Doing Washington DC the right way
Well, the right way for me, anyway. The first time we visited DC, it was fun, but it was a family trip. The girls were like 8 and 12 when we went and it was my first trip to DC, so I didn’t really have anything to compare it to. We did family stuff. The White House, the National Archives, the Library of Congress. We toured the Capitol and visited all the memorials on the National Mall. We visited several Smithsonians. We spent one day in Alexandria, VA and even ventured up to Mt. Vernon. So yes, it was a great trip! But Abby was 12 (YIKES! Holy pre-teen mood swings, Batman) and Maggie was about 5 months off of having mono, so we were forced to take it slow.
Visiting Abe (left) and on our Capitol tour (right). Side note: look how LITTLE they were! ❤️
Well, Steve has to go back to Washington in a few weeks, so I’m going to tag along and we’re going to make a vacay out of it! He’s got to be there for a conference and Capitol Hill visits Mon-Wed and then we’re staying a few extra days. Yes folks, you read that right… I’ll be in DC for THREE WHOLE DAYS by myself! Cue the art museums!
True to form, I’ve already started making lists and the two of us sat down the other night and created a color-coded GoogleMap. Ok, we’re total dorks, but we’re dorks TOGETHER!
Of those 3 days Steve is busy, one of them I’m going to spend on Capitol Hill delivering books to our Senators and Congressmen from Alabama and Georgia. I’m assuming that day will be a wash and I won’t get to do much else. Those office buildings are HUGE and I have 5 separate buildings to visit. And I’ll be carrying around 40lbs of books (Ok, not REALLY 40lbs, but it’ll be a lot). Side note: how do you even CARRY 40 lbs of books around Washington? YIKES! The Capitol is about 3 miles from our hotel, so I guess I’m going to take a cab in the morning and after I give out all the books, I’ll be 40-ish lbs lighter and can either walk back or take the train by way of a museum or two. Or maybe I’ll just stop and have a drink to celebrate. Yes, I think that option is more my speed.
So I guess if we’re being honest here, I’ve only got TWO days to visit ALL.THE.MUSEUMS! There are a few places we’re going to visit together later in the week, but while I’m by myself I want to go see the places Steve doesn’t care enough about.
The National Gallery of Art, which showcases artwork from the Renaissance through today, has a Raphael exhibit going on while we’re there. Not to mention they have works in their permanent collection by Rembrandt, Manet, Cezan, Vermeer, Van Gogh, Monet, and SO MANY MORE THAT I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE! I’m remembering back to my Art History classes in college and I’m totally fan-girling a bit here. Sorry.
The Hirshhorn Museum is another that I’ll visit by myself. It’s a contemporary art museum and usually I don't consider contemporary art among my favorite genres, but this building is gorgeous and they apparently have a really cool sculpture garden.
The Hirshhorn
Another thing I would really love to do while I’m there is visit the Daughters of the American Revolution headquarters at Constitution Hall. I’m a member of the DAR and I’ve been wanting to visit for several years now. They have a wonderful museum and gallery space and I just feel like I need to go take a tour. I can’t really wear jeans that day though, so maybe I should go here on the day I visit the Capitol - since I’ll already be dressed up. Grrr… TOO MUCH TO DO, too little time!
I guess I should also try to get by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. In looking at their website, this one isn’t as high on my list as the others. But if I’m being completely honest with myself, I’ll probably get in there and be totally in-awe and it’ll turn into a half-day museum visit. I mean, who WOULDN’T want to visit an art gallery of only American artists? SO COOL! That being said - I’ll visit this one if I’ve done all the others first.
Actually, that’s totally my jam - I plan on doing a quick tour of a museum and not staying all day, then I look up and realize they’re closing in 5 minutes and I’m only in the 3rd room. Steve and I did this at The MET in New York several years ago - we ended up staying 7 hours (SEVEN) and I had MASSIVE blisters on my feet. But we got to see Washington Crossing the Deleware by Leutze and Henry VIII’s fat armor, so that makes it worth it, right?
I mean, who stays in a museum for 7 hours?
When Steve is done mid-day Wednesday, we’ve got a totally different list of places we want to visit. The Library of Congress (LOVE visiting the Gutenberg Bible and they also have an exhibit on 120 years of comic book art - EEEEEK), The National Archives (got to visit our founding documents and see if we can catch a glimpse of Nic Cage…), the new National Museum of African American History (neither of us has been to this museum yet and I’m super excited… this is probably a full day visit), Ford’s Theater (not too high up the totem pole, but I’d love to say I’ve been), and OF COURSE the National Portrait Gallery. GOTTA go see the Obama portraits before they go on tour (not to mention - there will be an exhibit of John Singer Sargent’s charcoal sketches on display while we’re there. BE STILL MY HEART! 😍)
Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama stand next to their newly unveiled portraits during a ceremony Monday at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.
MARK WILSON / GETTY IMAGES
I keep telling myself that one of these days we’ll take a relaxing vacation. But there are so many wonderful things in this world to see and do… I can’t relax! I’ve got to see it all and experience it ALL!
On that note - what else am I forgetting? Are there any other galleries and museums we should try to visit while we’re there?