The Obsessive Neurotic Gardener

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Me and my clan spent the weekend in Washington D.C. and I’m happy to say we survived the trip:   
Now that the kids are 6 and 9, it is a lot more fun, not to mention a lot easier, traveling with them. They even sort of understood the appeal of visiting our nation’s capital. My son demanded certain photos that he could put in a PowerPoint presentation for school (I kid you not) and my daughter hasn’t stopped talking about the hotel pool and her “awesome” roll away bed. Good times.
My wife and I are nodding off as I write this so I’m going to proceed with as few words as possible and just show you the photos from our trip. You get it right?
We had hoped to time the trip perfectly for the cherry blossoms, but they were mostly “spent” due to the warmer than expected weather. I did manage to find one:
But most of the blossoms were enjoyed like this:
We hit the Air and Space Museum, the Museum of Natural History and the National Museum of the American Indian. They were all fantastic but I’ll spare you the details.
Since this is technically a “gardening” blog, I’ll show you some pics of the United States Botanical Garden. We visited on our way to the U.S. Capitol Building, as seen in the photo below:   

There were a ton of tulip blossoms out front:

And while it was still early in the season, there was still a lot to see:

While the blooms were small in number, there were still some to be found:

We then headed inside to the …

Dad got his plant fix so it was on to the U.S. Capitol Building:

Amazing how I always find flowers wherever I go:

Then it was the Lincoln Memorial:

And then the Arlington National Cemetary where my son was anxious to see the JFK gravesite and the eternal flame:

He just completed a project in school on JFK so he was educating us on a lot of the details.

We also made sure to visit the Tomb of the Unknowns and actually witnessed a changing of the guard. It was incredibly moving to witness and admittedly did not know that it was guarded 24/7 and 365 days each year: 

I also made a point to visit the memorial to those who died in the Challenger space shuttle explosion of 1986. I remember that day well, as I was home sick from school when it happened. I believe I was watching the Price is Right when they broke the news. It still haunts me today:

To see the sheer number of headstones and how they were all perfectly aligned, representing how the soldiers operated in both life and death, was difficult to truly grasp. Some day I would love to go back for an entire day to really get to understand all of the history of this place :    

Time for bed.

I love my kids, but it is time for them to go back to school so we can all get a little break from each other.

John

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10 Responses

  1. DC is a great trip for kids. Keeo traveling with the kids they do learn things besides how big the pool was! My 25 year old, still has the best memories from our travels. I did not realize there was a botanical conservatory in DC, great photos, Laura

  6. Wonderful photos, you have really captured the beauty of these gardens! Particularly like the tulip blossoms such vibrant colours!

  8. What a wonderful and beautiful trip!! You were there at just the right time. My parents took my sister and I to DC at about those same ages. It was an adventure I’ll never forget!! Enjoyed your series of photos very much. Almost makes me want to return to see for myself. ~karen

  10. This I think is your best blog love all the blue flowers you have. We had 6 children never got to Washinton D c but we went to Minn and saw all the state captial. My children travel well slept most of the time. I was watching when the Schuttle blew up I could not believe it. I sat down and cried and prayed for all the families. I have distance kin in Arlington Cemetary the most decorated man of world war 2 Audy(not spelt right) Murphy. John Berry Family

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