This morning we walked down to the National Mall and down to the Washington Monument where we took the elevator up to the top – 50 floors up. The structure is made entirely of marble, granite and blue gneiss. It is the world’s tallest stone structure and was built to commemorate George Washington. There are great views from the top towards the Lincoln Memorial, the White House, the Capitol and Washington generally.
We then wandered down to the WWII Memorial and down the Reflecting Pool to the Vietnam Memorial where a National Park Volunteer explained how the memorial worked. So many names on it; such a huge waste of life. We looked in the books but there were no Cathro’s or Farrelly’s in there. The kids picked up a Junior Ranger booklet to complete over the next few days to earn another badge.
Up to the imposing Lincoln Memorial for some photos and to look back at the Washington Monument and it’s reflection in the Reflecting Pool.
We caught an Uber down to the Wharf on the Potomac River and caught a boat down to Alexandria in Virginia, about 30 mins away. Mark had a good talk to Captain Jack who first identified us as Australians but gave the kids the free sprite each and Mark a beer, so he was forgiven. He spends a lot of time down in Australia and NZ on boats.
Arrived into Alexandria, and straight to Starbucks. It must have been almost 3pm and we hadn’t fed the kids (well other than the snacks they found in their bags before we left) but no one had died. We wandered through Old Town Alexandria looking at the various shops until Mark and TJ found an Irish pub so left us girls to the shopping while they went to watch the NFL.
The girls and I continued to shop and the boys drink so everyone was happy. Mark found a new mate at the pub and TJ said that was his favorite part of the day due to the atmosphere in there.
We met up again in time for dinner at the Virtue Feed and Grain which was packed. We ate and the kids started to fill out their Junior Ranger booklets from the National Mall. The girls and I then headed back to the shops for half an hour and the boys stayed back for the football. We headed home by Uber for the evening.
