Julia’s DC Birthday 22-415: Around DC

The Plan

The plan is pretty loose. We have tickets to see the African American Museum to start the day, then we’ll eat a few meals and walk around and see what happens from there. The day is mostly an open, roaming, book. And we plan to just read the pages as they come to us.

Coffee Shop

I start the day by walking to Compass Coffee, which is a decent shop with coffee & pastries which I get us for dinner. It’s a nice morning out, and walking is good. Julia stays in the room, still waking up, while I walk to & fro listening to podcasts.

African American Museum

First stop is the African American Museum which is a line even though we have tickets. It moves fast and we’re in before too long. It is effectively a culture museum and I sort of realize that a real, real lot of the content here is part of my childhood. When you think about it, I was growing up in a time when it was becoming acceptable for black personalities to be their own people. The pool of things here are really based on 1970 and on, with much less content before that.

I found it really cool, lots of good stuff here.

Lunch

Lunch is at the Elephant & Castle, which is a place I have eaten in Chicago before as well. The food is decent.

Walkabout

We did a bunch of things after this. National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Walked around the Capitol Building. Did some people watching. Saw the Library of Congress (it was closed) and the Supreme Court.

We also saw various other buildings and walked around a bunch.

Hotel

Quick break late afternoon for a hotel rest. Just to lay down for a little bit.

More Walkabout

After the break, we did the National Mall and saw the Washington Monument, the WWII Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, and Vietnam Memorial. As a child post-Vietnam, I always have and still do find this war fascinating to me, captivating in a way. The music from that war shaped my childhood.