{"id":1679,"date":"2016-05-15T21:38:04","date_gmt":"2016-05-15T21:38:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/?p=1679"},"modified":"2016-05-26T03:29:08","modified_gmt":"2016-05-26T03:29:08","slug":"dc-museums-monuments-memorials-mammals-and-more-oh-and-dont-go-in-may","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/2016\/05\/15\/dc-museums-monuments-memorials-mammals-and-more-oh-and-dont-go-in-may\/","title":{"rendered":"DC – Museums, Monuments, Memorials, Mammals and More – Oh and Don’t go in May!"},"content":{"rendered":"

DC – I loved it all! So much to do, so little time! I feel like a broken record, but it’s true.<\/p>\n

The campground<\/strong> was nice and pretty. It was kind of far away, and there was not much to it at all, but for the price it was great! It was super tight though. I feel like we barely fit through there. I’m sure Huck covered the 5 different tries until we fit in a spot. And boy none of the sites were even close to being level. But we found one that worked.<\/p>\n

Let’s cover the biggest down side…. The school groups. Not just a few, but hundreds\u00a0of groups of kids everywhere! We didn’t really have a huge choice in the timing. I know that sounds weird, but there’s a lot of factors in the timing of our trip and you can only control so many…. If any. So, if you can help it, do NOT visit DC in May.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It would be ideal to visit all the monuments<\/strong> in one day. And preferably on bikes when you have kids. BUT the forecast called for rain on most days for at least part of the day. The hardest part of traveling as fast as we are and to as many places as we are is not knowing what “rain” means – a little drizzle or a down pour? for a short amount of time or all day? \u00a0Also, we found free parking down below the Jefferson Memorial, so we decided to break up the monuments and do half one day on our way to the American History Smithsonian. Then we would do the other half the day we went to the \u00a0Museum of Science and Nature.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

We actually were very lucky! Free parking worked! And we had slight drizzle, but also had breaks in the weather when we were walking to the monuments. The nicest day was unfortunately the one we were scheduled for our capital tour. Bummer. Oh well.<\/p>\n

We all had a lot of fun at the American History Museum<\/strong>! It was hands on and very interactive. I was worried with all the travel and site seeing we have done that we would be bored and there would be a lot of repetition, but that was not the case. Funniest thing….I learned that Ft. Collins (only 30 miles north of our home town) is a big deal in the energy world. Big enough to be in the Smithsonian exhibit “Places of Invention.” Alongside Hollywood, the Bronx and Silicon Valley. What?? \u00a0This exhibit was really fabulous and a lot of fun:<\/p>\n

Places of Invention<\/em> takes visitors on a journey through time and place across America to discover the stories of people who lived, worked, played, collaborated, adapted, took risks, solved problems, and sometimes failed\u2014all in the pursuit of something new. The exhibition features six communities representing what can happen when the right mix of inventive people, resources, and inspiring surroundings come together:<\/p>\n