Memorial Day Vacation

We decided to take a last-minute "vacation" to downtown D.C. at the urging of the boys. We had been kind of wishy-washy about doing something, but we found a good deal at a downtown hotel that's got a great location (Marriott Courtyard). Less than a block away are the Spy Museum (we say save your money on that one), the National Portrait Gallery, the Chinatown/Gallery Place Metro stop, McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant (where we had a fabulous dinner Saturday night complete with out-of-this-world fresh grilled Coho salmon and halibut with truffle butter), Ella's Wood Fired Pizza (wonderful lunch) and ... a Starbucks was only about a block away!

After a great pizza lunch Saturday afternoon at Ella's, we hit the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery first, which was enthralling (although little boys who actually are interested in Presidents lost their focus kind of quickly). If you have a chance to go there, you definitely should. The portraits of the Presidents are spell-binding. Then it was on to the Spy Museum (as we said, save your money) then back to the hotel for a dip in the pool, a shower and a great dinner at McCormick & Schmick's.

Sunday we decided to go down to the National Mall. We visited the White House first, where we got to see Marine One land on the South Lawn.

Our timing was ... interesting, I guess is a good way to put it. Just as we left the White House to cross Constitution Avenue to see the Washington Monument, we got trapped by "Rolling Thunder," an annual Memorial Day event in D.C. that gets bigger every year. Hundreds of thousands of motorcycles rumbled up Constitution Avenue, and we had to be very crafty to dodge motorcycles and get across the huge street. Once across, though, we found all tickets to the Washington Monument were already passed out. You have to order them weeks ahead of time, or get to the ticket booth by 7am and line up for any remaining day passes (some D.C. natives we are for not knowing that).

It was really hot, hazy and humid Sunday, and the boys (and Melissa and me, too) were hot, sweaty and exhausted. So rather than try to spend another hour or so trying to scoot between breaks in the motorcycles to get back across the street (Rolling Thunder went on for much of the afternoon), we decided to go back down to the Natural History Museum for some refreshing air conditioning, cold drinks and something to eat.

Rolling Thunder rolls on and on and on and on ... it may still be going.

We timed it about right, and as we left the museum to cross back over Constitution and head back to the car, we stumbled across Ford's Theater. We lined up to visit the theater and were wowed by the presentation on the history of Lincoln's assassination.

The Presidential box at Ford's Theater, where Lincoln was shot.

It was quite an adventure, and the boys loved it.  Everyrbody was in the mood for ice cream, so we stopped on our way home to a restaurant that's in a bit of a time warp, Johnny Rockets. Yum. By the time we got home Sunday night we all were quite exhausted.