My husband, Carl, and I took our first real vacation since before Covid. I thought I’d document the highlights of our trip and hopefully encourage you to add something to your bucket list.
America seems to be on the way to normalcy. Over 42 million travelers took off on Memorial Day weekend, the most-traveled holiday since 2000, and we were part of it.
We got up early and headed for the Flyaway. Some procedures have changed since we last flew, but nothing too drastic. Lots of construction going on at LAX. We had a smooth and timely nonstop flight to Washington, D.C., and were impressed with American Airlines throughout our trip. I even liked their cookies!
Our first look at history, right from the freeway.
It was a short ride to our hotel, the Holiday Inn at the National Mall. We quickly realized how close we were to many highlights of the city and soon became seduced by the idea of walking. It was nearly dinnertime, so we grabbed something to eat at the hotel and were soon on our first tour, a nighttime view of the city. Not only could we sign up for excursions in the lobby, the tour bus picked us up right at our hotel.
What I assumed to be a driving tour to see the lights turned out to have a lot of walking. We came to understand we’re better at that than we imagined. I also assumed the driving tour would give us a sense of where things were located, but that was not the case. There are so many one-way and dead-end streets, it’s actually shorter to walk places than to drive. I was pretty mixed up about locations by the end of the evening.
The tour was great.
The Washington Monument
Our view of the White House. Someone crashed the gate the day before and the fences had been set further back than they have been.
The WWII Memorial
The Jefferson Memorial
Martin Luther King Memorial
Interesting fact: Martin Luther King, Jr., was not his original name. He was born on January 15, 1929, and named Michael King, Jr. Nick-named “Little Mike” in his childhood, the name didn’t stick.
When King was five, his father, also a minister, went on a tour of the holy land with stops in Europe followed by a Baptist World Alliance conference in Berlin. After touring historic religious sites where Martin Luther defied the Catholic Church, King was inspired to change his and his son’s names to honor the German reformer.
Lincoln Memorial
It’s awesome to experience places I’ve only seen in books. What a fantastic and exhausting start to our trip!