a wide place

We awoke on Day 2 with everyone’s health holding steady. I enjoyed setting out first thing in the bracing cold to walk to Starbucks a block away for carry-out fresh, hot coffee.

Here’s a few great things about traveling with teens and pre-teens: they don’t need to be carried. They can walk distances. They help pack and load the van and carry their own water bottles. They aren’t instantly bored by museums.

Here’s the hard thing: they are not early risers.

David would’ve been quite happy to jump up and get out of the hotel by 8am each day to explore DC for a couple hours before the museums open. Our four kids felt otherwise. And since at least someone was fighting this virus at all times, we pretty much had slow starts each day.

The Botanical Gardens

David lived in College Park, Maryland until he was a sophomore in high school, so we wanted to see a couple of his childhood friends on our visit. On Saturday morning, we met up with his friend, Dan and family at the Botanical Gardens. We figured with 6 kids between us, people could roam-and-chat. Basically, David and Dan chatted nonstop, and the rest of us roamed. 🙂

The Botanical Gardens were lovely, and I want to return in the spring or summer to explore the outdoor portion.

Gabe and Noah enjoyed a cacao-processing demonstration.

David and Dan were neighbors and great friends throughout their childhood. Along with other two buddies, Daniel and Matt, they got into lots of mischief and our kids’ all-time favorite stories to hear from their dad are of their many misadventures.

Many years later, Dan moved back into their old College Park neighborhood with his family and says he can see the Gentinos old house from their yard.

National Gallery of Art: West Building

After seeing our friends, we walked to the National Gallery of Art (NGA from here on out). This museum was worth the whole trip in my opinion, and was what I was most excited to visit.

I did a little research to prepare, like learning that classic art is in the West Building and modern art is in the East Building. I have nothing against modern art; it’s just not my favorite, and there were so many pieces I wanted to see that I knew we’d avoid the East Building altogether for the sake of time.

By poking around on some blogs, I located 16 must-see pieces of art and copied-and-pasted the names and a short description of each into a document. Gabe and Noah and I regularly do artist study as apart of our little Charlotte Mason co-op, so I asked my big kids to read the document and look up each piece of artwork before our trip to prepare themselves.

Yes, I’m a homeschool mom.

But both Judah and Amie thanked me afterward and told me it helped their experience so much! I’d read that when visiting large museums you really need a plan or it’s far too overwhelming to know what to look for.

Making a plan of which art we absolutely had to see helped us all. For example, before my research, we didn’t know that the only Leonardo da Vinci painting in the U.S. is here in the NGA. What if we’d missed it!

Next time I’d take it a step further and try to find all the actual rooms where the works of art were located. We learned a lot about the layout of the West Building because we ended up visiting the NGA three times (well, Judah, Amie and I did; the others went twice). But it was still just so.much. to navigate with all the crowds.

It was absolutely breath-taking to see a painting we’ve studied this year by Fra Angelico in person. I had so many moments of awe throughout our time at this museum. I wanted to store up all that beauty in my soul and never forget it.

Friends, I love art museums, and art history was part of my college Humanites major. In Europe, I’ve visited the Louvre, Musee d’Orsay, the Tate Britain, Uffizi, the Reiksmuseum, plus several art museums here in the States. Just like any sort of study, the more you learn, the more you enjoy it and also the more you realize how much you don’t know.

I love how places and paintings and artists and moments in history all speak to one another. I love that the above painting is my favorite Canaletto, but that it’s also a memory for me because I’ve stood in Saint Mark’s Square in Venice on one of my Europe study trips during college.

It was special to share this passion with David and the kids on our trip. Judah and Amie both said the National Gallery of Art was their favorite of the Smithsonians, and I think Amie would’ve been quite happy to spend our entire trip there. So much “scope for the imagination,” as Anne Shirley would say.

Lunch at Rasika

We were hungry after the art museum, and David surprised us with a family lunch at Rasika. This is a Michelin-star Indian restaurant that several friends told me was a must-visit. I thought, There’s no way our family will get to eat there, (because $$), but before I knew it we were walking to Penn Quarter and asking for a table for 6.

It was an unforgettable experience; the makhani dal and chicken biryani and dosa instantly took David and me back to our Bangalore neighborhoods. Judah said the same thing. Poor Amie still had no sense of taste from her virus plus she has no memories of living in India! But she enjoyed herself nonetheless. Gabe and Noah loved the naan and flavored sodas we ordered for them.

That lunch was such a gift.

Walk, NGA, American Indian Museum

We split up after lunch. Judah, Amie, and I headed back to the NGA because we hadn’t seen any of the Impressionists yet, and Noah begrudgingly tagged along with us (let’s face it, he’s a middle school boy).

David and Gabe were ready for a big walk, and set out to see the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument up close.

By 4pm, Amie was done for the day and Judah felt like he may be coming down with something, so they walked back to our hotel, and Noah and I met up with David and Gabe at the American Indian Museum.

I hadn’t done any research on this museum; it was just a couple blocks from our hotel so we wanted to stop in. There was some really interesting information, but somehow I think we missed an important floor or two because I actually learned a lot more of the Native American story at the American History Museum.

Noah and I loved poking around the gift shop, where I wanted to purchase one of every color textile.

Date Night at the Wharf

By dark, all four kids were worn out and just wanted to stay in the hotel and watch a movie. We picked up fast food for them, and David and I decided to seize the opportunity for a date.

A highlight of the trip for everyone was the electric Lime Scooters, which were everywhere. You can put money into the app and scan your phone for a ride, and they charge by the minute. The best part is you can just leave the scooters anywhere you want when you’re finished.

David had tried it earlier with Gabe, and then wanted us to take one to the Wharf, which was about a mile away. I rode on the back of his which was so stressful that on the way home I demanded my own scooter!

That was fun.

We discovered this cute bookshop and browsed for awhile. David and I search out the “staff recommendations” shelf in bookstores to get ideas for future reading.

Next we walked the full length of the Wharf to enjoy the Christmas decorations and the seafood stalls at the pier. I can imagine how fun the atmosphere is in warmer weather with all the boardwalk cafes filled with people.

At the Wharf there were so many food options that looked delicious, but we’d had such a huge, fancy lunch at the Indian restaurant, that we were content to order drinks, then split a burger and fries for dinner at Lucky Buns. It was a charming spot with great food.

After that, it was time for our scooter ride back to the hotel through the quiet, darkened city, and then bed.

We loved our first full day in DC.