Our first visit to Disneyland with a stop in DC on the way. *Updated 8/22 with a very sad ending.

[Jimmy Mouse]

Bare with me as I set the stage for the Disneyland portion of the trip.
We just got home about 3 hours ago from one of my favorite vacations I have been on in a long time. Spoiler alert ... Disneyland was amazing!

Day 1.
We left out Saturday the 3rd from Atlanta to Washington DC. It was a short flight, less than 2 hours.




Before I get into trip details, I want to tell you all, this was an important trip as this year it's been 20 years since I buried my mother and 30 since I buried my father. Both are at Arlington. We arrived in DC around 3:30 and arrived at our hotel, The Jefferson, by 4:30. We stayed in and had dinner and relaxed. Now this is what I call a Deluxe resort. It's a shame that we stayed here for less than a moderate Disney Resort. This place was amazing!

Our room at The Jefferson.










Okay, It's really late and I'm super tired but wanted to get this started. Much much more to come!

To be continued.

 

[DeeBee3]

Wow you are right about that room! Can't wait to hear more.

 

[erinch]

Following!

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

Wow you are right about that room! Can't wait to hear more.

Much more to come! I will post some more this evening. Jet lag is real lol

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

So after settling in, we head down to dinner and opted for The Quill Bar. We didn't really want anything too upscale but man, this was great!






After a great nights sleep in a super comfy bed, I was the first one up to take advantage of the awesome shower! This shower "dumped" tons of water out. I mean if a small child got under it, it would not be good but oh my! I have never had a shower with this volume of water lol. It also had a privacy glass you could open and see outside. The only picture I have is in the reflection of the mirror. And yes, there is a TV embedded in the mirror.


So all ready and we head downstairs for our first tour. Just a few pics, don't want to consume this trip report with "Just" DC lol.











Contiuned .....

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

This has been a very powerful trip. We spent plenty of time at all the monuments and memorials and I talked to my girls about what each one meant and the sacrifices made.

Next stop was a place I have been looking forward to, Ben's Chili Bowl!





This is where Obama sat. They hung the pic of him at the table. I thought that was pretty awesome!








I know it doesn't look like much but just being here made the food that much better. The half smoke was amazing and the chili is actually really good!

So after lunch, we are nearing the end of our private tour so now it's time to go to Arlington. We decided to end it there so our guide could just leave us so we could spend as much time as we wanted. The visit was very hard for me. I'll explain on the next post.

 

[Counting Stars]

Thanks for taking the time to share! 1. I want to stay at that hotel- looks beautiful. 2. I want some of those Chili fries.
3. You take really nice pictures. 4. It does indeed sound like the hard part is coming, so I'm glad you had some really good experiences first. Following

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

Following. I lost my grandma (raised me most of my life and only close family member) before my kids were born and I try to talk about her and show pictures but it's hard to really get my kids to know her at least a little bit. It's seems like you've found a good way. I'm glad you're sharing this non Disney part of the trip.

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

After lunch at Ben's, our tour guide took us by The Pentagon but we didn't get to stop at the memorial. Yet. So we finally arrive at Arlington and I inform my kids that we are entering hallowed grounds so no horse play and be respectful. They behaved very well and did ask a lot of questions which I gladly answered. We walked into the visitors center and noticed they sell tickets for the "hop on, hop off" tram so I figured that would save some walking. When I asked how to find my parents, they told me no need to pay anything and there was a bus dedicated just for family visits so we made our way to the bus. My parents are buried in section 70 which is in one of the furthest sections. So we arrive. When I seen the headstone I totally lost it. The emotions took ahold of me and I couldn't hold them back. I cried, my girls cried and we held each other. After composing myself we decided to walk the grounds. We headed towards the Tomb of the unknown soldier and the changing of the guards.





We walked, and walked and walked. Arlington is huge.




We finally made it to the Changing of the Guards and we watched it twice. Out of respect, I did not film it but I did film the guard after the ceremony. Plenty of YouTube videos out there.

We walked back to the visitors center and called for a Lyft to take us back to the hotel. After a short break in the room we decided to go to dinner. The girls chose The Cheesecake Factory so off we went!









Once everyone was full, we headed back to the room and relaxed for about an hour. Then I surprised them when I said we all needed to go downstairs for a nighttime tour of DC.





Continued ...

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

We rode around in style and seeing DC all lit up is amazing!





We visited a few monuments at night and stopped at the 9/11 Memorial at The Pentagon. It's a very powerful place to visit. Each tree represents those that lost their life that day from the youngest to oldest.








This day had a lot of up and down emotions but overall, it was a great day to be with family.

 

[Counting Stars]

A very special and very beautiful day....

 

[disny_luvr]

Following along as we are planning our first trip to Disneyland next summer. Even though you didn’t get to DL in your report yet, I am loving the DC part. I only live about two hours from DC so we visit pretty often. DC at night is awesome!

 

[DeeBee3]

That's an amazing story so far. I can't believe both of your parents had a 11/11 birthday! An extra special meaning to Veterans' Day for your dad.

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

That's an amazing story so far. I can't believe both of your parents had a 11/11 birthday! An extra special meaning to Veterans' Day for your dad.

I know, same birthday made it easy to remember though!

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

I plan on getting a lot more if not all of this trip report finished by the weekend. Work has been overwhelming and I'm too beat to think. More to come!

 

[erinch]

Say more about the DC at night trip?

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

Say more about the DC at night trip?

The trip or "tour" was stopping at all the major monuments but no one wanted to get out of the car lol. We ended up riding around to them and doing drive by's and stopping but not getting out. Here are some more pics.









We ended up going down the street with all the embassy's. It was really cool.

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

So after a really really long day, we ended our night time tour around 11:30 I believe. The next day was great! So we wake up and this time I am last to shower but we get down to breakfast fairly early.












All fueled up and ready to go! Today is museum day. Our plans are Air and Space, Natural History, Holocaust and whatever else we can get to. So we are back in our room to freshen up before we leave and my phone rings. It's the office of representative Mike Collins. They inform me that we have a private Capital Tour scheduled at 3:00pm and to be at their office at 2:45. This is news to me! I had emailed Collins and Warnock months before and heard back from Warnock but was told that there were no tours available during our visit. Anyway, time to change plans!

First stop, Air and Space.
It's partially under construction but there was still so much to see!









Continued ......

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

After our visit at Air and Space, we walked to the Museum of Natural History.



This was a place we all wanted to visit. It's an amazing museum.


continued ......

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

After about 90 minutes here the kids are hungry. Go figure lol. But I will say, the Mac and Cheese was amazing!


So we take a break and eat then look around a little more on our way out. I really want to go back to DC and spend more time here. But, it's getting close to our Capital tour and I can't wait!

Next post: The Capital.