Last day in DC: Ford's Theatre and NSDAR HQ

Our flight home on Tuesday didn't leave until late afternoon, so we checked out of the hotel, took the Metro do DCA, and dropped our bags off early. This gave us 5 hours more to explore!

I took the Metro to the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution HQ, which is just west of the Ellipse on the Mall. Since joining in 2004, I'd wanted to see the building, and I was not disappointed!

The beautiful building houses the DAR Library, which is one of the best genealogical libraries in the USA, in a huge hall that used to be an auditorium.

I browsed through the stacks and found my mom's family history book, "The Weddells of Westmoreland County" which was donated by the Pennsylvania DAR in 1957. Considering that we only have a photocopy of it, I was very happy to see that the NSDAR's copy is in excellent condition!

I loved the ornate clock in the Library with our insignia on it.

After that, I roamed through the halls and saw each state society's museum room, especially the Texas room.

I also bought a bunch of stuff at the DAR Store, and viewed the very nice quilt exhibit in the DAR Museum with one of the expert Museum Docents.

Lynn and Sean went to Ford's Theatre to see where Lincoln was assassinated. Again, not many photos were allowed, but Sean did take a picture of John Wilkes Booth's pistol.

After our fun times apart, we all met back at Ronald Reagan National Airport and caught our flight home. It was a fun 5 days in our nation's capital!

A day on Capitol Hill

A few things have changed since I last visited DC in 1989 with a national youth leadership group. You used to be able to just go through security and walk into the Capitol. Not anymore. Now, there is a very impressive Capitol Visitors Center which organizes visitors into tour groups through the public areas on the Capitol. I had signed us up for a 10:30 AM tour, so we headed down on the Metro. We walked past the Supreme Court building (across the street) on our way to the Capitol.

The tour took us through the beautiful rotunda,

with its impressive paintings,

and through Statuary Hall. Each state has a statue, and we were happy to see that Sam Houston represents Texas!

After the tour, I went across the street to the office of Ted Cruz, our Senator, and got Gallery passes so we could go into the House and Senate chambers.

Unfortunately, no photos were allowed (you couldn't even bring in a cell phone), but it was really neat to be in the actual room! It was a fun day and we really enjoyed it.

Museums and National Archives

The rain on Mother's Day was forecasted to last all day, and the only thing we had scheduled was a 1:00 PM appointment at the National Archives Museum, so we decided to get a late start. After brunch at the hotel, we went to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum for a quick visit to see the Hope Diamond.

I had written my first research paper in 4th grade on the Hope Diamond, so I had to stop by the Harry Winston Gem Gallery and pay it a visit. It wasn't quite as large as I had remembered, but it was still just as beautiful!

We then visited the National Archive Museum, where we saw the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and many other historic documents and records. Photos weren't allowed anywhere inside the museum, but we definitely enjoyed this museum!

Our last stop for the day was the Smithsonian American History Museum. Again, no photos were allowed, but we totally enjoyed the museum. Lynn and I loved the First Ladies' inaugural ball dresses and china patterns, and we all really liked seeing the Star Spangled Banner flag from 1812 in its new setting (which will hopefully better preserve it).

At the end of the day, the rain finally let up, and we were able to walk on the Mall a little to get back to the Metro.

We took Lynn to Il Porto, an Italian restaurant in Alexandria Old Town, for dinner, which she really enjoyed.

Sean's graduation and Arlington National Cemetery

The real reason we were in DC was for Sean's commencement for his Master of Arts in History from American Military University.

The ceremony was held at the Gaylord National Harbor, and it was a very nice ceremony. There were graduates from all over the USA, and even a few foreign countries!

Graduation Video

After graduation, we spent a few hours at Arlington National Cemetery, where we did the tram tour and got to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns, and a wreath ceremony. Just as we arrived, it started raining.

After that, we found fellow Texan Audie Murphy's headstone.

And then we found the memorials for the Space Shuttles Challenger and Columbia.

After that, it was totally pouring rain, so we headed back to the hotel on the Metro. 

White House and Monuments

We had an early start today due to 9 AM White House tour tickets. We had to stand in line for about 30 minutes to go through the security checks, but once inside, it moved quickly. We saw most of the East Wing, including: The East Room (which was set up for a military spouse recognition program) 

Including the portrait of George Washington that Dolley Madison saved from the fire of 1812

The Blue Room, which holds the National Christmas Tree

and the China Toom, which was set up by Mrs. Kennedy to display the State chinas.

I loved the portrait of Reagan!

And my mother-in-law loved the portrait of JFK.

Sean and I had to have our picture taken in the White House.

After the White House, we saw several monuments on the National Mall since it was a beautiful day.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial,

Vietnam Nurses' Memorial,

Korean War Memorial,

And the very impressive World War II Memorial.

We caught an Uber over to the Smithsonian National Native American Museum and had a nice lunch at their cafe, and browsed the museum.

Our evening consisted of Sean's graduate reception at the Gaylord National Harbor, then dinner at the Union Street Public House in Old Town Alexandria.

It was a very fun day, and thank goodness the weather held out!

US Army Twilight Tattoo

Today started pretty early. We checked our bags at DFW and went to meet Sean’s mom’s plane at the newly reopened Terminal E satellite. Of course her flight arrived at the furthest gate away! We all walked to the Skylink train and took it to Terminal A where we boarded our flight to DCA. The flight was fairly bumpy but we arrived on time. We collected our bags and took the Metro to our hotel in Alexandria.
We took the Metro to Arlington, where we had dinner at Ireland’s Four Courts pub. I didn’t take any food pics, but we all enjoyed our meals.
Our evening activity tonight was the US Army’s “Twilight Tattoo” at Fort Myer.

We were surprised to be seated in the VIP section, and we really enjoyed the show! Many units performed, especially the Old Guard. Lynn and I especially loved the Fife & Drum Corps.

The Army Drill team was particularly impressive!

After the performance, we took an Uber back to our hotel. 

Tomorrow will be another busy day!

A "bucket list" trip to our nation's capital!

The commencement ceremony for Sean's Master's degree from American Military University will be held in Washington DC. He worked so hard on it for so long that we had to attend! I'd been saving up my American Airlines miles for quite a while with no particular trip in mind, and we still had most of our Holiday Inn points from 2018, so we decided to go for it! Sean's mom, Lynn, had also been asking us to take her to Washington DC for several years (she said it was her "bucket list" trip), so she will be joining us. I haven't been to DC since 1989, and Sean hasn't been since 2004.

Admittedly, I am usually a very careful trip planner, but with my busy work schedule, the model horse show I co-hosted with friends in April, and life in general, I didn't do my normal amount of planning for this trip. We both requested White House tour tickets from our Congressman and Senator back in February (which we have been granted!), and I did reserve Capitol tour tickets a month ago, but most of the planning was done this past weekend. Fortunately, both Sean and I were able to spend most of the day on Sunday before the trip doing planning, and now we have a good itinerary put together. The weather may not be very cooperative, so we are bringing rain ponchos and umbrellas, and we will make the best of it! Our hotel is a Holiday Inn in Alexandria, Virginia right on the Metro line, so we will be using the Metro extensively. No car for us this trip!

Lynn is starting her journey first bright and early at 6:15 AM. She's flying from Del Rio to DFW, then we will meet up with her and we will all fly together from DFW to Washington Reagan. We arrive in the early afternoon, which should give us plenty of time to use the Metro to get to the hotel, get checked in, make a supply run, and then head out for the evening. We are hoping that the weather cooperates so we can attend the US Army's "Twilight Tattoo" program at Joint Base Meyer-Henderson. (They do hold it indoors if the weather is bad, but it's not nearly as good since there won't be any marching or cannon fire!) Keep your fingers crossed for us, and I will make a post tomorrow evening with an update.