Narnia Road Trip Day 4 – Washington, DC

Monday, December 18, 2023

Wintery Mix

We were up early and out of the house by 7:00, headed to Washington, D.C. It was drizzly/rainy all night with the forecast to change over to snow by mid-day. The snow is an unexpected surprise (a few days ago, they had been calling for just rain) and we were disappointed that we were going to miss it. Yet, we did get to see some “wintery mix” as we drove through higher elevations. So, technically, Ladybug has now seen it snow.

Our next door neighbor, Kelly, said they got a good bit of snow. Pray that it sticks around until we return on Wednesday.

A Horse and His Boy

We are continuing our Narnia Road Trip by listening to the next book in the series, A Horse and His Boy.

Breakfast was at McDonald’s – Ladybug and I love the bacon egg and cheese biscuits! Gregg prefers sausage egg and cheese McMuffin. Yum!

Washington National Cathedral

It was fun to drive past (on the interstate) places we had lived and worked. Germantown, Rockville, Derwood, Maryland. We arrived at the Washington National Cathedral around 10ish (?) and our jaws dropped. It is beautiful and huge and breath-taking.

The three of us enjoyed spending several hours going into the many small chapels, looking at the stained glass windows, looking at exibit of many nativities from around the world, and attending the noon Eucharist service in the Bethlehem Chapel.

Today is the 19th anniversary of my Mom’s death. I lit a candle in memory of her.

The Cathedral was in the process of being decorated for Christmas. This is the season of Advent on the church calendar so they typically wait until Christmas to decorate. The Christmas season is 12 days – until Epiphany on January 6. There were also obvious preparations for Sandra Day O’Connor’s funeral tomorrow. We even saw them practicing with a casket.

There is a gargoyle of Darth Vader. We looked in vain, never being able to spot it.

I was surprised and happy that Jaelynn enjoyed being there as much as us. I think her world history classes have helped prepare her to see things she’s learned about (like types of architecture.)

Lincoln Memorial

From there, we drove into the city by way of Georgetown. It was nice to see many of the monuments amd memorials from the car as it is quite cold and windy. There isn’t easy parking so Gregg dropped us off at the Lincoln Memorial and drove around until we were done. Ladybug had really wanted to see Abe so I’m glad it worked out.

We finally checked into the Crystal City Hampton Inn, happy to have a place to park the car for 24 hours. We put on more clothes and headed out to the Metro station.

National Christmas Tree

We figured out tickets, then went one stop to Pentagon City and found a food court there to eat supper. Then we got back onto the Metro and got off at Federal Triangle. From there we walked to see the National Christmas Tree (gigantic!) and the 50+ smaller trees representing the 50 states, territories, and a few other places. They are located in a park across from the White House. It is always beautiful, all lit up at night, and even more-so decorated with Christmas greenery. The music and atmosphere were delightful.

We reversed the Metro trip to return to the hotel. We’ve wiped the girl out – she was yawning and asking to go back to the hotel.

Tomorrow morning we have tickets for the Library of Congress. We must get our vehicle out of the hotel parking garage by 2:00 and then we’re off to Pittsburgh!

I better catch some zzzz’s…