On the Move Again! Washington DC

If you ever have a chance to travel to our nation's capital...GO!  It is an amazing place with many many adventures.  There are monuments like Abraham Lincoln's pavilion or Jefferson's Memorial.  Both have small displays in the basement and of course a gift shop!  You can even go up into the Washington Monument - the Obelisk and look out on the city.  Memorials to visit to pay your respects! There are museums to examine and dally in. Just hop on the trolley, pay your fee and take the tour or the loop to all the sites.  You can hop on and hop off and get various passes for a day or several.  Walking can be a bit daunting...!

The Smithsonian is a group of museums and you could be exploring for days....

http://www.si.edu/Museums

There is the nation's Capitol to visit or the U.S. Supreme Court. The White House has a tour which you make your plans with your local Senator office months in advance and give a little information about yourself for security reasons.  I am planning to go this time. 

Here is an example of what your local Senator might have on their website and other links to other tours.
http://murray.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=VisitingWashingtonDC

Then there are the other amazing places to go like the DAR Library, the Library of Congress and the main National Archives.  As genealogists we can't go to DC without at least doing some research in one of these locations.  Don't forget that Washington DC has their own vital records and town hall.  Washington DC is bigger than just the District of Columbia in terms of genealogy.  So if you do research specific to D.C. you will need to consider the counties that touch it!




Me at the DAR a couple of years ago!

If you have anyone in your ancestry who could have been involved in the American Revolution than you have to go and visit the DAR library.  I have been their 2 times and it is wonderful.  They have placed a lot of their holdings online and are going digital now. 

Then there are plays to attend like at the Warner Theatre or art to see like the Philip's Collection.  The Kennedy Center has something going on all the time.  http://www.kennedy-center.org/index.cfm

http://www.warnertheatre.com/ We saw Terri Hatcher there in Cabaret before Desperate Housewives.  She is tall, thin and she did a good job stepping into the Liza Minnelli role. 

http://www.phillipscollection.org/homepage.aspx  I wonder if they still have the Boating Party by Renoir? It is wonderful and much larger than you think!  I will let you know.

This will be my fifth visit to Washington D.C.  My hubby has a SIIM conference to attend.  So I am tagging along.  Washington D.C. hotels are expensive so you do have to do some serious strategizing to get a good deal.  You also want to book a hotel in the area you would like to be closest too and watch the Metro lines so you can use it.  http://reservations.washington.org/3903_hotel-list_m812_r825161.html

SIIM http://www.siimweb.org/index.cfm?id=6934  This is pretty technical stuff to understand.  I preferred the original name of SCAR. 

We will be there soon at Gaylord National http://www.gaylordhotels.com/gaylord-national/  This could be interesting.  The reviews are either they love it or hate it!