Trip to Baltimore/DC

What a fun time! I think we're going to make it tradition to take each child to DC alone when he/she is in 5th grade. We never do things with just one kid so it was pretty special. We arrived in Baltimore early on Friday morning (8:00am) and headed downtown to the harbor. It was soooooooooo freezing! We walked around just a little bit, went into the cool Barnes and Nobles (in an old power plant) and shopped at ESPN Zone before touring two of the boats in the harbor. The first one was the USS Constellation. We learned the difference between a sloop and a frigate (this one is a sloop...but don't ask me why though, I think I've already forgotten!). Next we toured a submarine. It was pretty cool.
We dropped Kelly off at work around 1 and Kyler and I went back to the hotel to eat lunch, read, watch tv and take naps! Later that evening we went to Arundel Mills Outlet Mall to spend some gift cards :) and we ate DQ Blizzards for dinner!

Saturday was our big trip to DC. We debated about taking the Metro but opted to drive in to the city in our rental car. I don't think it would've mattered either way. We parked the car and walked and walked and walked and walked......seriously, we walked for 8 hours. We saw tons of stuff. Before we even parked we were stopped in traffic and saw a motorcade go by right in front of us. I don't know who they were escorting into the White House but it was really cool. Just like in the movies!

The White HouseThe CapitolWashington Monument

Lincoln Monument

We went to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum and saw the Hope Diamond, dinosaurs, and an elephant (among other things). GREAT museum but it was waaaaaaay too crowded!WW II MemorialWe also went to the National Archives and saw the original Declaration of Independence and Constitution, toured part of the Holocaust Museum and saw lots and lots of buildings.

BUT the one place Kyler had asked to go was......

The National Museum of Crime and Punishment! It was much better than Kelly and I had expected. Actually, quite interesting in fact. Everything you might possibly want to know from medieval criminal punishment to the outlaws of the Wild West to the modern-day "booking" process.