We had looked at a few different options for places to stay near Washington DC. All of them involved the use of public transportation, as that was just going to be easier for some of the places we wanted to visit. In the end, we decided to go ahead and stay at the Cherry Hill RV park, which is one that comes up while searching, and is the closest to DC. It seems to be expensive, but given that you can jump on the public transportation right at the park entrance, you’re actually doing pretty good. No parking fees, and the staff will gladly help you figure out how to get where you’re going. I must say, this is probably the absolute best RV park that we’ve stayed at so far. The sites are all super clean and level, there are many there, and the services are phenomenal There’s a restaurant huge laundry, pool, big activities center, and the largest onsite store we’ve seen. All of these things have hours that will work for any schedule, even though we were there in the off-season period.
On the first full day there, Diane and Molly headed up to Gettysburg, PA, to visit one of the planned sites for our cancelled PA stop. They had a great time, and extended some of the Lincoln history theme that has been in most of our stops.
On the next day, election day, we had a scheduled tour for the White House. We got up early, and headed into the city, to the Ronald Reagan building. It’s an International Trade building, and has public parking that is near the White House and other area sites. Our early start helped us avoid traffic, and we had time to grab some coffee and pastries, then headed over towards the White House. We weren’t sure exactly what to expect, and we were glad to see that we could just head on into the security maze, even though we were early.
The tour basically took us through a few of the common areas of the White House, and provided access to a few rooms with historical furniture and paintings on the main floor, and then we were able to go through everywhere up on the State Floor, which is just above the main floor. It was pretty cool to see the actual rooms, furnishings, and paintings that have been there for decades. No pictures inside, but we got a couple shots outside once we were done.
We then went over to check out the White House Visitor Center. Well, the main building is under renovation, so we got to tour the temp building up on jacks. It was closer to the White House, and still had a great video that showed a lot of the history and features of the White House.
Next on the agenda, was to tour the “Mall”, and see the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial. The Washington Monument is closed, and likely will be for a long time. It was damaged pretty good during an earthquake a while back, and has not yet been repaired.
Heading down the way, we got to see the World War II memorial, and see all the fountains. We also walked along the reflecting pool, and made our way to the Lincoln Memorial. We spent some time here, and tried the photo trick with a $5 bill.
From the Lincoln Memorial, we headed over to see the Einstein Statue. I had visited this on a previous trip to D.C. Back in the early 90’s. I remember it being hidden by tree’s at that point, but it has a bit more prominent role, and is highly visible now. (Or, my memory is out of whack)
Next up, a LONG walk back the other way. We headed over to a couple of the Smithsonian buildings, had lunch, and checked out a few of the more interesting items that we had on our list of “must see”. Some were there, some not, but it was nice to see all of the items they’ve collected over the years. Free admittance is pretty nice too.
Next stop, the National Archives building. This one had the longest line of anything we’d visited. This building houses and display’s some of the original copies of items like the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution. There are others as well, but I don’t remember all of them. There was just SO MUCH history and stuff for my brain to consume! It was a bit full. After this, we headed home.
The next day, Diane and Molly went back into town for a tour of the Capital Building. They took advantage of the bus system that picked up right at the RV park, and had a good time for Molly’s first public bus ride.
The girls had a decent time touring the Capital, but were really impressed with Ford’s Theater, and the home across the street. They still have the bloody pillow from the bed where they laid Lincoln after he was shot. Lot’s more history!
The Cherry Hill RV Park was AWESOME. It is expensive compared to your average RV park, but, it’s not your average RV Park. I would say it is likely one of the best we have stayed at, as far as having everything you could want. Granted, our visit was during cold weather, so we didn’t get to be outside at the pool and such, but it was wonderful in every way.
We left town the day after the Capital visit, and headed to Virginia, and the next post.
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