Trip Report: Coasters and Culture in Virginia/DC

[bert425]

Your description of Wildcat is so spot on. Hands down the worst coaster I've ever had the displeasure of sitting down in. I implore everyone to not ride it please, for your own good. I'm glad I bring advil to parks just in case I get battered by the woodies.

 

heh.

 

yeah, and some people disagreed with me. .but we HATED it.

 

My trip report from last year -- we went thru Pennsylvania, from Pittsburgh to Philly, hitting Kennywood, Hershey, Knoebel's, and Dorney, along with all the Culture stuff in Philly -- is on the site here (somewhere) too.

[RollerManic]

This trip report is great! I am on my way to Virginia for KD, BGW, and Colonial Williamsburg, and you are elevating my excitement!

[TBpony414]

Very glad I could help with the not-a-combo secret! It only saved $5, but hey, $5 is $5, right?

 

we didn't see any animals at CW (other than horses), but it was so hot, there were barely any tourists there! Yep, dog lover, and my baby is a blind, diabetic dog, so she needs 3 different eye drops + insulin shots, all twice a day. . so when we travel, she has to do medical boarding these days. So any call from the vet while on a trip, always freaks me out, and I fear the worst right away.

 

would love to see that pic of your dog if you can find it!

 

I'll have to MAKE time to complete the trip report, because even tho there's only 3 days left, we crammed in 9 Smithsonians, Dinner with a High School Friend, a Tour of the Capital, Union Station, a drive out the offsite Air & Space Smithsonian, AND a Monuments by Moonlight tour!. . . . LOL. . so yeah, a lot of typing for me, even tho we really didn't take pictures (other than 1 or 2) in most of the museums -- Air & Space being the big exceptions. . *lots* of pics in those two.

 

You got a heck of a lot accomplished in a few short days! DC has endless museums and exhibits coming through all the time. The photo of my dog and I at CW is in a box somewhere with other printed pictures and now I am determined to locate it. You are awesome for taking such dedicated medical care of Roxxi!

 

I LOVE the Udvar-Hazy Air & Space Museum so I can't wait to see all your pics and what you thought of it. I live 15 minutes from there and pass it almost every day. The addition of the space shuttle and the way they created that new wing so you can walk right up to it is amazing. Previously it stood straight up at the end of that wing and you could only see it from way far away from the main part of the building. Besides the SR-71 Blackbird, the space shuttle is my favorite thing to see. The only other museum I actually enjoy is The Spy Museum in DC so you may want to check it out next time you're in town.

[bert425]

This trip report is great! I am on my way to Virginia for KD, BGW, and Colonial Williamsburg, and you are elevating my excitement!

 

Thanks! Lemme know if any specific things I can help out with info on (tho I probably covered it). . LOL

 

The one thing I haven't gotten to yet, that I recommend wholeheartedly?

 

"Monuments by Moonlight" tour in DC from Olde Towne Trolley. If you're a Club TPR member, you get the Tickets at Work discount, and it was a pretty significant savings, for a GREAT 3 1/2 hour tour around the DC monuments.

[bert425]

You are awesome for taking such dedicated medical care of Roxxi!

 

aw. . thanks

 

as long as her quality of life is good (and she's adapted quickly, and she LOVES going for her walkies, even tho we now have to do a short leash, so I can keep her from tripping on curbs), there's no way I'm putting my baby-girl down!

[bert425]

Day 7:

 

After the exhausting prior day, we did out best to try and sleep in.

 

But being in DC, and just not having to think about work at all (it hadn’t even crossed my mind the whole trip thus far), had us both up and about by 8am. Shocking, considering how wiped out we should have been!

 

I did briefly make the argument that it would be nice to go to the Zoo (which is considered a Smithsonian site, and therefore has free admission).. but it seemed so far away even tho the Red Line goes right to it (and if we chose to drive, parking was $22!). So I only made that argument briefly, since I didn’t want to lose the whole day.

 

The only “musts” today were the Monuments tour at 7:30 pm, and the Air & Space Museum on the mall, and I had budgeted 3-4 hours for it. But we still had a bunch of time, so we got showered, dressed, and left the room by 9:15, and headed towards the Foggy Bottom Station with the intention of stopping at a few additional Smithsonian Museums that had been on our “maybe” list, since we had finished 2 of the really “big” museums yesterday.

 

So we exited the Smithsonian stop, and that put us a short walk to (really right next to) the Freer Gallery, the square museum built around an open courtyard, with a focus on Asian art.

 

The most “famous” object in the Freer Gallery is an American Work, however, the Peacock Room, painted by Whistler (of “Whistler’s Mother” fame). .this is an opulent London Dining room that is painted in royal blues and golds with very Asian influenced design work, and gorgeous gold leaf applied throughout. . the room also displays hundreds of Asian ceramics with glazes that match the background of the room. The room was brought over from London as it was created, and then installed in Freer’s home, and upon his death, it was moved to the Smithsonian, where it was installed and appears as it did in the original London house. It really is jaw-droppingly amazing.

 

While not one of the Smithsonian’s larger museums, as a fan of Asian art, I was happy that we got to visit this Museum from our list. . .but as we saw with several other museums, the Freer is about to undergo renovation in 2016, and they had already started closing off some of the Galleries in preparation. Unfortunately, the ones that were shut already seemed to be the Japanese focused ones. . (my favorite art style. . .poop). But 3/4ths of the Museum was still open, so we started on the left and just worked our way around the square, seeing art and sculpture (and textiles) from: Chinese (with lots of Budda and animal sculptures), Korean (ceramics), Iran/Islamic world (some amazing illustrated manuscripts), & South Asian and Himalayan (lots of religious art).. . in addition to the Peacock room – installed in the back corner gallery of the Museum.

 

We spent about 25 minutes in this gloriously quiet museum – which was a little bit cold, since the A/C was cranked but there were not a lot of folks there with us (a guard mentioned to me that we had timed it perfectly, since we were there on Sunday, the day before the summer camps started, and on those days they get non-stop tourgroups of kids thru the museum).

 

Connected to the Freer Museum via underground tunnel is the next door Sackler Gallery – another Smithsonian Museum focused on Asian art, tho this one tends to be a little more contemporary. Most of this museum was located below ground level, and the main attraction here was the incredible Silver and Gold Iranian objects from the 4th Century that line the long tunnel/hallway between the two museums. Also on display at the Sackler were some South Asian and Himalayan Sculpture, a large display of Contemporary Asian Art (honestly, not too impressive to us), and what is billed all over the place in DC, “the Peacock Room REMIX: Darren Waterston’s Filthy Lucre” – a “new” version of Whistler’s Peacock Room from the other Museum, but this time filled with cracked and crumbling objects, and in “decadent ruin”. . . .I thought it was pretentious nonsense, a waste of space, and an insult to the real room that was but one building over -- but hey, art speaks to each of us in it’s own way. LOL.

 

We didn’t spend too long in the Sackler, as it was really cold in there too!. .so we made our way back underground and back out the front doors of the Freer Gallery, and continued to our next stop (next door on the Mall), the Smithsonian Castle.

 

The Castle is the 1st building that was done for the Smithsonian, and originally it housed all the collections before they got so big and split off to their own museums. Ben had mentioned the night before that it might be closed due to the construction on the mall, but luckily it was open and operating as usual.

 

The Castle really is intended to be the 1st stop when visiting the Smithsonian Museums, as it serves as a planning center, with TONS of info on what to do, what to see, etc. Of course, I had researched all this online, so why did I want to stop at the Castle on our 2nd day there? Because the whole West Wing of the Castle serves as a “Sampler” of the Smithsonian museums – a Pu-Pu platter if you will. . with displays of objects from all the other museums. Including ones we weren’t planning on going to, such as the Portrait Gallery, as well as some Furniture that could only be seen in the original Smithsonian building. We spent a good 30 minutes in the large ballroom looking at the displays from all the Museums, and chatting with a Volunteer, who pointed out some interesting objects along the tops of cabinets lining the walls. The architecture in this building is pretty impressive as well, and just to stop and take a look at the turrets is worth one’s while.

 

It’s also the final resting place of James Smithson. .the man who founded the Smithsonian – who’s crypt chamber lays to the left as you enter the main Castle from the National Mall. . the only body actually buried on the mall, and supposedly his ghost haunts the castle.

 

There is also a gift shop here (but mostly cheesy stuff to keep the kids occupied – there wre MUCH better offerings at the individual Museum gift shops), as well as a Café . .. and tho we were getting hungry, I didn’t want to eat here. I was more interested in making our way past the Air and Space Museum to the American Indian Museum (with their Zagat rated Cafeteria).

 

 

The American Indian Museum really is a gorgeous building, with a long winding path along ponds and fountains, and a few statues, to get you to the front doors. We didn’t realize until we were sitting in the café, that the long windows at the back of the ponds wrap around the dining room, so when you’re eating, you’re actually staring across the ponds to the people walking up the winding path to the Museum’s doors. Just beautifully designed.

 

To be completely honest, we simply weren’t that interested in the contents of this particular museum (tho there were one or two exhibits I wouldn’t have minded peeking into. . even tho we did not), but as a “foodie” I really wanted to eat at the Mitsitam café ("Mitsitam" means "Let's Eat!" in the Native language of the Delaware and Piscataway peoples).

 

The Café is billed as: The café enhances the museum experience by offering Native-inspired cuisines from five regions of the Western Hemisphere, including the Northern Woodlands, South America, the Northwest Coast, Meso America and the Great Plains. Each menu reflects the food and cooking techniques from the region featured. Menus are changed with each season to reflect the bounties of that area.

We got the directions to the café from the visitor’s desk (and noticed that the vast majority of the Museum was made up of the large central atrium with the path circling around it, as well as the large theatre . . so really this was a rather small museum despite the impressive exterior). We went down the ramp and into the very large cafeteria style stations, and seating area. It smelled absolutely wonderful, and there were so many choices.

 

Now, granted, Nick still has issues with what he can, and can’t eat – since certain spices, or spice levels still irritate his mouth from the Cancer treatments. . .but still, I figured with so many options there was bound to be some things he could try. This was a rated restaurant, and agreed upon by all the critics the best food on the National Mall.

A NORMAL couple would each order something from one of the 5 stations, and sample from each other’s plates, to get different tastes. Well, unfortunately, we aren’t normal enough – Nick went ahead and ordered Chicken Fingers.

Yeah.

Me? I wanted to try a few things, and since I was on my own now food wise, I went to several of the different stations to try different options. So *my* lunch ended up costing somewhere in the neighborhood of $36.

Yeah.

Still, it was all really, really good. Looking at the current menu being offered at Mitsitam, I’m pretty sure what I tried was:

 

From Northern Woodlands: Duck Fat Potato Hash (side), Vermont Maple and Bacon Cornbread (side)

From Northwest Coast: Fig, Walnut, and Caraway Dressing (side), Wild Basil Fried Dough w/ Strawberry Compote (desert – it was VERY good)

From South America: Sopa de Quinoa y Cerdo (Inka Style Quinoa Chowder with Pork Dust) (cup of soup)

And from Great Plains: Indian Taco (Buffalo Chili on Fry Bread with Pickled Chiles & Pinto Beans, Lettuce, Tomato and Shredded Cheese) (Main dish)

 

We got our heavy trays (at least mine was heavy), and headed to a table by the floor to ceiling windows. The Café is “green” so no straws available, but real silverware (which was nice), so you have to put your plates/trays/silverware back for washing on the way out.

 

It was Father’s Day, so about ½ way thru our lunch, I stopped to go call my Dad and wish him a Happy Father’s Day (he confirmed he got the card I mentioned I mailed on the first day of the trip report, and as expected, he loved that it was cancelled with a Colonial Williamsburg Colonial Era cancelation stamp).

We chatted for just a bit, and he tried again to convince me that we should stop by the Holocaust Museum (I’m sorry, but I DON’T want to be depressed on my Vacation! Same reason we never went to the Vietnam Memorial, despite being so close, and why I’ll never go to the 911 memorial in New York. I barely made it thru Pearl Harbor, and I’m not doing that again), and after saying goodbye, went back to join Nick and we took our time finishing up lunch.

 

After a Bathroom Break, and confirmation that we didn’t really want to spend time doing exhibits in the American Indian Museum, we went out the back doors, thru the Indian Gardens, and onto Independence Avenue, to head next door into the biggie for the day: the Air and Space Museum.

 

This one is the one we had most looked forward to (both here and the offsite one), as Nick is big into Planes, and both of us enjoy the Space aspect, so I had saved this for when we could really spend time on it. If I thought the American History and Natural History Museums yesterday were a zoo? This one was absolute anarchy. And the displays are EVERYWHERE. .it’s hard to even formulate a plan to walk thru the museum and ensure you hit everything, as exhibit galleries are left and right (and UP) off the main corridor.

 

We knew we were not going to be bothering with any of the flight simulator rides, but that only knocked out one gallery of many.. . luckily, a check of at the Visitor’s Welcome Center showed there was a 90 minute tour starting at 1pm – just about 10 minutes from when we arrived-- so we decided we’ll go on the tour, and after, can swing back to see anything we missed.

 

As with the other museums, the tourguides are all Volunteers, who enjoy taking visitors around the museum. I quickly directed Nick to line up with the very tall (6’5” ?) guy, figuring that with the crowd in the museum, we’d be able to find him again if we got separated from the tour. . .a strategy that worked quite well, as our group size shrunk (as the tour went on) and swelled (as folks heard him talking about a specific exhibit and joined in the tour) throughout the tour.

I can’t remember this guide’s name, but he told us he was an Engineer (something I would have known anyways, from the way he enjoyed talking about the minutia in the history of many exhibits. .LOL), and he was a really great guide, telling us all kinds of History and stories from the days of the Wright Brothers, Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, a very interesting stop at the hall of Black Pilots. He really focused mainly on the “Air” portion of this museum, only giving us a cursory 15 minutes or so on the Space portion, but we didn’t mind, as the tour went way over the 90 minutes promised (he was closing in on the 2 ½ hour mark, when he realized how late he was running).

 

He thanked us for taking the tour with him, and then we sat down to examine the Map of the Museum, and were pretty stunned to realize that although we had just spent 2 ½ hours touring, we hadn’t even covered 1/5th of the Museum! So we basically started in the corner of the 1st floor where the tour had ended, “Moving Beyond the Earth” and worked our way back across the galleries on the 1st floor, leaving the large floor to ceiling galleries (with the suspended planes and rockets) for last. . . but at least we were able to fast track thru what had been covered on the tour 

 

So from “Moving Beyond Earth”, we went to “Exploring the Moon” (Apollo landings), then “Explore the Universe” (about telescopes), and into “Looking at Earth” (focusing on Earth from above, including balloons, spyplanes, and satellites. Then into “How Things Fly” (the hands on kids section -- that was insanely packed, so we stayed here maybe 3 minutes? LOL). .Past the welcome center/main doors, and into “Early Flight” (a gallery we partially covered on the tour), then into “Jet Aviation” (a large gallery with fighter jets on display), and finally the “Golden Age of Flight”. . . that knocked out the 1st floor, pretty much, and had taken us about an hour & ½ , so it was getting close to 5 by now.

 

We didn’t have to head to Union Station for our Monuments tour until 7, so we still had 2 hours to do the upstairs and the large “two story” galleries, so we still had plenty of time and we headed upstairs.

 

Most of the galleries upstairs on this side focused on warplanes, something Nick is into, so we took our time going thru: “World War II aviation”, “Military Unmanned Aerial Vehicles”, “Sea-Air Operations” (with the whole gallery themed as if you had stepped onto an Aircraft Carrier. . VERY well done), and “Great War in the Air” (WWI).

 

One of my favorite galleries was next, “Exploring the Planets”. . poor Pluto, LOL, you could actually see where they had covered over references to it as a “planet” in the museum! But still, lots of information about all the planets, with what seemed to be a big focus on Jupiter, and Saturn (several exhibits on those planets). .but every planet got at least a display or two.

 

We were then able to walk thru the next two huge galleries, “Barron Hilton Pioneers of Flight” and “the Wright Brothers” as the tour we had taken had gone thru these particular galleries extensively. . tho we did stop to read a bit more about Amelia Earhart’s business dealings, and look at her Lockheed Vega on display.

 

The “Apollo to the Moon” gallery was interesting, with big displays of machinery, lunar rovers, tools, foods, and other things the astronauts took with them on the Apollo missions, as well as real Astronaut gear, uniforms, and paraphernalia.

 

The small gallery next door, “Flight and the Arts” was blocked off (renovations?), so the last big Gallery on the 2nd floor was “Time and Navigation”, which focused on how sailors historically navigated using the stars, and how radar and other more modern Inventions changed the way we navigate. An interesting gallery, but we were way too tired to do much of the Hands on stuff in here by this point.

 

It was just after 6, so we headed to the three large galleries we had skipped, stopping along the way to walk thru a recreation of the Skylab Orbital Workshop, and to walk thru the nose/control room of a Boeing 747. In one of the three big galleries (America By Air), we went thru an exhibit on the history of flying – that lets you walk thru a recreation of a luxury Douglas DC7, history of Airline Uniforms, and how they did the engines (I had no idea Rolls Royce made plane engines).

 

In the “Space Race” gallery, we saw the Apollo-Soyuz test project, Tomahawk Cruise Missiles, and very large Missiles in the 4 story “Missile Pit” – in the center of the museum.

 

we saved the best for last tho (even though some of these had been covered on our tour). .in the “Boeing Milestones of Flight” gallery, we saw Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis (first nonstop flight from New York to Paris), Chuck Yeagher’s Bell X-1 (the first plane to break the sound barrier), Spaceship1 (the 1st commercial spaceflight), as well as the Apollo II command Module Columbia, and the Gemini IV. Unfortunately, this gallery is in the middle of a large renovation, so although it worked in our favor (the aircraft I mentioned above are typically hanging from the ceiling, but we got to see them up close on the ground), but it worked against us that Sputnik and Explorer (a replica of the 1st artificial Earth Satellite) had been taken off display and had been removed for cleaning. . oh well, it was a replica anyways, since the original burned up at re-entry.

 

We still had some time, and the Air and Space has a huge, 2-story, museum store, so we did some shopping in there, and basically killed some time until we had to head to the L’Enfant Plaza Metro stop just up the street, to make our 7:30 tour.

 

So we headed out of the Air And Space Museum at just about 7pm (having spent about 6 hours there), and surprise, surprise, Independence Avenue was just blanketed with Ambulances, Fire trucks, Police Cars – seriously, there must have been over 50 of em. .flashing lights everywhere! And a slowly circulating overhead? a Helicopter.

 

People were sitting on the steps watching, and I asked the guards at the doors what was going on. They told us they didn’t know, but it had been going on since around 3:30 pm! (we hadn’t even noticed, since we weren’t looking out windows while touring the galleries. I asked them “is it safe to go out this way?”. . and they shrugged, and pointed to the people that were sitting watching. I explained that we had to get to the L’Enfant Plaza stop, and the guard laughed at me and told me the station had been closed down.

 

I went into panic mode and tried to get clarification – was the Metro down? Or just the Station closed? Because we had to check in for our tour at Union Station at 7:30, and I now had likely screwed us by taking time in the museum store. They told me the Metro was running, but that L’Enfant Plaza was shut down. .so we’d have to go to the Smithsonian stop. (gah!). So we ran as fast as we could (on sore as hell feet), out of Air and Space and up the mall, past the Hirshhorn Sculpture Museum, past the closed Arts and Industry Museum (apparently this one has been closed for years and will never reopen to the public), past the Smithsonian Castle, and to the Smithsonian Metro Stop.

 

Keeping with our luck, of course, we both had to pee, but I would NOT let Nick stop. . as we were going down the escalators, we heard the train pull in and we ran to it and hopped right on it. At the Metro Center, we hopped off, went down the escalators to the Red Line, and managed to time *that* just as the train arrived. So we pulled into Union Station, sweating like pigs, out of breath, and at 7:18. . . . I went to check in for the tour -- and of course the booth that I had located the prior night so I would know where it was. . wasn’t there! But asking around got us directed to inside the station to a permanent counter, where we swapped the vouchers for tickets to the tour, was told where to line up, and then we went to the restroom for relief (I’ll spare you a description of the restrooms in Union Station, other than to say they were in the EXACT state of what you’d think a train/bus terminal toilet would be in).

 

Finally relieved, we went out to where we had been directed, and lined up for our Monuments by Moonlight tour . . which I’ll cover in Part II, hopefully in the near future.

 

And no, we never did find out what caused the police presence or the shutdown at the Metro Station. The news all reported it for a couple of days after, but they always said that they were not being told why the station was shut down, or why there was so much emergency response. . .

Whistler's Peacock Room (online photo since mine were blurry)

Japanese Sculpture (and me) at the Freer Gallery

Whistler's Peacock Room (online photo since mine were blurry)

displays for the museum we didn't make it to (the Portrait Gallery)

cast of the famous Love Statue, from the American History Museum display in the Castle.

Coming up on the Smithsonian Castle

Nick giving his feet a rest in the Castle while I looked at displays.

Comfy?

Stuffed Peacock from the Natural Science Museum display in the Castle

some of the displays in the Castle wing.

Piece of the Berlin Wall

(from the day before, in the American History Museum -- Ronald Reagan section). . oops. .out of order!

Bell X-1 (the plane Yeagher broke the Sound Barrier in) (the orange one). .and in front, 1/2 of Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis.

Spaceship 1 (the 1st commercial orbiter) (and the other 1/2 of Spirit of St. Louis )

Wright Brothers 1st successful plane

Apollo II command Module

Apollo Lunar Module

Lockheed Martin/Boeing RQ-3A DarkStar Unmanned Drone

Boeing X-45A Joint Unmanned Combat Air System (J-UCAS)

Douglas DC-3

Inside the Cockpit of the Boeing 747

artsy reflection in space suit. . but blocking Nick's face

better

the "Missile Pit". .

[bert425]

Day 7 Part II: Monuments by Moonlight.

 

So we lined up outside of Union Station for the Monuments by Moonlight tour, that was done by Old Town Trolley. I had researched this tour online, and it was one of the highest rated ones available – and as a bonus, I was able to buy discounted tickets thru Club TPR!

 

for this tour, Old Town Trolley uses what look like Double Decker Buses (?), but with only one level of seating – so you’re raised up above the road by a good amount and are able to see quite a bit, and take some great pictures. There are wide open windows, which make for not only good viewing, but also great breezes when moving.

 

We were only about 5 people back in line, so we knew we’d get some decent seats (I think the bus seats maybe 64) but what we found interesting was the group in front of us: a very large woman (easily 400lbs) in her 50’s, and her two very large sons (?) (each over 350lbs), who took the first 3 rows – each in a row, and then never left the bus. They didn’t get out at any of the stops, they didn’t take any pictures, and one of the sons never looked up from his e-reader the entire time! I don’t understand people like this. . why spend the money on the tour, if you aren’t even going to get off the bus? Oh well, it DID make *our* bus easy to spot at the stops, when getting back on, because they were the 1st 3 rows, and tho it’s terrible to say, the front of the bus did tilt “down” a little bit, so we could tell which was ours without ever looking at the bus number.

 

We ended up going about 4 rows back on the top level, and sat behind an older woman who had some professional camera equipment with her. She was by herself, but except for that open seat there, and the open seats next to the ‘large’ family, we had a full bus. I had asked the driver which side to sit on to get the best view of the White House, and he directed me to the left side, so that where we sat - -me at window, and Nick in aisle (but we had decided that we’d simply trade seats at each stop so we both got a chance to take some good pics).

 

The bus pulled out right on time for our 2 ½ hour tour, and we took off to see the sights via bus.

 

We started off with some familiar sights, as we passed by the Supreme Court, and the Library of Congress. Then we turned up in front of the Capitol circle, and got some fantastic views of the Capitol (under all the scaffolding of course), and unfortunately, the large fountains in front of the Capitol – facing the National Mall – were also scaffolded off . . those too were undergoing renovation. Disappointing, but we still got some nice shots up the mall of the Washington Monument and the sun starting to set.

 

After some history about the Capitol, and the fountains (that we couldn’t see, but at least he described them to us for what we WOULD have seen and why they were there), we headed down Independence Avenue, as the driver pointed out each of the Smitsonians on the mall (and yes, the Police Presence and Helicopter were still there, but they had opened up Independence Avenue for us to continue) and we passed the Holocaust Museum, behind the Jefferson Memorial, and pulled into our 1st stop: the MLK Memorial and the FDR Memorial.

 

We had a ½ hour at this stop, and the sun was still up, so we went and took some pictures at the MLK site, then walked down to the FDR Memorial (which is rather interesting, in that it is several spread out waterfalls, quotes, and sculptures, rather than just one building or statue), and used the facilities, before meeting back at the bus.

 

This is where the trip got a little bit interesting, as most folks know the “rules” of a tour-bus: you’ve lined up to get on the but at the start, and you got to pick your seat. Therefore your seat is your seat for the tour. This doesn’t count in a situation like with Nick and I, since he and I were just swapping among our two seats to share the window.

But there was this one guy, who just got back on the bus, and plopped down in a seat he wanted to sit in. That messed up a lot of folks, as instead of saying something, the two girls in the row he sat in, went and took someone else’s seat, which set off a chain reaction and ended up splitting several groups. There were some very angry words exchanged, and some threats made, but the guy who caused all the problems, just sat there and pretended he didn’t notice anything going on!

The driver started up the bus, and we moved on to the next stop, but for the rest of the tour, Nick and I left our hats on our seats. .and if he had moved them, believe me, I would have made a scene.

 

So the bus went by the Kennedy Center (where they hold the Honors), and across the Arlington Memorial Bridge, and stopped at the top of the traffic circle to see the “eternal flame” that burns on the tomb of JFK. We drove along side Arlington National Cemetery (we took some pics, but honestly they came out blurry, so it just wasn’t meant to be, and that’s about right. . . we shouldn’t have taken pictures of the gravesites. .it just seems wrong). Eventually we got to our 2nd stop: the Marine Corps Iwo Jima Memorial.

The bus dropped us off in the front of the Memorial, and then drove around to for us to meet it on the back side (where the other busses were waiting for their groups).

 

The sun set had turned the sky an amazing color of blue, so we got some beautiful pictures, and then headed to where our bus was. The guy who had switched seats at the prior stop? Switched seats AGAIN. .causing more chaos – this time splitting up a family of 3, so the little boy couldn’t sit next to Dad in the row behind Mom.

There was a lot of gnashing teeth, and again the guy pretended he didn’t know he was causing any issues. (and it turned out the girls he had displaced at the first stop were apparently his wife and daughter, as I caught the girl mumbling “I hate Dad” while they went back to their original seats. Everyone on the bus was now gossiping about this silly guy causing all the problems, but the displaced family announced they were trying to teach their kid that things don’t always go the way we want them to, and to roll with the punches. (I told her she was much more forgiving than I was, and that she was showing a valuable teaching moment that I wished I had her capacity to roll with it).

 

That died down, but we couldn’t leave yet, as the older lady that had been sitting in the row in front of us (saved her seat with her camera Tripod) wasn’t back on the bus. She had apparently gotten lost, or mixed up on direction, and the Driver had to actually get out and go look for her around the Memorial. He came back with her about 10 minutes later. . but this delay threw the tour off even more (we ended up getting back closer to 11 instead of by 10pm).

 

We crossed back into DC using the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge, and came up behind the Lincoln Memorial, which was our 3rd and final stop of the tour. We had 30 minutes here for Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and the Korean War Memorial.

 

Did you know the Lincoln Memorial has an elevator? We did, because luckily the Driver mentioned it to the older lady in the row in front of us. .it’s on the left side of the memorial, and you enter at the base (where there’s a small museum), and then elevator puts you out just on the left of Lincon – in the alcove where his famous “4 Score” speech is etched into the Marble wall. There was simply no way we could have made all those steps in the 30 minutes allotted, so the elevator saved us.

 

Impressive, Impressive memorial. . just absolutely stunning when it’s all lit up at night, and since it was open until 11pm, we were able to look briefly into the museum (we missed the Gift shop, not realizing it was on the Lincoln level, so we had gone back down already). We decided NOT to do the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (for the same reason I didn’t want to do the Holocaust Museum). . but we did try to find the Korean War Memorial, and tho we did spot it from the path back to the bus, we didn’t make the trek to it to take any pictures, as by now it was truly dark.

 

Once everyone got back on the bus (and shock and amazement, seat-switch guy moved back to his *original* seat. .so everyone was happy for the ride back), and we went up the North side of the National Mall, past the lit up WWII Memorial, and then zoomed by the White House. I’m sure this tour typically spends a little more time slowing down so folks can look at the White House, but as I mentioned, we were well over 40 minutes behind by this point, so instead of even stopping, we just went across the intersection in front of the White House slowly. I ended up with only two pictures: 1 blurry, and 1 sorta blurry.

 

I was disappointed, but I realized that we were running late, and the truth was we had gotten good pictures from the Washington Monument on Friday Night. . so the very brief pass by the White House didn’t knock down my score on this tour at all, and I heartily recommend it to anyone who will be in DC.

 

We got back to Union Station just before 11, and we immediately went down to the Metro, where we had to wait a little bit for the next train (it was late on a Sunday, so the trains were only every 20 minutes), but soon we were walking back from the Foggy Bottom Station to our Hotel.

 

Even tho we had eaten a big lunch, it was now over ten hours later, so I was hungry (Nick still had leftovers from the prior night’s dinner w/ Ben and Mark in the room). I hate eating so late, but since our hotel was attached to a GWU Dorm, I had seen a 7-11 the prior day. So we passed the Hotel entrance and went around the corner to the 7-11, where I got crap from the 7-11 grill to eat in the room, from a guy who looked annoyed that we came in when he just wanted to talk on the phone. . LOL. . to be honest, at least I didn’t finish it. . I put too much nacho cheese and relish on the Hot Dogs, and it just made a mess.

 

Shockingly, it did not give me heartburn tho! We stayed up for about an hour watching the news (still no info on what had happened at the Metro Station). We turned in, I think, close to 12:30 am. . but we had planned to sleep in the next day. We were going to be checking out, going to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space near the Dulles Airport, and checking into our 3rd hotel for the last night of Vacation. . so we knew we didn’t have to get up super early.

Library of Congress

Pulling up around to the front of the Capitol, facing the Mall

Supreme Court

Supreme Court

Library of Congress

Looking out at the Mall, from front of Capitol -- with fountains in scaffolding for repairs.

Smithsonian Castle from the road along the National Mall

Washington Monument from the road along the National Mall

National Holocaust Museum

a bit further out, past 1st reflecting pool from the Mall

a bit further out, past 1st reflecting pool from the Mall

Library of Congress

Library of Congress

Close up on fountain in front of Library of Congress

Looking out at the Mall, from front of Capitol -- with fountains in scaffolding for repairs.

front of the Capitol, facing the Mall

front of the Capitol, facing the Mall

Washington Monument from the MLK Memorial.

Pulling out from Union Station

MLK Memorial

Jefferson Memorial from the MLK Memorial

Nick and Jefferson Memorial from across the lake.

Me at FDR Memorial

Me and FDR statue at the Memorial

Back of Lincoln Memorial as we are heading across to Arlington Cemetary

Heading back toward the National Mall, as it's getting dark

Iwo Jima Memorial

Part of plaque on the Iwo Jima Memorial

Iwo Jima Memorial

Iwo Jima Memorial

National Mall all lit up

Coming up on the Lincoln Memorial

Famous "4-score" speech, in the marble inside the Lincoln Memorial (where the elevator drops you off)

Looking at Lincoln from the speech wing.

It really is massive and beautifully done. You don't realize how big it is, until you are standing right in front of it.

attempted selfie with the reflecting pool and Washington Monument behind us. . . look at those jowls!

 

Could have used a selfie-stick!

Nick and Lincoln

blurry, but from the front steps of Lincoln Memorial

Me and a giant penny in the small museum in the base of the Monument

Looking back as we head towards the bus

WWII Memorial (from the bus)

WWII Memorial (from the bus) with Lincoln Memorial behind it.

WWII Memorial (from the bus) with Lincoln Memorial behind it.

White House as we went by on bus

Best picture I got of the White House

the single layer, double decker bus used for this tour

[bert425]

Me in the hotel lobby posting to TPR while on our trip. . I couldn't help myself!

[bert425]

Day 8: our last full day of Vacation

After a restful night (I’m guessing we slept so well because we were simply exhausted) we were up and moving about by 10am. We double-checked to make sure we hadn’t left anything in the room, and headed downstairs to check out. Once again, since I had pre-paid for everything (other than 3 days parking at the hotel) via Expedia.. I was checked out in under 1 minute, and the car had already been retrieved from the garage and was parked waiting for us.

 

I had been expecting to have a little bit of time in the lobby to read over my directions – we were going to go to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space (off Mall) museum, and I hadn’t been able to look at my directions because I had left the bundle of paperwork in the car (which we hadn’t touched for 3 days).

 

I forgot to mention that the prior evening as we were rushing out of the Mall Air and Space Museum, I tried to go to the information desk to get directions for the off site. It was at 7pm, and I caught the people just as they were leaving the desk. She was actually pretty rude to me and told me that they didn’t have any driving directions handy, and that she had already turned off the printer, so she would NOT print me out one. So I asked her why the information desk was closing early, if the museum was open until 7:30 with summer hours. And she sniffed at me that “they are all volunteers, and had stayed an hour later than they should have”. .and then she and her co-information desk clerk walked off.

 

Yeah. . bitchy.

 

So anyways, I had expected to have time to review my directions, since I was worried they would be as bad as the ones we had tried to use to GET to the hotel. But the car was already there, blocking the driveway, so we quickly tossed our suitcases in, and pulled out. Luckily, a quick glance told me we were simply going around the block of the hotel, to go straight out the front, across the Teddy Roosevelt bridge into Alexandria, and then onto the Highway towards Dulles airport.

 

I had actually managed to plan the trip where we never had to drive on a tollway, and that was the case here, but he Highway is odd, in that for certain hours, all lanes are restricted to HOV lanes (meaning you need 2 or more people in your car). This didn’t affect us, as we were heading out that way past 10am, but I could see it really sucking if you HAD to get to work at a certain time, but couldn’t drive on the highway until the HOV lane hours were over! It also helped that we were headed *out* of DC, so while there was a bit of traffic coming into the city, it was on the other side against us. The same proved true on the way back later, as we were driving towards DC while the city was emptying out of Monday workers.

 

Anyways, it was a pretty uneventful drive of about 40 minutes -- except for a mini-fight about why hadn’t I looked up where to return the car (because I hadn’t expected for the car to be ready immediately? I thought I’d have time to look on the computer). I was really glad we had flown into Reagan, as it was right across the river from DC, but soon enough we saw planes coming in for landings, and we were turning into the Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles airport.

 

The Smithsonian Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center Museum is the companion museum to the Air and Space on the National Mall, but this one has the stuff that’s simply too big to display there: such as the Space Shuttle Discovery, a Lockheed Blackbird, a Concorde, and the Enola Gay (the plane that dropped the Atomic bomb in WWII).

 

In addition, there are tons of display cabinets all around the vehicles, crammed with paraphernalia, flight suits, cool stuff (such as toys and models in the Space section.. including an R2D2 painted Mailbox, and one of the mother ship models from “Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind”).

I only saw it once, so I forgot that one of the Transformers films dealt with an ancient Transformer “hiding” in this museum as the Blackbird. . so there was a large display with movie props and toys based on that film as well. They also have an observation tower, and an IMAX theater, as well as a huge McDonalds.

They charge parking here, but otherwise, as a Smithsonian, it’s a free museum.

 

We pulled in and I noticed it was really very empty. As an off-site museum, I had expected that it would be no where near as crowded as the ones on the mall, but I was pleasantly surprised how empty the lot was. And as I’m thinking this, the Universe said “HAHAHA” and several schoolbusses pulled in

 

I hustled Nick to get into the museum, as our first stop was going to be the Observation Tower (as the Museum guides had recommended), and I wanted to get up there before all the busloads of kids. Turned out to be the correct call. . the elevators take you to the top of the tower (Guards control how many are allowed at once), where you can watch planes coming in for landings at Dulles, and they pipe in the cock-pit conversations between the pilots and the tower at the Airport. Very, very interesting. Once you have looked out the 360 views, you go down a level for a whole exhibit on how the Tower controls air traffic, and how the whole system works. . . we were in this part of the tower when the kids started pouring in, so we quickly got in line to exit and went back down to the main museum where I asked at information the best way to tackle this huge museum (with no real Exhibits. . basically just two giant hangers loaded with stuff).

 

This place is so big, that even after the busloads of kids got in, the museum still seemed to be pretty empty! (except for when we stopped for lunch in the McDonalds. ..*then* you really noticed the kids, LOL). So we chatted with the Info guy, and he suggested just going on the catwalks past the Motion rides (which we weren’t gonna do), over the “Pre-1920 Aviation section, and down the center of the main hanger (passing right in front of the B29 Superfortress Enola Gay, the Northrop Black Widow, the Boeing 307 Stratoliner “flying cloud”, the Lockheed Blackbird, and the Vietnam era hellicoptors on the right, and looking over the Boeing 367, the Air France Concorde, and the Lockheed Super Constellation on the left – not to mention all the hang gliders, balloon baskets, and smaller planes suspended high from the ceiling).

This pathway brought us all the way back to the Restoration Hanger, where there were several vehicles in different levels of restoration, and some video screens showing how they fix up the vehicles for display. We then walked along the back of the hanger to the connected “Space Hanger” (where the Space Shuttle Discovery is on display along with all kinds of missiles and rockets, as well as astronaut mobile quarantine facility trailers (that they used basically like “decompression” to get used to life once back from space). Once in the Space hanger, we went down to “floor level” and just started in the back of the Hanger and worked our way forward. This was the most interesting section to us, and we spent a good 45 minutes just in this one hanger, watching video of the shuttle taking off, and looking at the racks and racks of memorabilia on display (and posing for some up-charge museum pictures of us photoshopped into space-suits. .that of COURSE we bought!).

 

We headed to the left of the main hanger, getting closer looks at the exhibits hanging in the areas: General Aviation, Sport Aviation, German WWII Aviation, Ultralights, Vertical Flight (early helicoptors, and gyrocopters), Commercial Aviation, Business Aviation, and Aerobatic Aviation. This took about an hour, although we weren’t reading most of the detailed info, it’s just such a big area, that it takes that long to walk the big rectangle on this side of the Museum.

 

We were getting hungry, so stopped and paid way too much at the McDonald’s – it was among the most expensive ones I’ve ever seen, but I guess captive audience. . the lines were huge. But at least the food was what you’d expect from McDonald’s. . so edible. (better than the food we had at Kings Dominion). . and actually, it was slightly cheaper too, if I’m not mistaken.

 

It was getting to be just about time to check in for our flight the next day (on Southwest, you check in 24 hours in advance), but I had rushed Nick from the car to beat the school busses in, I had forgotten the flight info I needed for the check in. So out to the car we went (in the heat!). . . and retrieved the flight info. Nick had been nervous, but I assured him how easy it was to check in and I could do it on his smart phone. We killed some time in the Museum (where we got some T-shirts and a super hard puzzle), and then went to find a spot with good WiFi, waited a few minutes, and I checked us in in seconds. With that out of the way? We were ready to finish the other side of the museum.

 

We were really starting to feel it by this time (all the walking), so we breezed thru World War II Aviation (non-German), Interwar Aviation, Cold War Aviation, Korea and Vietnam, and Modern Military Aviation, thanked the volunteers at the info desk, and headed out to the car around 3pm.

 

So we had spent a total of ~4 ½ hours in this museum.

 

Ehausted, we headed back the way we came, (early enough that traffic was light regardless), and about 40 minutes later I spotted the exit we needed to take for our hotel. Our hotel was on 27th street, and while we were looking, Nick kept reminding me. . as soon as we check in, we’ve GOT to find out where we need to go to return the car in the morning!

 

We passed 23rd street, and saw an Exxon. .and said, oh good, we can refill the tank there!, but didn’t spot the hotel yet. But we had to be close. As I’m looking to the left at the Hotels (Hyatt, Radison, ect. . so I knew we were very close) . Nick shouted “hey!!”. . and I look to my right on 25th street. . . .and wouldn’t you know it?

 

Dollar Rent a Car.

 

yep, the place we had to go to return the car, the place we were so worried we wouldn’t be able to find. . .was *literally* across the street from the final hotel.

 

We could not believe it. . .LOL. So we went up half a block more, and I saw our hotel on the left, and we turned in, and I went in to check in.

I told the guy about the funny situation with the rental car place and said that if I had known, or realized, the return was right across the street, I would have had us return the car now, and we could have taken the airport shuttle from the hotel in the morning! He laughed, and asked if I wanted to do that? We had negotiated a price and an arrangement with Dollar that if we returned the car by 11am, we would save almost $100 from the very good price that we were getting anyways, so I figured why mess with that negotiation, and we’d just return the car tomorrow.

 

So the front desk clerk then tells me that the cost to park in their garage overnight is $27. I think I flat out said to him, “you’ve got to be shitting me”. If they were going to charge us to park overnight – in a hotel we were already paying $270 for 1 night for (by far the highest price we had paid. .and almost DOUBLE what we had paid per night in DC near the National Mall)..then he either needed to give me a deal, or we’d go an return the car now and just deal with the consequences of early return.

 

He asked me what I thought I should pay, and I told him reasonably, $14 (about ½ of the standard rate), and he nodded and shook my hand, and said “ok”.. and then comped me the parking. Nick and I discussed it, and our guess is that because I had not asked for free, but instead offered what I considered to be fair, based on us staying there?. . that’s why he offered it free.

 

Regardless, we took the pass, and the room keys, and pulled the car into the underground parking garage. This hotel is odd, in that you take an elevator from the garage into the main lobby, but then have to move to the elevator next door to go up to the rooms. Usually, the “parking” elevator wouldn’t be in the lobby right next to the room ones.. but because they were, when we got out in the lobby, I asked the front desk about the hours for the hot tub (since I really wanted to soak for a bit) and any suggestions for dinner in the area.

 

We got to the room, and as I may have mentioned, it was by far the worst room of the trip, and it stung extra because it was the most expensive one. It was a corner room, but the view was of a construction site, and a bank building. . the A/C was super weak, so the room never really did cool down to a comfortable sleeping level, and the mattresses on the beds were worn out and a bit saggy in the center (this last room had two twins instead of a king, so we had to sleep separate).

I wasn’t in the mood to fight with the desk over a better room, so instead we changed to swimsuits and headed down to the indoor pool/hot tub.

 

I knew it was trouble when we walked into the pool area, and the raised section where the hot tub should have been – was tiled over, and had loungers sitting there.

There was a college age lifeguard on duty (who looked a bit annoyed when we came in, because he couldn’t sit and read his book) .. but based on his presence and the long list of rules posted at the pool? This hotel gets a lot of kids, and has had some incidents with horseplay resulting in injury.

 

As the lifeguard WATCHED us like a hawk. I mean, he watched us swim. And the water was not warm (we were on the shady side of the building in the afternoon, so although he said the pool was 78, it was cold). So this didn’t help my back at all, and Nick only swam for 5 minutes or so before getting out. (I lasted about 20, but for me it was out of spite, because as long as I was in the pool, the lifeguard had to move around looking busy, folding towels, and wiping down chairs, and testing balances in the pool).

 

We threw in the towel after that and decided that we’d go out to eat something, since we had to put gas in the car anyways. We went to the street (close-by) where the Desk Clerk recommended, and although there are a lot of restaurants there, they were all Fru-fru ethnic places (imagine Whole Foods as a restaurant row), with no parking! The Clerk had thought we were going to walk over to the restaurants. So we just filled up the car with gas at the Exxon, and went back to the Hotel, and ate dinner in the Bistro area that all the Marriott Couryards on this trip had. We chatted with the bartender ladies, and had a drink with dinner. .then headed back up to the room to relax, pack, and get ready to head out in the morning.

 

 

Day 9: Nothing really to report here. . we got up by 10, checked out and returned the car across the street by 10:40, and were at the airport for our 2pm flight by 11:15. There is NOTHING to do at the airport, so we paid way too much for a tiny coke (8oz for $3.99, really??), and a sandwich. .and simply watched a bird trapped in the terminal fly around for a couple of hours.

 

the flight left on time, and was completely full, but at least the person between us was a skinny teenager. On the flight from Houston to Austin, it was a bigger guy, but that’s only a 30 minute flight, so no biggie. We got home to a hot house (the A/C had been off), but we turned on everything, hopped in the shower, and then crashed hard.

 

And other than picking Roxxi up from the Vet/Boarding the next day (over $500 for medical boarding), that was our vacation together this year.

 

Hope you enjoyed reading!

Me outside the museum with a big ball. . nope, not sure why we took this either. . .LOL

The Observation Tower at the Smithsonian Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center Museum

View from the Observation Tower towards Dulles Airport. It was cool you could hear the pilots communicating with the tower there.

View from the Observation Tower towards the entrance (parking lot still pretty empty)

Super-fortress Enola Gay (from the main catwalk)

Super-fortress Enola Gay (from the main catwalk)

from the main catwalk, looking at part of the Boeing 737, and the Air France Concorde behind it.

cockpit of Super-fortress Enola Gay

Restoration area (they were working on some WWII artifacts)

Restoration area (they were working on some WWII artifacts)

Space Shuttle Discovery, from the catwalk.

Nick and Space Shuttle Discovery.

me and Space Shuttle Discovery.

Lockheed Blackbird (my favorite plane. the X-men had one!)

Nick and Lockheed Blackbird

Lockheed Blackbird.

WWII plane

WWII plane from catwalk.

I *think* this was the Stratoliner "flying cloud"

cool little plane that unsnaps in the center, then you can drive off to do things at your destination.

overview of the main hangar

overview of the main hangar looking the other way.

the Ascent Sculpture at the entrance to the museum.

 

"The sculpture commemorates the human journey of flight, echoing the sweeping grandeur of the museum's collection."

Us in space suits!

us with Discovery

[Firechaser]

You didn't walk around the WWII memorial that is my favorite! I also have a story about the statue of President Roosevelt in the wheelchair. When I went at the end of March there was a girl that was in a wheelchair sitting right beside the statue of the President. It is hard to describe but it was one of the best feel good moments that I have ever seen.

[bert425]

You didn't walk around the WWII memorial that is my favorite! I also have a story about the statue of President Roosevelt in the wheelchair. When I went at the end of March there was a girl that was in a wheelchair sitting right beside the statue of the President. It is hard to describe but it was one of the best feel good moments that I have ever seen.

 

We walked by the WWII memorial on our first evening in DC (the same night we went up to the top of the Washington Monument).

 

we passed it again on the Monuments by Moonlight tour, but no, we didn't spend a great deal of time there. . too much to see and do

 

neat story on FDR Memorial. Luckily we were there on a Sunday night (as part of our tour), so not too crowded, but we still had to crop folks out of the pictures.

[TBpony414]

Looks like you had a really fun trip! The FDR and WWII memorials are so pretty with all their fountains. I can totally imagine that weirdo on the Monuments By Moonlight tour swapping bus seats and causing chaos... Hard to imagine how people like that exist and yet somehow function normally in the world! I've enjoyed reading your TR and am sad to see it end. Looking forward to your next TR... whenever and wherever that is

[bert425]

Looks like you had a really fun trip! The FDR and WWII memorials are so pretty with all their fountains. I can totally imagine that weirdo on the Monuments By Moonlight tour swapping bus seats and causing chaos... Hard to imagine how people like that exist and yet somehow function normally in the world! I've enjoyed reading your TR and am sad to see it end. Looking forward to your next TR... whenever and wherever that is

 

Thanks so much!

 

glad you enjoyed reading it. . I love typing it up for my friends, and nice to hear folks here at TPR like my writing style.

 

Our "family" vacation -- the one we take together -- tends to be in May or June of each year (tho last year we went to the Caribbean on a cruise in November. . I did an FB trip report for that one, but never posted it here, since it was Cruise specific). But once we plan our trip for next year, I'll have an idea what we're gonna be doing.

 

I have a feeling it will be West Coast, with Disneyland, Universal, and Magic Mountain..but we shall see. (Cedar Point is still on my wish-list too).

 

here's the TR I did last year for our trip thru Pennsylvania, hitting Kennywood, Knoebel's, HersheyPark, and Dorney, as well as all the culture in Philly. . if you missed it:

 

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=68306

 

best,

bert

[bert425]

Looking forward to your next TR... whenever and wherever that is

 

it's still almost a year away, but now we're discussing Florida.. . we've got the itch to try out Busch Gardens Tampa (w/ Disney, of course).

 

we shall see. Magic Mountain vs BGT is what it's going to come down to.

[jimmiemac02]

I really enjoyed reading your TR! I've been to DC way to many time to count, so much so that I was a tour guide for my Boy Scout Troop. I wasn't too big of a fan of the Air and Space museum at Dulles. It was just a big hangar. I much prefer the one on the mall, but it is always so crowded. The National Postal Museum is always on my must do list, there is hardly anyone ever there and you can go down and get a hot dog in Union Station. Nice job staying next to a METRO station. It is definitely the best way to get around DC.

 

I do hope I could make it to BGW someday. As a kid, our family always went to Colonial Williamsburg (which I really enjoyed!) but I could never persuade them to take me to BGW or the waterpark. CW isn't everybody's cup of tea, but I really enjoy learning, and it "brought history to life." We really enjoyed some of the shows and programming they offered there, we even went to a concert inside the governors mansion, it was so cool!

[TBpony414]

Our "family" vacation -- the one we take together -- tends to be in May or June of each year (tho last year we went to the Caribbean on a cruise in November. . I did an FB trip report for that one, but never posted it here, since it was Cruise specific). I have a feeling it will be West Coast, with Disneyland, Universal, and Magic Mountain..but we shall see. (Cedar Point is still on my wish-list too). Here's the TR I did last year for our trip thru Pennsylvania, hitting Kennywood, Knoebel's, HersheyPark, and Dorney, as well as all the culture in Philly. . if you missed it:

 

TPR loves cruises too! Any of those trips for next year would be great. Seeing as I just went to Cedar Point for the first time in 15 years this month I'd say go for that, but there isn't much else to do in that area. Definitely take 2 full days to do the park and stay on-site FOR SURE. Lots of perks including big discounts for admission and early entry. Since all the hotels are on the island you don't have to take shuttles or drive anywhere. This was a big one for us as I get tired very easily so we were able to walk 5-10 mins back every afternoon for an hour or two to rest. Another member here stayed at Breakers and loved it. They were booked up so we stayed at Sandcastle Suites which was a bit dated but completely fine and we would stay there again. Recommend the Corkscrew Wing if you stay there... nice and quiet.

 

I didn't see your Philly TR last year and just read through the entire thing! Storm Runner is one of my favorite rides anywhere.

[bert425]

I really enjoyed reading your TR! I've been to DC way to many time to count, so much so that I was a tour guide for my Boy Scout Troop. I wasn't too big of a fan of the Air and Space museum at Dulles. It was just a big hangar. I much prefer the one on the mall, but it is always so crowded. The National Postal Museum is always on my must do list, there is hardly anyone ever there and you can go down and get a hot dog in Union Station. Nice job staying next to a METRO station. It is definitely the best way to get around DC.

 

I do hope I could make it to BGW someday. As a kid, our family always went to Colonial Williamsburg (which I really enjoyed!) but I could never persuade them to take me to BGW or the waterpark. CW isn't everybody's cup of tea, but I really enjoy learning, and it "brought history to life." We really enjoyed some of the shows and programming they offered there, we even went to a concert inside the governors mansion, it was so cool!

 

Thanks!

 

you absolutely should make it down to BGW, it's only a 3 hour drive from DC, and if you time it right, you can hit Kings Dominion on the way down too.

 

BGW is an absolutely beautiful park, and although 2 days was plenty of time, we actually DID go back the 3rd day for some re-rides

 

hope you get to make it there soon!

[bert425]

Our "family" vacation -- the one we take together -- tends to be in May or June of each year (tho last year we went to the Caribbean on a cruise in November. . I did an FB trip report for that one, but never posted it here, since it was Cruise specific). I have a feeling it will be West Coast, with Disneyland, Universal, and Magic Mountain..but we shall see. (Cedar Point is still on my wish-list too). Here's the TR I did last year for our trip thru Pennsylvania, hitting Kennywood, Knoebel's, HersheyPark, and Dorney, as well as all the culture in Philly. . if you missed it:

 

TPR loves cruises too! Any of those trips for next year would be great. Seeing as I just went to Cedar Point for the first time in 15 years this month I'd say go for that, but there isn't much else to do in that area. Definitely take 2 full days to do the park and stay on-site FOR SURE. Lots of perks including big discounts for admission and early entry. Since all the hotels are on the island you don't have to take shuttles or drive anywhere. This was a big one for us as I get tired very easily so we were able to walk 5-10 mins back every afternoon for an hour or two to rest. Another member here stayed at Breakers and loved it. They were booked up so we stayed at Sandcastle Suites which was a bit dated but completely fine and we would stay there again. Recommend the Corkscrew Wing if you stay there... nice and quiet.

 

I didn't see your Philly TR last year and just read through the entire thing! Storm Runner is one of my favorite rides anywhere.

 

Thanks for the CP info. I'm not sure we'd plan a whole vacation around it (since as you may have noticed, we like to mix in culture/museum stuff as well on the week long trips).. but maybe we can manage a weekend trip just for that park.

 

Yeah. . I loved Storm Runner, tho I HATED Skyrush