a wide place

Hello friends! Well, it’s the beginning of February and I’m finally sitting to write about our family D.C. trip in December. The mere idea of gathering photos and writing it all out felt so daunting that I nearly skipped right over this trip, but remembered just in time that my travel posts are always some of our family’s favorites. Plus they’re helpful for future trips (and hopefully helpful for some of you).

This reminds me that McKensie asked me for a blog post on how our family “does” the Great Wolf Lodge, so I will make that my next writing goal!

David and I have long wanted to take the kids to D.C., which is actually where he’s from, but tried to wait for the right time, age-wise. We’ve been talking seriously about a trip for the last three years, but 2024 was the year it happened.

The Plan

Here’s how we always plan our trips: it starts with conversations/recommendations from people who’ve actually done it. We write down notes on their ideas and the things they wish they would’ve done differently (a service I’m now providing for you!).

Next we look at Pinterest for awhile to read up on strangers’ recommendations (well, I look at Pinterest because I’m a 43-year-old mom without Instagram) Then, we typically divide up responsibilities. Like, who’s booking the hotel, who’s researching activities and buying tickets, etc.

David and I took a date to Barnes & Noble the week before Christmas to drink coffee and plan our basic itinerary. Neither of us love this logistics stage, so we try to make it as fun as possible with a date.

We choose December 26 for our start day because we got a good deal on a hotel within walking distance of the National Mall. It was worth it, but the reality of a day-after-Christmas road trip was a little stressful.

This meant that all Christmas week I was simultaneously thinking about two things (actually about two dozen things but you know what I mean): making Christmas day special, and prepping for a road trip. So while I was making last minute runs for food and stocking-stuffers, I was also mentally packing bags and cleaning the house for the dog-sitters.

That’s another thing: it was hard finding friends to come take care of our dog during Christmas week. I had a few moments of panic, but thankfully Ashlyn and Riley came through and said they actually enjoyed the “stay-cation” at our house since they both had to work that week anyway.

Day One

Okay, here’s where I tell you that we almost called the trip off on Christmas night. Our kids were sick! Amie had been sick with a sinus virus all of Christmas week, and Linda went down with it on Christmas Eve. Both of them had to miss family Christmas dinner at my brother’s which was very sad.

Then, by Christmas evening Gabe had a fever. David and I just looked at each other and said, “Are we crazy for attempting this trip?”

We decided that unless one of the two of us woke up sick, we were going for it. So at about 9am, we all loaded up in the van and hit the road.

There’s something about a road trip that instantly clears my head and eases my stress. Even if the week or two before hand is super stressful with prep, it all melts away in that first hour out of town and I remember: This is worth it. It’s always worth it.

I brought my knitting (yes, and a blanket for my lap. I’m a grandma). We also listened to Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson. This is a favorite audiobook of mine, Judah, and Amie’s, and it was so fun to share it with David and the boys. David also indulged the girls by listening with us to the Wicked movie soundtrack in its entirety. He has yet to watch it (although he’s seen the Broadway show), but admitted that the soundtrack was great. I think poor Gabe slept at least 7 of the 9 hours of our trip. Maybe it was just what he needed because he bounced back the next day.

The D.C. traffic was terrible as we expected it would be, but finally we arrived at about 5pm!

We checked into the hotel, unloaded our stuff, and set out walking. As you can tell from the photo above, it was cold. We planned for cold and rain because, well, it was DC in December.

Wearing layers was the right call. Although actually, we wish we would’ve taken a tip from my Boston trip, and not worn sweaters/hoodies under our coats. The museums and restaurants felt quite warm with the crowds of people, and we’d often go from cold to hot throughout the day. When I do it again, I’ll wear lighter shirts under a coat.

The best tip we got for walking in cold weather was to bring hand warmers instead of gloves. Thank you, Cheryl! You’re a lifesaver (we used them back here in Columbia on our snow day too). There’s just something about being able to have warm hands that makes everything okay. I ordered two jumbo packs of HotHands from Walmart.com before we left and the advertising is correct: a pair really lasts about 6 hours.

We enjoyed stretching our legs and just getting a lay of the land the first night. The capitol building was already being set up for the inauguration.

We also got a close-up look at the Christmas tree. Later, on the walk back to our hotel, we saw it all lit up.

Next up was Union Station, which David fondly remembered from his childhood. We thought the architecture was incredible, but he was underwhelmed 25 years later. It still has some shops and restaurants, but definitely feels more like a nice train station now than a destination spot.

We found dinner on Yelp: Wise Guy Pizza near the Georgetown campus. It was delicious! We were ready to crash after a long day, especially the kids who weren’t feeling well.

We stayed at the Homewood Suites National Mall and would recommend it. I’ll say that it was wonderful to have an entire suite for our family of six, also a full kitchen (more on that later).