July 4th - Day Eight

Oh me! This was one doozie of a day!!!! D.C. has to be one of the most patriotic
cities to spend Independence Day, but let me tell you - it was totally chaotic!!! We started out our day on an open top sightseeing bus to tour the entire city, they failed to tell us the day before when we purchased our tickets that they had totally re-routed the tour based on most of the city streets being blocked for different parades!!!!


Waiting for the bus

Soooo.... we exited the bus at Pennsylvania Avenue and thus our walk began! We walked by the White House and saw all the different demonstrators and protesters - very interesting to say the least.


The cities most famous landmarks are clustered in and around the National Mall and Memorial Parks. The grassy space was roped off due to security. We had to wait in long lines to have all of our things checked. Picnic blankets were scattered about all over, people were saving their spots for the fireworks. We were not able to go up in the Washington Monument- again, security measures. Are you seeing a pattern here?!

The boys holding up the monument

We then walked over to the memorials. The World War II Memorial was beautiful. It was a huge fountain surrounded by pillars of each state. We all took off our shoes and cooled our already aching feet in the cool waters!!! Ahhhh....



Next we went on around and saw the Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial - incredibly humbling! I wonder what the Iraq War Memorial will be like? Already so many lost there!
We had lunch at a little cafe right outside the Lincoln Memorial. The Lincoln Memorial was so cool - too many people trying to take pictures at the same time - just a little too stressful for me!












At this point, we were all completely pooped- so we headed back to the hotel room to try to re-cooperate before the fireworks! Let me just say, that is where we should have stayed! But we didn't, gluttens for punishment, who goes to D.C. on the 4th and doesn't go and see the fireworks?! Okay, here is where we made a HUGE mistake,HUGE!
Earlier in the day around the mall were all the street vendors selling the cheesy souvenir t-shirts and hats, you know the ones I am talking about. Well, the kiddos all wanted to pick out their souvenir, but mama and daddy said, "Nooo...Let's just wait until later in the day- that way we won't have to keep up with them all day!There will be hundreds of them!" (ADVICE Parents - buy the shirts at the first vendor!!!)


Well, after a brief rest at the hotel, we headed to Union Station for a quick bite to eat and to buy t-shirts, but all the shops were CLOSED at 6:00 on July 4th!!!











This is where the trouble started! Make a long and very painful story short we walked almost every city block looking for a silly vendor, but they had ALL packed up and gone home - what we will do for our children! In walking the streets, we were able to view the Capitol at night-beautiful! We were able to see some of the fireworks-awesome!

All in all, according to Stephen's pedometer, we walked 17 miles that day!!!!! We were completely exhausted by the time we made it back to the hotel around 11:00 p.m.
Daddy and Mama stayed at the hotel when we were walking the streets! They went to a nice, relaxing dinner and my daddy talked the manager of the hotel to let them on the roof to view the fireworks- how awesome was that?! Oh how I wished we had done the same! Seriously, even with the miles walked, we had a great vacation, one I will never forget! By the way, on the way home the next morning, we found a vendor and the kiddos got their shirts!!!