This was the day where we started to hit the vacation wall. We were fully aware that we had lots of things we could go see, but the will to see them was wearing thin from exhaustion. I still dragged myself out of bed to run (slower and shorter than the other days), but when I got back, everyone was still in bed asleep. We finally got going and drove in to the city. It turns out that with 4 people, driving is both faster and cheaper in DC. It's also more flexible and probably requires less walking. So, my advice is that if you've got a family, treat the metro as a tourist attraction, and ride it if you want to do it for "fun", but not primarily as an efficient transportation method.
Our first stop was to the Natural History Smithsonian, selected primarily for it's proximity to Ford's Theatre, where we had 12:00 tickets. It turns out the museums don't even open until 10:00, so it was perfectly fine that we didn't get there until 9:56. We saw the Hope Diamond and other sparkly gems, which the girls enjoyed. They were less interested in looking at animal bones, but we did spend some time in the human evolution section, after opting to not spend twenty something bucks to go into their butterfly house. We learned once more that Julia doesn't like mummies, and made sure we got out of there with enough time for a snack before walking a few blocks to Ford's Theatre.
Rubicon sapphire on displace at the Smithsonian
Ford's Theatre (which is apparently how they spell it) is owned by the National Park Service, but still functions as a theater (which is how I spell it). It's free to go in, but you have to purchase tickets a head of time, where you pay all sorts of fees (convenience fee, processing fee, ordering fee, it's a bit ridiculous) that effectively make them five bucks a piece. There's a museum in the basement, and then they let you into the theater to just walk around in what they call a "self guided tour". (There's no tour, it's just you walking around a theater.) The box where Lincoln was shot is decorated up just like it would have been that night and they don't let you in there, but other than that it's just a theater. It also gives some time to ponder why you would want to watch a play from above and to the side of the actors. I've never done it, but the box really is on top of the stage, which is why Booth easily jumped down that way. (The jump was easy, the landing not so much.)
The view of the view of the Presidential Box
After stopping to watch a street performer bang on some buckets and garbage cans, we headed across the street to the Petersen House, where Lincoln died. (The drumming was pretty good, but it started to loose its luster when you walked by a bit later and started to catch on that he only had 30 seconds worth of beat that was just repeated over and over.) The Petersen House is just three rooms to walk through, and then you go through a museum which covers Booth's flight and some of Lincoln's legacy.
Next, we walked a few blocks back to the US History Smithsonian. By this point, I was way too tired to take pictures of anything. But we got to see dresses from all the first ladies (more interesting than I feared), a revolutionary war gun boat, Dorothy's ruby slippers, a Sun Stone from the Nauvoo Temple, the Star Spangled Banner and Julia Child's kitchen. And the only thing I took a picture of was George Washington in a toga.
George, bringing fire from Mount Olympus, just after climbing out of Zeus' head.
In my defense, you aren't allowed to take pictures of the Star Spangled Banner, and Ella was really done with museums, so I had to sit with her while Julia and Shannon explored more things. I tried to hover around the Sun Stone to see if random visitors would say anything interesting about it, but it was mostly over looked. Also, I have learned that while a lot of art is much better in person, George Washington in a toga is, if anything, weirder in person.
We went to District Taco for dinner, which roughly Cafe Rio-like, and then headed back to the hotel. In all, Day 5 was about 4 hours and 6 miles shorter than day 4, which was very much welcome.
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