Virginia, Days 8 & 9

June 14- We traveled out to Mt. Vernon in Virginia.  What an incredible estate George Washington had.  He loved farming and agriculture best.

 

Servants quarters, Mansion, Kitchen

The kitchen was not connected directly to the house in case of a fire.

 

Inside the mansion.  intricate fireplace in the ballroom.  Washington was constantly hosting visitors.

 

George Washington's Tomb

Memorial for the enslaved people who worked his land.

At the Washington Museum

June 15- We flew out of Dulles in the evening so we had time to visit Arlington before we left.

JFK tomb- eternal flame that stays lit

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

 

We got to witness the changing of the guard.

 

The Pentagon 9/11 attacks memorial.  A teacher from my high school was on the plane that crashed.  her name was on the plaque.

On our way back to pick up our luggage at the hotel, we stopped to see the Supreme Court.

Library of Congress

It was an amazing trip and so fun to go with Robbie!

Washington, D.C.- Days 5-7

June 11- travel day.  We took the Amtrak train from Penn Station in NY to Washington DC.  It rained for much of the trip, but it was beautiful and fun to see all the states we were passing through.

 

June 12- We found a yummy diner for breakfast called Lincoln's Waffle Shop, across the street from Ford's Theater.

We had an appointment to visit the National Archives next.  No pictures were allowed inside, but we got to see the original founding documents: Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights.  Some had revision copies with some of the founding fathers' notes on them.  It was really interesting and special to see them all.

Capitol Building- this was closed off around the main part of the building from the riots in Jan. so we couldn't get very close.

 

Then we went to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.  I loved seeing this old quilt.  In another exhibit, they had an old historical home from Connecticut that they had set up in the middle of the room.  As you walked around it they told the story of the people who lived there from the Revolution through WWII and what their life was like.

 

They had an exhibit on money that was interesting too.  Here is some art made from money.

Dorothy's original shoes from the Wizard of Oz film.

They had a presidential and first ladies exhibit with artifacts.  This is Lincoln's hat that he was wearing when he was assassinated.  Another favorite exhibit that didn't allow pictures was about the Star Spangled Banner.  They had the original flag from Fort McHenry that inspired the national anthem.  It was huge and beautiful!

Then we went to tour Ford's theater.  The presidential suite was right behind me by the flag.  They build a museum right next to it that told the story of that night.

After wards we had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe and then headed off to the International Spy Museum.  This museum was fun and engaging for little kids too.  We got agent identities and challenges to solve puzzles throughout.  They displayed exhibits on famous spy rings and talked about why governments spy, why some would become a double agent, and the balance between civil liberties and government intelligence. 

 

June 13- This day we devoted to visiting all the monuments on the national mall.  For lunch we met up with my brother, Jonathan and his son, Scooter at Capitol Burger.  It was so good to see them and I wish I had gotten a picture!  Since we knew it would be a lot to get around to, we rented electric scooters for the day to get between monuments.

 

Washington Monument

 

White House

 

Washington Monument up close

 

Pershing Park with WWI tribute

Department of Treasury

WWII Memorial

 

Lincoln Memorial

 

Martin Luther King, Jr. Monument

 

Thomas Jefferson Memorial

New York, Days 3-4

 June 9

We started off Wednesday with a subway ride to Carnegie Hall.  It was fun to walk around it again.  I sang here with my high school choir over 20 years ago!

Then we walked up to the Manhattan Temple. 

Down the street from the temple is Central Park.  We rented bikes and rode the perimeter of the entire park. 

 

Alexander Hamilton Statue

Mother Goose

walking The Ramble

We ate lunch at Shake Shack and headed to the Natural History Museum.

Then we rode the subway back to the hotel.

June 10

The next morning we woke up early to catch the subway down to Battery Park.  We took the ferry out to Liberty Island.

 

 There was a museum talking about the history of building the Statue of  Liberty, which was fascinating.  The part I loved most is the artist fashioned it after Libertas the god of liberty.  Most of Libertas's depictions are of war, but the artist wanted to show liberty comes through law and light, so the Statue of Liberty holds those things in her hands instead. 

Then we took the ferry over to Ellis Island.  Robbie and I researched some of Brian's family that came through there.  It was really neat to read more about this history here.

Back in Manhattan we visited Trinity Church were Alexander Hamilton is buried.

We saw Federal Hall where the Constituion was signed and George Washington was inaugurated.

NYSE

We stopped for a quick lunch at McDonald's and sat by this statue that survived the 9/11 attacks.

Then we headed over to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.  This was such a beautiful tribute.

 

Inside the museum, we didn't even get to all the exhibits before it closed.  We probaby could have spent another hour there.  So many stories surrounding that day.

 

Afterwards, we stopped for dinner at Eataly.  They had yarn hanging from the ceiling which made it look like a gradual rainbow.

After dinner we went to the top of the One World Trade Center.  They had these iPads that you could point at the skyline and it would tell you the names and some history about the different places you were looking at.

 Then we caught the subway back to the hotel.