The District

Guess what the wife wanted for Mothers day?

A weekend in Washington DC.

Since her kids couldn't afford it, and lacked basic planning skills, I took the lead while they took the credit. It was a shorter visit, leaving on Friday and returning on Sunday.

Of course, it started to rain just as we were outside Syracuse. The rain followed us all the way down. That combined with the spaghetti mess of a highway system that surrounds the nations capitol and a six hour drive took us eight. Fortunately, we only planned to arrive on Friday, not do anything. 

Saturday, the main (and first thing in the morning) event was the open house of the Washington DC Temple. I was taken there when I was four and remember very little. The wife was there as a baby and remembers exactly what you'd expect her to.

It was amazing.

Afterward, we went to the air and space museum. The one with the space shuttle. Ok, I knew it had a space shuttle, so I wasn't surprised by it. What got me was... everything else. Once we arrived, I had a clear shot of Discovery pointing right at me. A quick glance at a map showed silhouettes of the other aircraft. I didn't recognize most of them, but the one in the center was unmistakable. The SR-71 Blackbird. 

My wife wasn't impressed. "It's a black airplane" Ok, she may have been a little impressed, but clearly lacked my enthusiasm. 

The National Archives was where my son Z wanted to go. He wanted to see the Constitution (he also wanted to read it). You can imagine his disappointment when he couldn't read it. I had to explain that it was written in an old writing style called 'cursive'. He was happy enough when we got him a printed copy. 

It rained the entire day. 

Sunday morning it finally stopped raining, and we walked the National Mall. My normally rambunctious kids felt the solemnity of the Lincoln Memorial, choosing to frolic slowly and silently. They kept thinking the Washington Monument was much closer, not realizing just how tall it was. We walked much and saw much.

Then I drove much, much faster getting home than we did heading down.