MiWonderings: Walking Tour of the Memorials in Washington D.C.

I grew up just a few miles outside of DC, so my dad who enjoys history took us to all the memorials and museums. Even though I visit my parents several times a year, I have never taken my kids to D.C. Now that my son is in grade school, I wanted to show him some of D.C. since he can appreciate and understand it. So I planned a 5 day trip of touring DC, mixed with visiting with friends, and other fun excursions.

On our day in DC, we did a 6 hour walking tour starting at the Washington Monument, around the Tidal Basin and back around. We lucked out to some beautiful weather.

We started our day at the base of the Washington Monument. At the Washington Monument Lodge, they start handing out free, same-day tickets to go to the top of the monument at 8:00 a.m. but we leisurely made our way into DC and by 11:30 a.m. the earliest tickets available were for 5:00 pm. It worked out since it gave us plenty of time to hit 7 memorials before working our way back to the Washington Monument.

Base of Washington Monument

We walked around the Tidal Basin to the Jefferson Memorial. This whole area is really beautiful during Cherry Blossom season. You can even paddle boat here.

We hold these truths to be self-evident...

At the Tidal Basin, hubby wanted to stop by the very same bench where he had proposed 12 years ago. Not so romantic with 3 squirmy kids not wanting to sit for a photo.

Then we continued around the Tidal Basin to the FDR Memorial. This memorial is comprised of 4 outdoor gallery rooms depicting each one of his 4 terms of presidency. This memorial site encompasses 7.5 acres. We walked through part of the park where we took a break on some benches for a light picnic lunch I had packed.

Next, we walked along the Tidal Basin to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. This was my first time visiting, since it was just erected in 2012. Symbolically, this is MLK emerging out of the mountain of despair.

Hubby had us symbolically stand with arms stretched to bridge the gap in the mountain of despair.

We walked through the Korean War Memorial.

Finally, we got to the much anticipated Lincoln Memorial..

Big L meets the original Lincoln

View of the Washington Monument across the Reflecting Pool

Then we made our way to the Vietnam Memorial. My dad served in the Vietnam War and wanted to visit this memorial.

We walked to the WWII Memorial where we took a little break and enjoyed the cool water and amazing view of the Washington Monument.

Finally, we made our way back to the Washington Monument in time to take a trip up 500 feet to the observation deck where we could get an aerial view of D.C. One flight down there are some exhibits about the monument. On the elevator ride down, it slows down twice to view some areas of the monument's interior which is lined with commemorative stones from different states.