counter, a table opened up about ten feet away from where I stood.  I sent Adam to snag the table and ordered.  Liam held the drinks in the stroller and I staggered the rest of the way hoping not to lose any of our food or knock everyone over in the process.  The table was one of those super high tables with bar stools on steroids, but I was sure we’d be fine.  We got our food all arranged and I was back to feeling like the woman in charge when Liam’s napkin dropped and he automatically lunged to get it ………… and shot down off his chair head first.  I shot out of my seat equally fast as did two men from two different directions.  Luckily, he’d been sitting on his knees so his foot caught in the bar stool and he didn’t actually get hurt; but his pride was mortally wounded.  Instead of comforting him, I was caught trying to stop his temper tantrum as I explained to him that many people fall, even grown ups and it’s not anything to be embarrassed about.  It was totally one of those, I feel like such a competent mom moments. Excuse  me while I wipe the sarcasm.

We went in search of trains and found one tiny spot where you can look out to see the train yard, but you couldn’t see much more than the engines.  On our way upstairs I discovered the gluten free pizza place is upstairs where the crowds are actually manageable.  From there, we visited the Native American Indian Museum.  I feel guilty saying this, but it was kind of boring.  The staff at the front desk were super helpful and maybe if you were extraordinarily interested in Indian history you would be enamored.  Mostly I remember rows and rows and rows of artifacts behind glass and you could push buttons to see where they were found and what tribe they were from.  There were tiny videos, most of which left me wondering why they didn’t take video footage of the actual dance instead of only talking about it.  Upstairs was a free film, but it was also not on our must see again list.  The best parts of the museum were one or two wax displays, an exhibit with larger artifacts, like moccasins, and the children’s wing which was great.  The boys could try their hand at basket weaving, canoeing, sit inside an enormous tent and every time they completed an activity, they could stamp their passport which was as much fun as the activity itself.  I suspect the best part of the museum is the part we missed because we’d just done lunch at Union Station.  Downstairs is a cafe where you can purchase native foods.  Now that’s my kind of cultural experience!  Unfortunately, we weren’t in the least hungry.

We walked around the capitol a bit, but were too late to go inside.  I could not get enough of the gorgeous architecture.  It’s one of the things I miss most since moving to such a rural area.  Beautiful buildings and well designed and manicured landscapes.  There were tons of tents sent up and police everywhere and it took me a bit to realize they were filming a movie in the area, but apparently most of the action had finished.  Bummer.  We just missed our one chance at a claim to fame!

When we woke Wednesday morning my feet hurt so badly I just wanted to pretend I hadn’t woken up at all and was in the middle of some I-walked-a-million-miles nightmare.  But it was all reality. The boys were mercifully still asleep.  David told me later he was out in the other room (we found a suite for the same price as one room, SCORE!) when Liam sleepily emerged and settled in beside him on the couch.  In a minute or two, Liam jumped off the couch and headed back toward the bedroom.  When David asked him where he’s going he said, “I’m going back to get more sleep.”

I’d gone from the colored-pencils-in-tow mom to the I-wonder-how-I-could-put-my-wallet-on-a-diet mom.  We went down to one water bottle.  The museum printouts got chucked into the trash.  I ditched the large bag for my purse and started talking to Liam about how PROUD Daddy would be if he told him that night he was so big he didn’t even need a stroller.  Even though it’s barely bigger than an umbrella, it’s a complete pain to set up and knock down so often with all the escalators.  Liam is almost too big to fit into it, but he’s also too small to do all that walking for three days in a row.  Still, I knew we were headed to Arlington Cemetery which meant more time on the metro and to the Air and Space Museum where we’d watch two films and again have lots of sitting time.  He took me up on it and I loaded all our suitcases and paraphernalia into the van and checked out of the hotel.  Enroute, I suddenly realized I hadn’t used the restroom.  We’d narrowly avoided a catastrophe on the metro on day one when I realized Liam’s tendency toward motion sickness was coming true and I had NOTHING along to catch things with if his stomach erupted.  On day two, the metro had a big breakdown and we were on it forever.  I wasn’t about to have day three be my bathroom emergency need.  We stopped at a gas station and I discovered the only bathroom was missing the outside part of the door knob, there were wires sticking out of what should have been the place to grab.  I hurriedly turned around to leave wondering why in the world the attendant didn’t just tell me in the first place instead of directing me back there.  I’d almost made it to the door when he yelled, “Hey, why didn’t you use it.”

“The door knob is missing,” I said simply.

“No. No, I fix it this morning,” he insisted.  I walked back wondering if I’d missed something and it looked just as scary.  I wasn’t touching it.  When I got halfway back to the door he again insisted very loudly and said, “Come, I’ll show you.”  He took me back, gave the door a good shove, and showed me the inside saying, “See, I fixed it.”  Fixed WHAT? I wondered.  Just then someone else walked into the store and distracted him.  I made a split second decision to be bold and we all three dashed inside, but didn’t close the door completely.  I’ve never used the bathroom so fast in my life.  Adam stood guard at the door with a tiny crack showing and as soon as I could throw some soap on my hands we rushed out the back aisle, through the door to the outside, and got into the van all while he was still talking to the customer who’d come in just as he was trying to push me into the bathroom.  I like to think that he was a new owner of the store and was super determined not to let anyone walk out of his store saying it didn’t have what he needed … but something about the whole situation still gives me heebie jeebies.

Arlington Cemetery was mostly as I remembered it, except disappointingly, JFK’s grave was being worked on and there was a tiny temporary flame.  We were walking down the street when a funeral procession came up behind us.  Such a sad, tangible reminder that behind every gravestone is a life and it’s loss.  The devastation of war is difficult for me to comprehend.

At the Air and Space Museum, we watched To Fly.  No matter how many times I’ve seen it, I still laugh every time.  Mostly at the delight of seeing the boys get the giggles and remembering what it felt like to see the film for the very first time when I was little.  We also watched Hubble, a fascinating 3D account of astronauts journey into space to do repairs.

And then it was all over.  Our three days of playing Cinderella ended when we picked up David and began the trek home.  But oh, it was a field trip to be remembered forever.

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