Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Washington DC - One Hot Town....

Washington DC is hot for many reasons - For us it was REALLY hot - and it's a great place to visit.
We stayed at Cherry Hill Park, in College Park Md. This is THE place to stay if you want to see DC and come by Motorhome, Fifth-wheel, Travel-trailer, or any other type camper. The campground is nice, A well equiped camp store, landscaped nicely, 2 good sized pools, and a small cafe - with really good food!
This is not a 'great' camping experience in the woods somewhere. Rather, it's a great place to park your RV, get to DC convienently, and have some not-to-shabby ammenites to come back to and relax after a day of sightseeing.
It is convienent to get to Washington D.C. A Metro bus stop is right by the office, and it takes you to the Metro subway. Now some of you may say, "Eewww - a SubWay..." but the Washington Metro is like no other underground you have rode on. Clean and secure, it is a great way to get around DC on the cheap. The ride from Cherry Hill, transfers to CollegePark Metro, and into DC takes about 40 minutes. We took the time to get to know a few other RVers, and talk (or brag) about our favorite places to go.

We have been to DC before, so this time we wanted to see specific monuments. First stop was the Jefferson Memorial. We took time to read the inscriptions within the memorial. Anyone who trys to point to Sepparation of Church and State, had better first read the writings of this Giant among men.
We continued our walk around the Tidal Basin to the Franklin Delanor Roosevelt Memorial. His life really shows that whatever trys to hold you back, you can still accomplish great things
We then checked out the World War II Memorial. Maybe not as moving as the Vietnam Memorial Wall, but you should never again take your freedoms for granted after visiting here.
We stopped and had sandwiches at a stand near the Washington Monument. Tastless and expensive - and we had to help the counter girls figure out the change (my 12 year old counts better) Our usual place was closed because of the major restoration project going on at the base of the Washingtom Monument.
We were hot and tired and decided to call it quits after a half day. (This was my first outing after having my cast taken off) We got back to the campground and the girls enjoyed the pools, and I sat back and did some reading.
Next day we visited the New American Indian Museum.
the collections were amazing to look at, but might be boring for really wee ones. Our girls did ok. If going to DC - make sure this is one of your stops for lunch. All the meals are inspired by various regions of Native American cooking. Not Cheap, but very tasty! Amy had the best deal, some Buffalo Chili - Smelled real good, and she didn't share much! It was a Buffalo Burger for me!
After lunch, we walked off some of the calories at the Botanical Garden, and near the base of the Capitol refecting Pool. We also walked down the Mall just looking at the buildings and the people.

We love visiting Washington DC - and plan on staying at Cherry Hill Park!