We saw much during our trip to Virginia. Daughter 2 and her husband took in the monuments on their first day. They visited the Pentagon and then on Tuesday we planned to visit the museums. We made our way from the Capitol Building on down the Mall.
“The National Archives is just one street off the Mall. Let’s veer off here,” I suggested. “We can view the Declaration of Independence and continue on down.”
“No, not yet. We’ll see it on our way back,” they replied.
Knowing this was their trip, I didn’t insist. After all, I had made this trip several times. My daughter had been several times, but this was SIL’s first trip. I was just tagging along enjoying them view things together for the first time.
So I snapped a picture of the exterior just in case.
We continued on to visit the Museum of Natural History, the American History Museum and then looped around to visit the back and front of the White House.
On our way back to the car, I reminded them again, “Now is our chance to visit the National Archives.” My son-in-law looked skeptically at the line visible from the front and wrapped around the building. They walked on. Taking this as a “no” I stopped two twenty-somethings and asked them if it was a long wait.
“Oh, no,” they informed me. “The line looks long but it moves right along. We were in and out in twenty minutes.”
“Let’s go.” Now I was insisting. “We can do this, get to the car and beat the rush hour traffic.” Still I was met with a negative.
“We’ll go on Thursday when we visit the Air and Space Museum,” they answered.
On Thursday the weather took a turn for the worse. The temperatures were frigid yet D2 and SIL went in to the city again together. I stayed home with our little guy to keep him out of the weather and prepare a Thank you dinner for my sister and other family members for our last evening together.
“Where did you go?” I asked them when they returned home in mid afternoon. “We visited the Holocaust Museum and the Air and Space Museum.”
“Did you get to the National Archives?” I asked.
“No, we’ll go on our next trip back.”
What have you seen or do you plan to see the second time around?
What an amusing tale. Isn’t it strange how some things draw us in while we’re traveling or visiting a new city, and others simply don’t — no matter their reputation?
The list of places I want to visit on my next swing through Kansas and the Panhandle is lengthy. Monument Rocks in northwestern Kansas (a Badlands-type landscape), Cheyenne Bottoms and Quivira wetlands, Palo Duro Canyon, and more sections of the trail itself. Oh. And the Rocky Mountains. I don’t want to fly into Colorado, I want to see the mountains the way the pioneers would have seen them — after miles and miles and miles of flat!
There just wasn’t enough time to see it all. Washington takes several visits. And now that my SIL has discovered my sister’s “bed and breakfast” and his uncle gave him a guided tour of the Pentagon, I have no doubt that they will return.
I’m with you in that I want to return to our West. I haven’t seen Bryce Canyon, Zion or Monument Valley yet. Someday.
btw Here’s a link to the Denver Airport. Click on the image on the right of the wikipedia entry to view the snow capped mountain design of the airport.
Whenever Motor Man and I miss seeing or doing something, he’ll say: “That just means we have to go back another time!”.
We surely do. 🙂
I’m getting less interested in seeing all the sights as I get older. I like a few things (emphasis on few) and then a nice coffee and treat! Last time I went to San Francisco (it was my husband’s first trip but I had been there many times) I wisely took the tour bus. It satisfied a lot of my husband’s curiosity and pinpointed what he wanted to go back to see in better detail. I want to take him to New Orleans. He hasn’t been there yet and we will probably do the same although I am a sucker for their coffee and beignets!
It’s nice to go back. I’m with you, I’m less about seeing all the sights now and more about spending time with the family and friends nearby. I’ve noticed lately, I’m not visiting any place that is not connected to a family member or friend.
So much to see, so little time. As I read, I was rooting for the National Archives: Oh yes! All that history and those documents in one place! Sounds like you had a fun family experience.
Thank you, thank you, valleygrail, for pulling along with me. You and I know, that may or may not happen in life. How nice to have the young and optimistic faith of “We’ll be back.”
yup, you’ll have to go back. 🙂
I want to and with them, again.
I’ve learned that it’s nearly impossible to see everything I “planned” on during any given trip so I’ve tried to just absorb what does come my way — sometimes the most interesting part of the trip is the deviations it takes 🙂
MJ
Yes, I think I will remember the trip to the ER and the fox on the Mall, much longer than having missed the National Archives this trip.:)
You are absorbing history and making family memories simultaneously. Great!
What have I seen or do I plan to see the second time around? Good question: Because my husband is from the West, we have been to the Monterey coast and Carmel more than once. I’d love to return to Alberta and British Columbia to again the Canadian Rockies. We will probably visit the Smokies this summer where we honeymooned near Asheville, NC over 46 years ago.
Sounds lovely. I have driven through the Carolinas and the mountains and green are beautiful. You’ve been married 46 years? Rick and I celebrated 36 last summer.
Being from the D.C. area I know it’s hard to see everything in one trip. I lived there for over 40 years and didn’t see everything that I would have liked to. When sites are in your back yard, I suppose you have a tendency to think you’ll get around to it sometime.
I’d love to go back to St. Lucia, it was a beautiful island.
As often as I have visited the Space Centers in Houston and Florida, there’s still so much to learn and remember.
I have been to Puerto Rico and Trinidad in the Caribbean. They are lovely. I can’t get enough of the canyons and mountains out west, though.
In all my 35 years, off and on, that I’ve been here, I have never been into the National Archives. There is always a reason not to, although I have really wanted to go for years! There was a long rennovation, after the National Treasure movie the lines were endless (with my health issues I really cannot do long lines) … always an excuse. Now it is spring and the crowds are here. Next winter. I promise.
I must admit I’ve only entered the Archives once. Still, I remember standing over the Declaration of Independence in awe, like I viewed the Mona Lisa at the Louvre and other masterpieces at the Prado and the Rijks Museum. There’s talk that the dinosaurs at the Museum of Natural History will be closed for years as they renovate those exhibits. One must seize the moment before things change. I’ve already told you how we got to see the Vermeer exhibit although the government shut down when we arrived. And you told me your husband’s employer made it possible. That was a near miss.
There is so much to see there & everything can easily be seen twice or more often and still enjoyed equally as much as the first. I’ve never seen the Holocaust museum so that will be a first on my next trip!!
Have you visited the one in Houston? It is so well done. It’s on Colquitt off of 288. If you ever have a free moment, perhaps we can take it in together. A teaching friend of mine and the friend I visited in Trinidad was a docent there, so I was sure to go back then.
It’s always a disappointment when you don’t get to go to a place you want while on vacation, even if you’re just tagging along on someone else’s vacation. Maybe next time you can insist on going on the first day of the trip. I bet you they’ll like it very much, and for you, since you’ve been there before, it’ll be even more gratifying to be able to share with them. Next time.
I have faith that there will be a next time, and if Papa Rick comes that time, we will be sure to visit. 🙂
You can never see everything on a trip. I always plan to see more than is humanly possible, especially when visiting historical places. I understand there is a lot to see on a trip like this. I’m sure you’ll be back to see what you missed.
They did visit the Washington Memorial Holocaust Museum which I have never visited. However, I have visited the Houston Holocaust Museum which is very good. Our younger generations must know the dangers of prejudice, violence and hatred. The Smithsonian has been called our “nation’s attic.” Attics are very interesting places.
That was a wonderful trip. So many interesting and treasured things and places to see and to discover. Thanks for sharing an unforgettable time with your family. Went finally in California and it was nice being around family and old friends. For the first time, I was able to walk the golden bridge. Happy Spring my friend and best of blessings to your family.
SF is such a beautiful place. The whole West Coast is beautiful. I’m glad you could return to visit.
Hello Georgette. I found you through Dianna and am enjoying your blog. Interesting question you bring up. The most recent thing I’ve “missed” and want to see next go-round is in Hamburg, Germany. We had a very short visit there and could only squeeze in a few sites. We saw the fascinating emigration museum at BallinStadt which is their version of our Ellis Island. Tells the story of how and why people left Europe, usually from the port in Hamburg. But the museum I really wanted to see, and didn’t, is the world-famous museum of miniatures: Miniatur Wunderland. It is supposed to be world-class and I missed it!!! Next time, right?
For sure next time! Welcome to my site. Please drop in any time.
You’re awfully polite when traveling with family. I would have said “Dangnabbit, we’re going to the Natl Archives right, damn, now!” But that is a nice picture you got of the outside.
Yes, it is with no Declaration of Independence to go with. (Isn’t that what you midwesterners say “go with”?) My husband would have convinced them, I’m sure of it. You gotta know Rick to understand. I will drip on them until they make it.
I would definitely go back again and probably go to the Holocaust museum. We should never forget.
We have a Memorial Holocaust Museum in Houston that I have visited several times. Artifacts there from a close friend’s father’s experience are certainly things I want my family to know about.
I like leaving one thing to come back for. It becomes a draw. I still haven’t made it to Versailles so Paris isn’t done with me yet….
You have a method to your traveling madness for Paris, eh? That way you assure yourself of going back.
There’s so much to see in DC. Mom and I went there when I was six or seven, with an aunt and a cousin, invited by an aunt who lived outside DC. I want to see all the things I couldn’t appreciate back then.
I rather take pride in the fact I can get around a place where I don’t live. I like to add one more destination with each trip to learn how to get to. This trip it was Richmond. I know how to get to Richmond now via 95. Still don’t understand how to get to the airport though. 🙂
Do you mean the airport in Richmond, or DC? My daughter has a story about dropping her hubby off at the airport (Dulles), and having a hard time getting back home! I’m pretty sure that was the last time, too.
Reagan. I have tried to learn it should I need to be the one to go fetch visitors from the airport, but it’s a maze.
Missing things that one hoped to see is always a bummer. Then again, being in a location as DC which has so much, one can’t see/do it all. But I’m still bummed that I didn’t get to the Mummers Museum in Philadelphia. …. and thanks for stopping by during my time away.
I didn’t realize you were moving already. I must admit I’m a bit jealous that you’ve made your move after a successful sale of your house. We’re packing here and still waiting for the right buyer. So far investors have approached us who want to acquire a rental property. We don’t want that for our neighbors or our home. Or, am I stalling? Have packed 45 boxes and more to do. We did get TV and internet installed in the country house yesterday.
We sold amazingly quick, but the packing process was more than stressful … and unpacking is much less so, but seemingly never ending. Good luck on your sale and move.