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All is quiet on New Year’s Day, and that makes it a perfect time to visit Washington, D.C.  When you grow up or live near a popular tourist destination you often neglect to visit any of the sights.  We decided that a mild New Year’s Day was the perfect time to take the children to see the monuments and end the day with the National Christmas Tree.  We had intended to see the tree earlier in the year but never got around to it, so today was our last chance!

Even though the city was quiet by normal standards, you still had to actively seek out parking.  We ended up parking in West Potomac Park along the Potomac River at about 1:30 PM.  While there was some parking, it was pretty full by this time in the day.  After a brief moment of thought, we decided to begin at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial (we also made a stop to the amazingly warm public restrooms at the memorial).

For the record the FDR Memorial (opened in 1997) is designed for you to enter from the other side, so we saw everything in reverse order.  The memorial is broken into four “rooms”.  Each section covers one of his four terms as President.  There are also five water areas, but they are not running in the Winter.  The first piece of the memorial that we reached, after briefly enjoying the views across the Tidal Basin, was commemorating Eleanor Roosevelt being the first delegate from the United States to the United Nations.

Next we came to the main sculpture of the 32nd President himself with his trusty dog.

Next we came to the tactile section of the memorial.  This section was created hoping that visitors would feel invited to touch the bronze plating while also giving a nod to disabilities in general by including braille in the reliefs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last section focuses on the Great Depression (which is really the beginning).

After we left the Franklin Roosevelt Memorial we continued around the Tidal Basin and came to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial.  This Memorial is the newest on the mall, having opened in 2012.  I had never seen it before and was pleased that we had gone in this direction.  The creator did an excellent job.  Again, we entered from the back but the Memorial is equally impressive from the back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we kept walking (after crossing Independence Avenue, go to the left) we came to the Korean War Veterans Memorial.  I always find this subtle memorial touching, especially at night.

From the Korean Memorial you can see the iconic Lincoln Memorial, opened in 1922.  The TripsWithKevin family needed to take a break for coffee and hot chocolate here at the Lincoln Refreshment and Gift Shop, which now serves entire meals.  After finishing our drinks and delicious hot pretzel, we headed on to the Lincoln Memorial.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we finished at the Lincoln Memorial, we headed down the steps and to the left to see the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.  Opened in 1982, the Memorial Wall lists the names of those who lost their lives in this war.  Another memorial that I find poignant every time I visit, it is best viewed in the stillness of night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the Vietnam Memorial we began back toward the Washington Monument.  On the way we passed through beautiful Constitution Gardens.  Opened in 1976, it was created to honor the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence.  Everyone really enjoyed this park (the children are now seven and 10).

Next we came to one of my favorites, the World War II Memorial, which was opened in 2004.  Thankfully, this one opened in time for a lot of veterans to see it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We now turned left on 17th Street and began our walk to The Ellipse.  Our youngest (the seven-year-old) was beginning to fade as we approached our main goal of the day, the National Christmas Tree.  We slowly made our way around The Ellipse waiting for the lights to turn on at 4:30.

Each year the National Christmas Tree is placed on The Ellipse in front of the The White House.  It is surrounded by a ring of smaller trees from each state, Washington, D.C. and from each of the territories that make up the United States of America.  The smaller trees are decorated by a different school in that jurisdiction each year.  In addition there is musical entertainment leading up to Christmas Day and an extremely large train display around the National tree.  The tree is lit from the first week of December through New Year’s Day each year.  One thing that we found out this year is that all of the extra trimmings have largely disappeared by New Year’s Day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The children were getting tired (and hungry) by now so we packed it in.  It took about 20 minutes to walk back to the car.  On the way we did have some nice views though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The loop we followed around the western half of the National Mall took us four hours to complete (including the National Christmas Tree and walking back to the car).  It was approximately five miles of walking on easy terrain.  We did make one more stop on our way home though.

If you are staying in Virginia, I do recommend our dinner stop, Ireland’s Four Provences.   The restaurant is located in Falls Church, Virginia which is where the Coastal Plains of Virginia give way to the Piedmont.  We also accidentally ended up getting to see the LOVE letters, which had arrived the day before, outside the restaurant.

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