Washington D.C. Trip - Day One

For years, I have wanted to visit the Washington D.C. area. I went once when I was about 8 and I remember being hot and whining about how bad my legs hurt. But I also remembered enough that I wanted to return when I was older. Now, we have tortured our two youngest with a similar trip but we took them to far more places than I had to endure! For me, it was a dream come true!

After arriving on Monday night and getting some good rest, I sorted through all of the research that I had done. I found that despite all of the information I had collected, it really wasn't serving us at that moment. So, since we were staying in Fredricksburg, VA, we decided to head to it's Visitor Center in Historic Downtown Fredricksburg. Did you know that every city there has a historic downtown? Well, it seemed like the right place to start and we were right. But first I had words to eat. See, when we stopped in at the car rental, I eagerly accepted the GPS offer, even though it was an extra $10 per day, saying that "we would regret it if we don't get it". Eh-hem, so at this moment in Historic Downtown Fredricksburg, I was having to eat my words because "Annie", short for Annoying, was really directing us in all the wrong directions and was "recalculating" every time we made a move we thought was best. Needless to say, Annie was turned off within 10 minutes and we found our own way. They have a lot of signs to direct you, you know. Who needs Annie? So after a little film and much direction from the Visitor center, we started to make our way around Historic Downtown Fredricksburg. (Is that starting to annoy you?)

This first picture is of the National Bank of -- where else -- Fredricksburg. Abraham Lincoln addressed the Union troops and residents from those steps where Grace and Emily are standing. Churches are on literally every corner and these are the Presbyterian and Methodist churches, I believe. The structures were so amazing that I had to take pictures of them. I love all the brick. But there was some major money that played a part in their building because only the wealthy had buildings made of brick.

Later that day, we headed over to DC because we had a reservation at the Bureau of Printing and Engraving. We weren't allowed to take many pictures there for obvious reasons -- think counterfeiting. The set up was just like the Jelly Belly tour. It was so interesting to see how paper money came to be and how it is made now. It was so cool to see just stacks and stacks of money before it was cut, laid out in sheets. It was incredible. And the fact that each bill is printed in layers, not just one layer. It was really stinky, though, unlike the Jelly Belly tour.

The girls being measured in $100 notes.

We spent some time walking around, taking in the sights for a while before we headed over to the new Nationals baseball stadium -- where the Nationals were playing the Dodgers! It was a beautiful stadium and even though for some crazy reason we lost, we still had a blast. Our favorite was the President's Race after the 3rd inning.

David and the girls

Inside the stadium and the President's Race. Teddy Roosevelt lost because he was socializing. Abraham Lincoln won.

With that, we ended our day and headed back to the comfy beds of our hotel. It was a long day but lots of fun, a prelude to what was ahead for us.