Washington D.C.

We rolled into Maryland to tour the nation's capital.

The traffic in Washington D.C. is terrible! Locals will tell you it is the worst in the country, second to only L.A. I believe them. We spent 2-hours traveling 10 miles the other day. It's enough to give you road rage; and the drivers are very aggressive and like to tail gate.

If you come here, the public transportation is great. The subways are fantastic, and I do not understand why other large cities (like Seattle) do not have similar systems. It was easy to use and navigate, affordable, with excellent schedules, and clean. At each station there were people to help if you were an idiot (like me), and could not understand the directions on the automated ticketing machines. But, once you figured it out, it was easy.

Of course, you will want to visit the Smithsonian's. We did everything backwards; so here is how you do it:

1) Start at the Smithsonian Castle. There they have short films that are documentaries of each Smithsonian, and what they display. There are too many for you to do in a week, so you will have to prioritize what you want to see.

2) Pay the cash, and ride the Tourmobile. This is an articulated bus like trolley that runs a loop around the majority of the city. You can get on and off as often as you like, and the drivers give a spiel along the way. It really helps to acclimate you to the city (I think it was $20 for an adult, and about half for a kid).

After you do this you will have a better idea of how you want to spend your time

Here is an example of how our Federal Government conserves your tax dollars. In the late 1990's Congress decided we needed a visitors center at the Capitol building. Since the most expensive way to do it was to dig under the Capital, and place it underground, that is what they decided to do. The budget was something like $200 million dollars. After September 11, 2001 someone questioned the wisdom of a visitors center under the capitol, but they had spent so much money they decided they could not stop. We were told that they have gone over budget a little bit (up to $600 million to date, and counting). It's still not finished.

The kids really wanted to tour the White House, and I wanted to go to the top of the Washington Monument (the last time I was here it was closed for restoration). But, tickets to the White house are a perk for your congressman. If you want to go you have to contact your congressman's office at least 2-months in advance for a ticket.

Tickets for the Washington Monument are about a month out (during the slow season). Although I was told that if you are waiting in line at 8:00 AM out front you might be able to get one for later that day.
All in all: a great experience. We toured about 6 Smithsonian's, and they were all spectacular. The kids were overwhelmed by the Holocaust museum, and we missed about half of the exhibits. It is very educational, and I will do it again in the future. The art museum was spectacular. We viewed paintings by several masters: Rembrandt, Monet, Da Vinci, etc.

Of course, the air and space museum, Native American Museum (which is relatively new), and more.
To break up the museum hopping we drove out to Mount Vernon for a day. This is George Washington's plantation, where he lived most of his adult life. The plantation encompassed over 8,000 acres during his lifetime. Today, they have managed to hold into 500 acres and it is a great side trip. I came here 20 years ago and it was very different. At that time you could drive right up to the mansion, and pretty much walk around the entire plantation with free reign (I do not remember paying a fee to enter). Today, it is very commercialized, but done fairly well. It was also very crowded, but worth a trip. Don't do it on a weekend!

Hope all is well with our family and friends.

Love, the Paton's