March 22, 2023-Spring Break in D.C.

(click for today's pictures)

We left a good bit earlier this morning so we could be at the Museum of the Bible near their opening time. We didn't make it because two factors delayed us. First there was an accident causing a slow down on the interstate. The GPS rerouted us another way, but it took just as long as going through the accident would have. That was fine with me though becuase I love looking around at everything we drive past. The second factor was parking. We have really had no problems finding parking each day, but today we were there too near the early morning so the parking spots weren't changing over. Most parking that we saw in the city was 2 hours so it seemed like some one was always moving their car.

We eventually did find parking and then found the Museum of the Bible. For us, it was cheaper for Robby to but a family pass so I guess we can come back another time this year. He paid a bit more for a few extra things for us to do there-which made Whitman's trip.

The first thing that we did was a virtual reality tour of the Holy Land. It was about 10 minutes long, It was really pretty neat. Now, Whitman's headset took longer to work than the rest of ours, so we had all finished and were just standing around watching Whitman enjoy the show.

The next thing was a ride similar to a very scaleddown Avatar ride from Disney. That was neat, but the museum areas were very impressive as well-and huge. We probably really only saw 2/3rds of it all. At one point, we got in line for a movie. They guy said it was 30 minutes. I looked at Robby to question if we really wanted to do it since we had already spent a lot of time there.

Thankfully, he had studied up and knew what we were about to do. This movie was really neat-it started off just on a scroll on the way and then the film covered all of the walls that we were in. And before too long, it told us to get up and walk to the next room. As you walked, you walked through different parts of the Bible-like Noah's rainbow or the stones from the 12 tribes. Then we stopped for a bit more of the movie. We did this three different times. Anyway, this told the story of the whole Old Testament. 

There was a movie about Jesus too, but we were running out of time on our D.C trip. Now, we did make time to stop at the cafe upstairs and grab a few lunches to share. We knew that the kids needed more than just the snacks in the car for the upcoming walk at Arlingtom.

We arrived in the parking garage at Arlington around 1:30. We knew we had to move, but when security took way too long to get through, we knew we had to really move. And move we did. When we made it to the top of the hill to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Campbell caught up with me and asked, "why are we running?"

I explained that we had to make it by 2 or we would have to wait another hour. We were able to make it though with about 2 minutes to spare to see the changing of the guard. That is always a neat ceremony. 

After we had caught our breath, we mosied on over to see Kennedy's gravesite. From there, we had to fight some major traffic back to the campground. Once we made it back, the kids all got on their bikes, and I took Bentley to take her picture.

I am not sure what, but something has just clicked with Whitman. He really enjoys riding his bike now. Of course, none of us will let him go anywhere by himself since he has a tendancy to get lost/left. He liked riding, but of course his bike is just a little bit too small for him. I am afraid though that the next bigger bike will be too big.

Robby had to do some work, but soon he, the girls and I were back in the car to go to a little store called LIDL. We have been to one before, and it is similar to Aldi. We found a few fun things-pretzles and chocolate croissants from the bakery, frozen butter chicken and chicken masala (Indian food that Robby and I ate in Disney that I can't get out of my mind) and some spinach/cheese thing that we cooked for part of supper. (It was okay, but spinachy-I have acually stored it in the oven while driving, so I can't forget to move it tonight or I will never think of it again-or at least until I start to smell it.)

Robby did pick up supper on the way home from the store. We ate, and then we started to load up. The plan was to leave tomorrow morning early. However, we decided that we might as well get a few hours behind us tonight. We plan to stop and watch the Hogs play tomorrow so that will take some time from our travel day tomorrow. We currently have about 45 minutes left until we stop for the night this evening. 

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