The weather report for Saturday ended up being mostly clear, so we got up and hit the ground running at 8:00 a.m. We had timed museum tickets for 10:00, so this gave us 2 hours to see the monuments. We took a taxi to the Lincoln Memorial and went from there.
One of the great parts about getting up early is that you beat the crowds. While March 2nd is the hight of the tourist season, they were busier later in the day.
Lincoln's view
Next stop was the Korean War Veterans Memorial
Then we walked to one of my top 3 favorite memorials/monuments, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial
Next was probably what is my favorite, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial...
I always say this, but I just adore that Fala got his own statue...
We walked along the Tidal Basin (some of which was actually under water) around to the final of my 3 favorites... the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.
The Lincoln as seen from the World War II Veterans Memorial
Eliza Hamilton: "I raised funds for the Washington Monument...."
George Washington: "She tells my story..."
Sorry. I was singing this line from Hamilton in my head the whole time
This is the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. It's relatively new and a timed pass is required. I got tickets in advance for 10:00 a.m.
There is so much in the museum's permanent exhibits, but one of the exhibits there until June is the Oprah Winfrey exhibit. Loved it!
Her Legend's Ball gown
A few other things, I snapped a pic of...
Pen used to sign the Voting Rights Act of 1965
Chuck Berry's red Cadillac. Y'all, this is the reddest car I've ever seen.
We ate lunch in the Sweet Home Cafe in the museum.
We left the NMAAHC and headed toward the Capitol. We stopped at the Natural History Museum to view the Hope Diamond and other jewels...
Made a brief stop at the National Archives for a viewing of the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. As an aside, the Archives gift shop is really one of the best gift shops in Washington, D.C. and I left with Alexander Hamilton and RGB ornaments.
The next stop was the Library of Congress, which I always say is the prettiest building in Washington, D.C.
I had timed tickets for a Capitol tour (which we were originally going to do on Friday until I discovered my big oops on the flight, but when planning, it makes the most sense to do the Supreme Court, Capitol and Library of Congress all at the same time), but we were there a little early. Luckily, it wasn't crowded, so they were able to let us go about an hour earlier than we originally planned.
The Apotheosis of Washington
Our tour guide wasn't as good as the one I had last time. He actually had his facts wrong. He told our group that we've had one Speaker of the House become President because of their spot in the line of succession... Gerald Ford. I got so put out. I mean, THAT IS NOT WHAT HAPPENED! Idiot.
MADAM SPEAKER!!!
We went to the Capitol cafeteria after our tour to get a soda and a snack. I couldn't pass this up even though I wasn't sure what it was when I got it. Turns out it was just whipped cream and berries in a white chocolate capitol, but it was so darn cute!
We took an Uber to our last stop of the day which was Arlington National Cemetery. We were too late for the shuttles at Arlington, so we got to add steps to our total (we ended up walking 11.5 miles that day and 25,273 steps!).
We had reservations at Founding Farmers for dinner. I had heard such good things about it, but we weren't all that impressed. We had reservations, but still had to wait about 20 minutes to be seated. They seated us as some dinky little table where we were basically in the laps of the diners next to us. All of that turned us off, and though we thought the food was good, it wasn't amazing. We actually had reservations there for breakfast the next morning as well, which we cancelled before we had even left dinner.
We got the deviled eggs for an appetizer.
I went with the Farmhouse Platter to try several things. It has baby cheeseburgers, chili dog, pork ribs, street corn, and is suppose to come with pickled potato salad, but the waitress didn't seem to think that was very good, so I subbed in the sweet potato with pecan fig butter.
After all that food, and all of that walking, we went back to the hotel and crashed!
One more full day in D.C. to go. Stay tuned...
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