The Nation's Front Lawn

Day 30: Holy mackerel, it’s been 30 days on the road trip and we aren’t even close to home! We are going to need a vacation from our vacation. We are finally in the depths of New England and are beginning our food quest.

After walking around the National Mall yesterday, our legs were a little stiff and our bodies didn’t want to get going. We hung out in the car for a bit to wake up and planned our next moves (all-day parking garage and which museums to see).

• Walking: Plan to walk A LOT. Wear supportive shoes (no sandals, open toed, etc.) because you can easily put on 10 miles (minimum).
• Water: Drink a lot of water BEFORE you leave the parking garage to prevent having to buy water/bring it with you. There are restrooms in all the museums.
• Parking Garage: Find an ALL DAY parking garage close to where you want to go. (We parked in the L’Enfant Plaza parking garage for $23 – found on a forum from a local).
• Free Museums: Check out websites and articles to learn about the free museums available.
• Public Transportation: There are Hop-On-Hop-Off buses for a $1 each ride to tour around the monuments, take you to museums, etc. Taxi cabs and peddle carts are everywhere and there are scooters/bikes to rent as well. Plenty of options to move! There are also trains (above and underground) that could help too.
• Friendly Attitudes: If you are ‘Minnesota/Northerner Nice’ to the staff working the museums and ask them about their favorite piece/artwork/exhibit, they may share with you inside secrets about hidden places to see, eat, go, experience, etc.

To get the D.C. exploration started, we parked in the L’Enfant Plaza parking garage and Chad was able to chat with the parking garage attendant to make sure our car wasn’t going to get towed (they parked us in assigned parking). The guy was really cheery and shared a handshake combination with Chad.

and headed to a Starbucks located in the basement plaza. It was about 9 a.m. and the foot traffic of business people was thick. There were only three places to sit in the Starbuck’s, otherwise the space was saved for lines of people. Chad caught up with some friends back home and went outside to chat while I blogged.

Chad and I talked later about how the attitudes of the people working in the store were short, non-conversational, abrupt and lacked any kind of cheery emotions. So, we might be getting closer to the New Yorker style of conversating??? Minnesota Nice rejected lol.

Destined towards the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, we marched along and made our way through the concrete jungle. It was a nice walk and we made it inside the front doors of the museum. Security (almost like the airport) checked bags and had us put our spare pocket items into buckets.

Chad always carries a flashlight and pocket knife with him, and security didn’t like the wee pocket knife. Options: either throw it away or go put it in the car. Back to the car we went. Then back towards the museum. (That’s a little over 3 miles right there and we haven’t even seen anything yet!).

A little flustered from the transaction, we ran into the same parking attendant and told him our story. Bummed for us, he shared some places to see and do (locally and in New York). Thanks, Mister!

Now able to ACTUALLY take part in the museums, we took part in the following:

(The ‘no security’ just means there is no check-point that takes place in the front entry of the building.)

Inside Wanderings of Buildings

• Slacker & Freer Galleries (no security)
• Smithsonian National Museum of African Art (no security)
• Smithsonian Castle (no security & original museum)
• Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (security)
• National Archives (security)
• National Gallery of Art (no security)

Outside Wanderings of Buildings

• Nation’s Capitol Building – front and back
• Supreme Court of the United States
• Library of Congress

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

National Gallery of Art

Left: The White Girl by James McNeill Whistler, 1862
Right: Katherine Marie by Helen Glen, 2015 (trying on Grandma Helen's wedding dress)

After avoiding the junk food street vendors on the streets all day, we walked ravenous to the The Dubliner Irish Pub (recommended from my friend Lisa).  We happened to have the only Irish-accent-speaking waiter in the whole joint and the food was super filling.  We really liked the flavors and the poutine was great (Chad’s had better at the Lowery in Uptown, Minneapolis).

Food Choices: Irish Poutine, Irish Beef Stew, and the Shepherd’s Pie.

After a full day of walking outside and inside museums, we were pooped. With full bellies, we walked back to the car around the Capitol and snapped some sun set shots. Again, the stone work and architecture on the trip is amazing and the skill people had to create these masterpieces is incredible.

We hopped in the car, relaxed our sore feet and headed out of town to a truck stop just outside of Baltimore. A pitstop at Trader Joe’s was necessary and we tried their Butter pint container. The grocery clerks totally jived with us and offered us a plethora of spoons; they understood the dire need to just dig in on the spot.