Sightseeing in Washington, DC
Thanksgiving '24 Travelog #10
Washington, DC - Wed, 27 Nov 2024, 2pm
Our plan all week has been to make today, Wednesday, a day sightseeing in Washington, DC. It's something we usually do in the middle of our Thanksgiving week when splitting it between northern Virginia the first half of the week and south-central Pennsylvania for the holiday and weekend. Today, though, we got a slow start from the hotel and didn't arrive downtown until almost 11am. No worries; the point of vacation is to relax, recharge, and enjoy. Sometimes that means sleeping in a bit and having a leisurely breakfast.
Our target for today was the Natural History Museum, which is between 10th and 12th streets along the Mall. We looped around a few times in the car before finding parking just off 3rd Street. That meant... hey, let's check out the Capitol since it's right across the street! That's one of the cool things about being on the Mall in DC. If you're 8 blocks from where you want to be, it's not a hard walk- and there are likely 8 neat things you can see along the way.
Thing #2 barely even required a walk, just turning around 180°.
That's the Washington Monument in the distance, like over a mile in the distance, in case you're unsure.
Our visit to the Natural History Museum was pleasant. We focused on just two things there: the gems and minerals display, because Hawk enjoys collecting semiprecious gems and working with them to make jewelry; and the butterfly exhibit.
Our focus on just two things turned into really just one thing. We spent a few hours in the gems & minerals display, and we were getting tired from all the standing and walking. Plus, the butterfly exhibit, which featured a walk-through butterfly habit, had a long line to get tickets to enter the habitat. We decided we'd rather call it a day for sightseeing and get on the road to get up to Pennsylvania earlier- in time to have dinner with relatives this evening.
Washington, DC - Wed, 27 Nov 2024, 2pm
Our plan all week has been to make today, Wednesday, a day sightseeing in Washington, DC. It's something we usually do in the middle of our Thanksgiving week when splitting it between northern Virginia the first half of the week and south-central Pennsylvania for the holiday and weekend. Today, though, we got a slow start from the hotel and didn't arrive downtown until almost 11am. No worries; the point of vacation is to relax, recharge, and enjoy. Sometimes that means sleeping in a bit and having a leisurely breakfast.
Our target for today was the Natural History Museum, which is between 10th and 12th streets along the Mall. We looped around a few times in the car before finding parking just off 3rd Street. That meant... hey, let's check out the Capitol since it's right across the street! That's one of the cool things about being on the Mall in DC. If you're 8 blocks from where you want to be, it's not a hard walk- and there are likely 8 neat things you can see along the way.
Thing #2 barely even required a walk, just turning around 180°.
That's the Washington Monument in the distance, like over a mile in the distance, in case you're unsure.
Our visit to the Natural History Museum was pleasant. We focused on just two things there: the gems and minerals display, because Hawk enjoys collecting semiprecious gems and working with them to make jewelry; and the butterfly exhibit.
Our focus on just two things turned into really just one thing. We spent a few hours in the gems & minerals display, and we were getting tired from all the standing and walking. Plus, the butterfly exhibit, which featured a walk-through butterfly habit, had a long line to get tickets to enter the habitat. We decided we'd rather call it a day for sightseeing and get on the road to get up to Pennsylvania earlier- in time to have dinner with relatives this evening.