Our Nation's Capital

We began our day in Washington at Mount Vernon, George Washington's home and burial spot. When we arrived I had the kids jump in a photo, just to find that my camera had been left on and was out of batteries! Thanks to the Google Images for these photographs of George and Martha's exquisite 1700's estate. The grounds were beautiful, reflecting not only our first president's personal wealth, but also his love of farming and gardening. The home is situated overlooking the Potomac River. It was fun to imagine the Washington's awaking to such a beautiful view. We wandered through the mansion and around the grounds, and then jumped into the car for a day in D.C.

The first event on our agenda was a tour of the capitol building. I had done this with my grandma when I was eight and remembered it as a highlight from our trip through the southern states. The kids seemed just as interested as I was, with the older ones appreciating the significance of the building and the little ones enamored by the quirkiness of such things as the artist who was angry at congress and painted his face into a tree prior to being fired and the two shoes on one of the men, marking where one painter took over for another. These were the details that caught my attention as an eight year old as well! We have brought our family to Washington D.C. several times since we have lived on the East Coast, but this time I wanted to fit in a few things that we had not done before. I was happy to have made it to Mount Vernon and the Capitol Building.

Look closely at this man's shoes!

Massachusetts Statue to the Capitol of John Adams

Our last stop of the day was the National Zoo. Every list of "things to do with kids" began with a trip through this zoo and I remembered how much our children loved it from our last trip to The Capital, so we made sure to fit it in one last time.

When we drove out of the city, I mourned that we didn't have one more day to explore the American History Museum or Air and Space Museum or the Spy Museum, which my children had remembered and loved from our last visit. Next Time.

War and Peace

We spent the morning at Valley Forge. I had heard great things about this site and had always wanted to make the stop while driving down the East Coast. Jonathan in particular is interested in American history and the wars that we fought, so it was fun to bring a captivated crowd with me! We began our morning with an introductory film and then visited the cabin sites and replicas that the soldiers built, as well as the monument to the soldiers and Washington's quarters. The questions that my children asked and conversations that followed made this stop definitely worth while.

We then drove down to Washington DC with just enough time to walk around the monuments before the sun set.

Thinking that I had better grab the first parking spot in this crowded city, we ended up with a very long walk. The kids were great sports and all were happy to spend the evening playing on the lawn under the Washington Monument, racing up the stairs to the Lincoln Memorial and dipping their fingers and toes in the World War II Monument. After a long drive, we welcomed a peaceful evening in our nation's capitol,

The City of Brotherly Love

Last year, somewhere in the midst of our 2010 10,000 mile road trip from Boston to Southern California and back, plans for our summer 2011 began. I think that I was somewhere in Ohio when, on a scrap of paper, I began mapping out stops around the perimeter of our country to which I just couldn't wait to take my kids. Yesterday morning we awoke with the sun to begin our journey. We arrived in Philadelphia in the afternoon and headed straight to the National Constitution Center, which is a hands on museum chronologically explaining the constitution. It gave us the opportunity to understand the creation of the constitution, the branches of the government, the power of the states vs. the federal government and the major historical events involving the constitution, such as Brown vs. the Board of Education.

There was an entire room filled with life sized statues of the signers of the Constitution.

Visitors could sign the Constitution, just as George Washington and Benjamin Franklin did.

We stood under our Utah Flag that hung in order of its acceptance into the union. We wondered if we should stand on Utah, Massachusetts or Texas!

Our next stop was to see the Liberty Bell. I was so worried as I hurried down 95 that we would have to pick and choose what we could fit in in Philadelphia, after running in to traffic across the George Washington Bridge and having to make a few extra stops than planned. We didn't arrive until 4:00, but I realized that it was to our advantage to arrive late in this tourist packed city. The hours were extended at the city's famous sites and the crowds had thinned out. There was no line for the Liberty Bell, nor for Independence Hall!

This is the room where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed.

I had promised the kids Phillie's famous cheese steak sandwiches for dinner, so we found an urban sandwich shop and enjoyed dinner.

We then walked around Philadelphia's Old Town and saw Christ's Church, where George Washington and Benjamin Franklin worshipped, Elphreth's Alley, the oldest continuously lived upon street in the country, the Betsy Ross home and Benjamin Franklin's Grave.

After driving through the Society Hill neighborhood, which was where the high class colonists lived, we stopped to see the iconic LOVE sculpture.

We then made our way to the Art Museum where Rocky was filmed running the stairs for an intense workout. I was surprised to see many Philadelphians racing up and down the stairs for exercise that looked just as intense as Rocky's. My younger children joined them and surprised me at how many times they ran up and down the stairs. They were all proud that they were dripping in sweat by the end and each one of them wanted me to feel their foreheads and back of their necks to make sure that I could appreciate their hard work! The night brought me back to 4th grade with my friends Tara Cochia and Kari Peterson. We would wear 501 jeans, sing Joni Jett songs at recess, talk about our crush on Nick Sabala and watch our favorite actor, Sylvester Stallone!

These shoe prints were at the top of the stairs where Rocky stood, with his arms up, looking over Philadelphia.

Our night ended with the kids excitement over spotting fire flies that define Southern summer nights. They were so excited when then caught them and held them in their cupped hands!

We knew that we were in for a good summer!

Martin's Cove

Our last stop on our Mormon history trip across the country was in Martin's Cove Wyoming. When we arrived in this area, we truly felt that this was sacred ground, as a result of the events that took place here. On July 28th, 1856, 500 pioneers left Nebraska dangerously late in the season, to try to make it to Salt Lake City before the winter snow began to fall. An early winter storm slowed them down in October and again in early November. After meeting a rescue party that was sent out by Brigham Young, they camped for five days against the mountain in harsh conditions. By the time the pioneers finally reached the Salt Lake Valley, more than 150 members of this party had died and the remaining 350 were in dire conditions. When we arrived at the Cove, we were able to pull our own hand cart, just as these pioneers did.

We then walked to the spot where the Handcart Company camped. Along the way, we passed huge bronze statues depicting the pioneers and the rescuers, historical markers and, our children's favorite, missionaries telling stories about the pioneers who camped here during that fateful November.

This stop, which is only a few hours from Salt Lake, was one of our favorite stops on our journey. We couldn't believe that we hadn't visited here before!