We hit the road bright and early on Friday the 18th with Arlington, Virginia as our destination. It was pouring rain as we pulled out of Plymouth and continued to rain through Cleveland before it finally stopped. The kids and dog did great driving all day and enjoyed the car games and activities I had planned for them. They had to find a certain number of different state license plates to earn prizes (mystery bag with Dollar Tree items, ice cream at a stop, and $ iTunes/App store credit). We played Rubberneckers and used the Family Talk questions games that I bought on Amazon before our trip.
We pulled in to our hotel, the Comfort Inn Arlington Boulevard, in Virginia after some traffic going around D.C. around 5pm. The kids were majorly bummed to find out the pool was closed. We dropped our stuff off in our room, let Luna scope out the room, and went out to find dinner at Dogfish Head Alehouse. At dinner we researched a dog park and found quite the gem of a place! It was hidden in a neighborhood, but was a forest with a creek running through it where dogs could run free and play. The kids brought their water shoes, which turned out to be a great idea! I think they had more fun than they would have at a pool.
It was time to head back to the hotel and get ready for bed. We had a busy day planned on Saturday in D.C. all day so we needed some good sleep. The kids and dog were adorable all snuggled in bed together for the night.
Saturday morning we were up and out by 8am. The breakfast option at the hotel was a grab and go bag with the option of taking a frozen breakfast sandwich to heat up in the microwave in our room. I was okay with that since it was a turkey sausage sandwich that I eat at home and is healthier than other options. Luckily there was a McDonald's right next to the hotel that I could walk to and get breakfast sandwiches for everyone else. And off we went to D.C.!
It was a 15 minute drive from our hotel and I had reserved a parking spot on the SpotHero app. It was a .7 mile walk from the spot to the WWII monument and a .5 mile walk to the Smithsonian museum where we would end our day. We walked to the National Mall and started with the Washington Memorial. The kids thought it was the coolest thing ever! With views of the Capitol building on one side and the Lincoln Memorial on the other side, there was plenty to look at.
From there we walked to the WWII Memorial, which was actually one of my favorites. The kids found Michigan on the Memorial and we enjoyed the fountain.
Up next was my second favorite memorial: Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. There were some of his famous quotes all over the walls surrounding the monument.
We then walked over to the Lincoln Memorial. I was surprised by how green the water was in front of it, but it made for some fun pictures. Luna couldn't go into the actual Memorial so we took turns and just before I went in with the boys I found a $100 bill on the ground. Scott turned it in to the police officer working right by there, but after 15 minutes he walked it back over to use saying no one was going to likely claim it. Lucky us!
We wrapped up what we wanted to see along the National Mall with a quick stop at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. My Uncle Paul served in Vietnam so it was an important one for us to all visit. The boys turned in their Junior Ranger booklets right by there and earned their badges and it was off to the White House!
The kids got a kick out of seeing the White House. The flag was all the way up, which we read meant that President Biden was in Washington D.C. and we later found out on Instagram that his dog passed away that day.
At this point, everyone was hungry and ready for lunch. We had to walk what felt like a country mile to our lunch stop at Ollie's Trolley, but it was tasty and had outdoor seating for Luna. It sprinkled a bit during lunch, but we used our umbrellas and made do. From there it was a short walk to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History where the boys and I had timed entry tickets at 1:30pm to get in. The museum was fun, but it only took us a little over an hour to see all the open exhibits. The boys were not up for waiting in line to see the Hope Diamond and they were bummed that the butterfly and insect exhibit was closed. Oh well!
We met up with Scott who had found a shady spot outside with Luna while we were in the museum. I think she appreciated the break from walking! We took a few last pictures and headed over to the truck to get back to the hotel and take a break. We walked 9 miles with over 20,000 steps and the kids and dog did amazing!
We took a much needed break in the hotel room to decompress with snacks. The kids got some well-deserved screen time and then we decided to head back to the dog park so the kids and Luna could play in the creek some more. We grabbed pizza at Ledo's in Arlington before going back to the hotel and putting on a movie on the TV. It had been a long day again and we would be heading to the Outer Banks in the morning and celebrating Scott for Father's Day!
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