Trip north – part 3 and final!

We decided to change plans and switch our day in NYC to an extra day in DC on the way home. That worked out very well because the weather in DC was incredibly nice and it was supposed to rain all day in NYC. Also, there were very few people in DC – so no crowds. Whoo hoo!

This time, we took the metro system in to avoid trying to decipher the parking sign codes of DC. I may be the only one, but they make NO sense to me! On a previous trip years ago, my car got “towed” because I was parked in the wrong spot at the wrong hour.

We took a tour of the capitol building where they do a nice job of including all of the states in the presentation. Here are the kids near a Helen Keller statue (she was from Alabama).

John at the Supreme Court building. John and kids taking a little break from walking. It was so warm that John and Savannah wore short sleeves all day!

The sky was gorgeous again this day – the next few pictures are some of my favorites! Especially the tree – my fb friends may recognize it already. This was a tree near the capitol building.

Most of the museums in DC are free, but the National Building Museum is not. We went into the courtyard area and enjoyed lunch instead. It was very pretty in there and we were feeling like it has been part of a movie – anybody know?

Lion statue outside of the police museum. Outside Ford’s Theatre where Lincoln was assassinated.

Outside the FBI building. I like the row of flags. At dusk, the Washington Monument looked cool against the sky.

And the National “Holiday” tree. Very funny because it was dinky this year. I know different states have the honor of sending in the tree, but I was surprised at how small it was. So small, that a foreign, Asian-looking man stopped us to inquire where the tree was … and we were only about 1/2 block away. It was “hiding” behind a small tent that was also part of their display!

On the final leg of our trip home, we stopped in at Liberty University where John did his undergraduate studies. It was fun to see where he went to college and also for him to see the changes. We stayed the night in Knoxville, TN the last night and I have always loved seeing Historic Knoxville High from the freeway. It wasn’t far from our hotel, so we drove past to get a picture.

We arrived home on Christmas Eve and enjoyed a pretty quiet rest of the year at home. Loved all of the neat places and people that we saw, but it is also nice to be home.