Washington DC

Back to spring break...
After our time in New York City, we spent a day in Washington DC.

Can I just say, I think public transportation is really great. Maybe it's the novelty of it, but I loved riding the metro and the subway to get around on our trip.

We visited a few of the monuments to start out our day.

Washington still has my heart.

We grabbed lunch at the food trucks parked by the Washington monument.

We visited the Holocaust museum. That is one of the most sobering and important places to visit. I think everyone needs to spend some time in that museum. It is truly horrific, but the only way to prevent it happening again (and to stop similar atrocities around the world) is to educate ourselves and to remember the individuals.

It is not really place to take pictures, but one of us did capture part of this photo wall. These were beautiful individuals.

I also took this picture for Kyler since he had just finished reading the book. Though at the end of the week Eric took the boys to this museum, too.

I didn't really like her book when I read it in Jr. high and I haven't read it since (though I've read countless other WW2 books), but I absolutely LOVE when she says "in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart." That gives me something to think deeply about.

I really appreciated the children's artwork displayed on the wall--the innocence, purity, creativity, and beauty is at the core of humanity.


My favorite part of the museum was the list of names of individuals who helped hide or bring people to safety (no picture). Such heroes and examples to us all! It makes me wonder, would I be one with the courage to help protect others? Do I even have the courage now to help those around me? I am grateful for courageous people who did what was right in the ways that they could under such horrific circumstances.

We spent a few hours at the Holocaust museum. We easily could've stayed longer, but it was time to move on and see a few more things in DC.

We hopped back onto public transportation

and made it to Arlington National Cemetary.

I appreciated these signs around so many of the monuments. There is such a strong feeling of reverence and sacredness around these places and you could feel it in the quiet of the monuments.

We spent the last part of our day on a quick tour of as many monuments as we could. We were all pretty worn out after three days of hoofing it all around so we were dragging a bit (and a few of us had blisters) at the end of the day, but I'm so grateful we were able to see as much as we did that day.

Isn't this a perfect place for a walk?







We made one last super quick stop by the DC temple before a late dinner at Cheesecake factory on our last night of the girls trip.



I love DC!