Easter Weekend I: On the National Mall

Living across the country from both our families, it’s not often we get to spend other than a major holiday with cousins, but we lucked out this year. Chad’s cousin Ben brought his family to Virginia for his five-month tour at the FBI academy, and we seized the chance to see them over Easter weekend.

We broke up the seven-hour drive down, staying outside Philadelphia Thursday night. Friday morning I stole away for breakfast with a friend while Chad and the kids indulged in pancakes and the hotel’s indoor heated pool.

We arrived in Washington, DC in the early afternoon, intending only to drive around the mall long enough to point out the major sights to Gavin and Arwen. But a block from the White House we stumbled across an open parking space. Minutes later we were trying to catch a glimpse of Sasha and Melia’s swing set on the White House lawn (no luck) and hustling past the Washington Monument. We took in the World War II monument, added since our last DC trip three years ago.

Then we turned our sights to the Lincoln Memorial. As Gavin skipped along next to the reflecting pool he gazed up at those white pillars and exclaimed, “That’s where Martin Luther King gave his speech!” (A proud moment – not unlike the one when Arwen would cry out “That’s Abraham Lincoln!” opon encountering a visitor’s center display the next day.) I was touched with the weight of cares pictured on President Lincoln’s face as I took in his massive sculpture inside the monument, then shed a tear reading the Gettysburg Address etched into the wall. How proud and humbled I am to live under the influence of those who gave so much to make this country what it is today.

Our trip out of DC included a visit to the Vietnam memorial and the Einstein monument. Then we were in for the first of several encounters with DC-area traffic before arriving at Ben and Carline’s place.

Next up: Civil War Battlefields of Virginia