Adventure by Disney - Day 5 - Washington DC

Tuesday, October 14, 2008 – Day 5 – Washington DC

Pictures to be added later......

I was up this morning before 6 am and went out for a run. I had asked for suggestions from the concierge for running routes and he highlighted a map that seemed pretty straight forward. Unfortunately, navigating the streets of Washington DC is not as easy as the maps make it look. I got lost and a 3 mile run became an almost 5 mile run because I had trouble finding my way back to the hotel. What was interesting to me was that I had stopped to ask a few business people making their way to work how to get back to Connecticut Avenue and a couple of them did not know.

I got back to the hotel at just after 7 am. We had breakfast in the Café Promenade again – thank goodness Ron and Deb had gotten a big table, by the time we got to the Café, there was a long line. We met the rest of the Adventurers in the lobby at 8:15 am and boarded the bus for Mount Vernon. Greg was with us for one more day and reviewed the history of both Mount Vernon and Alexandria on our way to the Estate. We walked to the information center and looked around a little snapping pictures with the life-sized bronze figures of the Washington family. George was of average size but Martha was very short. We looked at the color map of the grounds and Ron pointed out that the last time he was here, they arrived right at the mansion. Indeed, the information center had just been built and opened in 2006. I stopped by the small souvenir stand and found a Mount Vernon magnet for our collection. The group met down by the model of the mansion and then went into the theater for a showing of the film “We Fight to be Free” which was a very good re-enacted account of Washington and the crossing of the Delaware in the middle of winter.

After the film, we left the information center and walked the grounds towards the mansion. When we reached the bowling green, Gary pointed out interesting facts about the grounds and then directed us towards the figures sitting on a far bench. We walked around the bowling green and met the costumed characters portraying their roles as servants – sewing a hat and knitting. We continued on to the mansion and were divided into 2 groups to tour the mansion. We saw the “newer” part of the mansion – the dining hall which, at the time, was a huge room and ornately decorated on every wall and on the ceiling. We moved on to the older portion of the house and saw the other dining areas, sitting rooms, and bedrooms. The kitchen area was last and then we moved out on to the grounds and took family pictures by the river.

We strolled leisurely back to the information center and went immediately into a private area of the Mount Vernon Inn restaurant where we were to have one of our pre-ordered lunches but before we were served, we were introduced to our “special guest”: Dr. Crain. The interaction with Dr Crain was very interesting and entertaining – he was one of George Washington’s closest friends and was trained in Edinburgh as a surgeon. Dr Crain served as the country’s first “surgeon general”. He answered questions for quite a while with a good amount of humor sprinkled in on top of his Scottish accent. When he finished, he then passed out our pins with the theme for the day: “Proudly we Hail”.

We all had the honey fried chicken which was very good served along with vegetables (squash, onion) and mashed potatoes. For dessert, we had the cherry pie. We thoroughly enjoyed our lunch and were given about an hour after lunch to explore the grounds. Gary took a group on a walking tour, Ron and Seth went to the gardens, and I took the kids to the interactive museum where we saw more about the life of George Washington and then watched the multimedia film about him complete with vibrating chairs and “snow” falling. We shopped the gift shop for a bit where Rhys bought a pop gun and Amina bought a small liberty bell before meeting the group in the lobby at 1:30.

We re-boarded the bus and went to the Capitol building where we posed for a group picture and then family pictures. From there, Deb went back on the bus back to the hotel and the rest of us walked to the Smithsonian museums. Amina and Ron went to the American Indian museum while Rhys, Seth, and I went next door to the Air and Space museum. We had agreed to meet at 5:15 to take the metro back to the hotel.

The air and space museum was very interesting but I would have liked to see one of the Imax films if we had had more time. After visiting most of the exhibits, we visited the museum store where Seth bought a couple of t-shirts and cap. Rhys got a spaceship pen and water toy that drips different colored oils – he was very entertained by this toy. We got Amina patriotic earrings (flag design painted on wood). We met up with Ron and Amina then made our way down to the metro station. Ron had bought Amina a beaded necklace at the American Indian museum gift shop as well.

The metro was pretty easy to navigate – we could take either the blue or orange line to the Farragut West stop – about 5 stations down the line. We got back to the hotel at about 5:40 and went back to the room to drop things off and freshen up. At just before 6, we met the other Junior Adventurers down in the lobby for their special pizza and movie night. Maria and Milca took us downstairs where they had tables/chairs and a pizza/drink station set up. In the room next door, they had a popcorn/drink station, large screen television, and plenty of blankets and large pillows on the floor. The kids were very excited and would spend 6-9 pm with Maria and Milca this evening.

We had made reservations at Café Promenade at 6:30 but didn’t really need them – the restaurant was not very crowded. For appetizer, I tried the avocado and crab meat which was lump crab meat mixed with avocado and a couple triangular pieces of flour tortilla crisps with more crab and black caviar on top. This was followed by the clam chowder and for the entrée, I tried the pan fried duck breast with figs and teriyaki reduction. We also ordered a bottle of malbec wine which, of course, was not going to be covered by Disney. Otherwise, the entire meal was Disney’s treat. The food was delicious and the service was very good. My only regret was that I had not anticipated needing anything “nice” to wear so I had nothing but running shoes and tennis shoes with me. We finished dinner just before 9 pm and picked the kids up sending them back up to the room to get ready for bed while Seth and I stepped out quickly to the CVS pharmacy looking for a Washington DC magnet but we never did find one. We decided to leave the packing for in the morning and turned lights off at around 10 pm.