Washington, D.C.

 We went to D.C. on July 10, 2018. The trip took about ten hours from our house. The drive was pretty boring and seemed to take forever. 

Is it even a road trip without posting to social media along the way?

Driving in the city was very interesting. The lanes went from going straight to all of a sudden, it's now a turn lane. The drivers honk a lot, but they do at least let you over when you have your blinker on. Siri struggles just about as much as I do in getting us to our destination. Trying to get to our hotel took a good thirty minutes of us circling around the block. 

We stayed at Hotel Herrington. The reviews stated the rooms were outdated but overall, it was a nice hotel. I chose this hotel because funds were very limited, and I knew we would need to walk everywhere. The hotel is .8 of a mile from the White House. With exception of the zoo, the furthest we would have to walk is 1.8 miles. The hotel has a parking garage that is about two blocks from the hotel itself. The front desk staff were decent. The rooms were very outdated. I saw a recent suggestion state to bring an extension cord if you stay there, and I one hundred percent agree. My phone charger did not reach the bed. My main issue with this hotel is the housekeeping staff. On our check out day they tried to come in our room. That was my fault for not putting the do not disturb sign on the door. When I opened the door, she chewed me out for not putting the sign on the door and demanded I put it on the door. I told her ok, but she would not leave until I put the sign on the door. I felt like a little kid getting in trouble by my parents and was appalled that a staff member would talk to a guest in the manner she was. She later realized when we brought our suitcases out that we were actually checking out. She was nicer to us and asked if we were checking out and I just shook my head yes and kept walking. The location of the hotel is phenomenal. Had we not had the incident with housekeeping I would stay there again. If we ever make it back to D.C., we will make sure to have funds to stay at the nicer hotels within the area.

The hotel provided maps of the city, which were very helpful. 

We had very limited time, so once we got our bags to the room we immediately went exploring. The main reason we chose to go to D.C. is because Maddy had been learning a little about the United States in school. She learned about the Washington Monument and how the United States came to be. We viewed this as a field trip and were excited to see in person the things we learned about in books.

The one thing we were not prepared for was how hot it was. Tennessee gets hot and has bad humidity, but D.C. definitely beat it hands down.

Maddy was disappointed in the White House. She expected it to be white, not a cement color. I tried to get us tickets inside the White House before we left, but I was too late in requesting. I have no idea how far in advance you have to request them, but a month was not enough time.

After seeing the White House, we ventured to the Washington Monument. It was so hard to get a picture of us with the monument in the background. 

We were thrilled when we found we could stick our legs in the water. The water was cold, but as hot as it was it felt really good. I could have stayed there the rest of the day and been fine. It was so peaceful there. 

After cooling down a bit we were ready to venture on. We walked to the Lincoln Memorial where they were having some kind of event. 

Maddy was beyond ready for a drink, so after watching for a little bit we went on to find a drink stand. I'm sure I sound dramatic, but the lemonade was a lifesaver. 

On our way back towards the hotel I heard the announcer state the Vice President Joe Biden and his wife were there. I immediately stopped to try to see him. Again, it doesn't matter how you feel about the people in office, it is not every day you are in the company of a previous Vice President. We couldn't see him, but we did hear him speak. 

Funny story time, although it may not sound too funny. We were carrying our lemonade on the way back. While waiting on the crosswalk light in front of the White House to let us go, I felt a surge of something cold and wet. I gasped and looked down to see what happened. Maddy was dying laughing. Her cup slipped out of her hand and spilled all over me. As I looked around us people were also laughing at the incident. All I could get out was the fact that I had no extra shoes, and we were going to have to wait to eat until I dried off. To this day we still laugh about that incident. The heat helped dry my shoes off, so we were able to get food.

I don't remember the name of this pizza place, but I do remember it was really good. I think this was &pizza. 

This was the Museum of the Bible. It is a three-story building. They have a small kid's area where the kids can run around and play. We did go to the kid's area, but I didn't get any pictures or videos.

On check out day we were going to attempt to walk to the Smithsonian's National Zoo. It would have been about a thirty-minute walk one way. Maddy was getting too hot, and we hadn't made it very far. At that point we decided we were just ready to head home.

We loved visiting D.C. There are places we still want to visit there and would love to go back during the Fourth of July weekend. 

Even though we weren't planning to visit all fifty states at this point, we are adding it to our done list.