Spring Vacation Day 5

We finally got a much needed break. A quick taxi ride to Union Station and a McDonalds breakfast preceeded a nice relaxing train ride from Washington D.C. to New York City. It took about three hours and gave us time to rest our weary legs. When we arrived in Penn Station we were on the move again. After consulting with a city worker we felt confident that we could walk the distance from the station to our hotel. Some friendly New Yorkers helped us carry our heavy luggage up a flight of stairs to a bustling Manhattan sidewalk. There were people every where. We made a formation with Steve leading the way, me at the end with the kids between us. The walk wasn't bad but trying to maneuver our luggage among all the people was a challenge. We checked into our hotel room which was nice but very small. We desperately needed to do some laundry so we loaded up one suitcase with our dirty duds and went around the corner to a laundry mat. We saw and spoke with some interesting folks including a lady who was traveling around the country on Greyhound buses. She had purchased a ticket that was good for 50 days and she could go wherever she wanted. She had been to the Pacific Northwest and was not impressed with the people. At first we were sympathetic to her complaints but after talking with her for a few minutes it appeared she really only thought people from the South (which is where she was from) were friendly. We also met a nice couple who gave us some good pointers about navigating the city. We dropped our clean clothes off at the hotel and headed for Time Square. It was exciting to see in person a place that we so often see on television. We were lucky to walk into The Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and only have to wait for about 15 minutes. Our table gave us an awesome view of the street and the lights. We had a wonderful dinner and watched as darkness fell and the brilliant sparkling lights lit up the night. When we were done with dinner we walked down Broadway and went into a few stores. We especially enjoyed the M&M store.

Spring Vacation Day 4

Exhaustion has set in. By the fourth day in Washington D.C. our brains and bodies were spent. We went back to the Waffle house for breakfast; it was nice and close to the hotel but the service was horrible the second time around. After breakfast we walked down to the Smithsonian Museum of American History where the Star Spangled Banner is on display. There were alot of interesting things to see but since it was our last day we were definitely on a schedule. We had to rush through it and again we were exhausted so we stopped to sit any chance we got.

Mr. President

The National Archives was our next stop. We had to wait almost an hour just to get inside the building and it was cold and a little rainy. I'm glad we did it but at the time I wondered if it was worth it.(Waiting in line to see the the Declaration of Independence)

Inside we saw the original Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights among other things. The kids were not exactly impressed with this activity since the Declaration of Independence is so faded you can't really read it and it's just a bunch of documents that you can read from a book or the internet. We explained that now they can say that they have seen the originals; I don't know if we conviced them that it was worthwhile. Magen is really interested in crime scene investigation and so she really wanted to visit the Crime and Punishment Museum.

(Magen and Ryan trying to catch the bad guys)

(Mackenzie in a line up)

We only had two hours until it closed so again we were a little rushed but this was one that we all really enjoyed. We found a nice place for dinner and then a drug store for a decongestant for Mackenzie we also got some ice cream to take back to the hotel for dessert. Our final day in Washington D.C. was packed but we did it. There are definitely some things that I would like to have seen that we just didn't have time for and some places that we did see where I could have spent more time but for the most part I thought we saw the most important things and if we ever go back we will know where to spend more time.