Day 4 Mommy and Me in DC

Where do you go when you have a plane voucher to use by the end of the year, you refuse to fly by yourself because of airport anxiety, and your daughter has been asking to visit the Capitol for a year?  You take a mommy and me trip to DC!  

Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5

After walking 12,000+ steps for 3 days in a row, and walking more than the day before each day, our goal for Sunday was to not break the step record while visiting the Tidal Basin Monuments and whatever else we wanted.  

First we had to stop at the Washington Monument building to get stamps for our Passport Book that we had missed the day before the snow and the dark.  Then we caught our first Lyft ride across the to Jefferson Monument so we could explore there and walked around the basin to the FDR, and Martin Luther King Jr.  Monuments.  My favorite was the FDR monument in which you journey through his 4 term presidency with open air rooms of sculptures and quotes that defined that decade of our nation's history.  

It also warmed up nicely and all the snow we had enjoyed the day before was melted.  So in our short visit we got to see a wintery capitol and snow covered monuments and also a spring season as well with no snow in sight and green grass on the Mall. 

We discovered our Metro cards also worked on one of the buses so we caught a bus back to the Smithsonian and had lunch at the Museum of Natural History.  It can be hard to find  local places to eat near the Mall and Capitol area.  What we discovered is most of the Smithsonians and Capitol office buildings have cafeterias on the lower levels with plenty of choices. 

After lunch we stayed at the Natural History Museum and explored the Rocks and Minerals and Gems Exhibit.  Lydia learned all about Volcanoes, Earthquakes and mining.  She was in awe of the wide range of precious stones on display, especially enjoying the sparkle of the Hope Diamond.  We made it a short day before heading home to pack for the journey home tomorrow.    

Before dinner, we watched most of the Santa Clause on TV.  It was the first time Lydia had seen it.  She was amused that the boy's haircut was much like her brother's.  I'm not sure if that is a good thing since the movie is over 20 years old!