canyonwalker (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
canyonwalker) wrote2023-11-20 06:53 am
canyonwalker) wrote2023-11-20 06:53 am
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Quick Morning Tour of Washington, DC
Thanksgiving Travelog #5
Washington, DC - Sun, 19 Nov 2023. 9:45am.
Today Hawk and I are visiting the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. Our tickets aren't until 10am, though, when the museum first opens, and we arrived in town at 9:30am. That means there's time for an impromptu tour of Washington, DC!
After passing by the Pentagon and seeing the Jefferson Memorial and the Washington Monument as we drove into town via I-395 and the 14th Street Bridge, we parked on Independence Ave just off 14th Street. It's half a block from the museum and not much further from various other things....
This view of the Washington Monument isn't from our parking space, but it is close. We crossed to the west side of 14th Street and took a few steps up onto the grass. Yes, one of the cool things about Washington, DC is that lots of iconic places are practically right next to each other.
As you walk north on 14th Street from Independence Ave you cross the National Mall. This is a huge lawn bookended by the Capitol to the east and... frankly, the Lincoln Memorial to the west. The Washington Monument is somewhere in the middle. Across the Mall from 14th Street you can pretty easily see the Capitol. It may look close but it's actually not. It's over a mile across the lawn to the building.
We concluded our mini-tour by looping back to our parked car to stow our heavy jackets, figuring we won't want to drag them around inside the museum. The pic above is of Independence Ave, where we parked. (Ours is one of the vehicles on the right.) I included this photo to show just how close to downtown we were able to park.
Street parking is free in Washington on Sundays. It's a policy designed specifically to encourage tourism. Of course, a wide-open street like this will be filled up by later in the day.
Choosing an early time for our tickets was part of a plan to keep things simple. By leaving relatively early in the morning we completed the 24 mile drive into the city with no traffic slowdowns. And we were able to park right away, no circling the blocks, just steps from the museum. This is so much better than the weekday travel default of parking at a satellite location on the Metro Rail system and riding a train into town. Plus, having the car with us makes it easy to visit some friends who live about 10 miles north of here for dinner this evening.
Washington, DC - Sun, 19 Nov 2023. 9:45am.
Today Hawk and I are visiting the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. Our tickets aren't until 10am, though, when the museum first opens, and we arrived in town at 9:30am. That means there's time for an impromptu tour of Washington, DC!
After passing by the Pentagon and seeing the Jefferson Memorial and the Washington Monument as we drove into town via I-395 and the 14th Street Bridge, we parked on Independence Ave just off 14th Street. It's half a block from the museum and not much further from various other things....
This view of the Washington Monument isn't from our parking space, but it is close. We crossed to the west side of 14th Street and took a few steps up onto the grass. Yes, one of the cool things about Washington, DC is that lots of iconic places are practically right next to each other.
As you walk north on 14th Street from Independence Ave you cross the National Mall. This is a huge lawn bookended by the Capitol to the east and... frankly, the Lincoln Memorial to the west. The Washington Monument is somewhere in the middle. Across the Mall from 14th Street you can pretty easily see the Capitol. It may look close but it's actually not. It's over a mile across the lawn to the building.
We concluded our mini-tour by looping back to our parked car to stow our heavy jackets, figuring we won't want to drag them around inside the museum. The pic above is of Independence Ave, where we parked. (Ours is one of the vehicles on the right.) I included this photo to show just how close to downtown we were able to park.
Street parking is free in Washington on Sundays. It's a policy designed specifically to encourage tourism. Of course, a wide-open street like this will be filled up by later in the day.
Choosing an early time for our tickets was part of a plan to keep things simple. By leaving relatively early in the morning we completed the 24 mile drive into the city with no traffic slowdowns. And we were able to park right away, no circling the blocks, just steps from the museum. This is so much better than the weekday travel default of parking at a satellite location on the Metro Rail system and riding a train into town. Plus, having the car with us makes it easy to visit some friends who live about 10 miles north of here for dinner this evening.
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Can you explain to the very rural girl what the hell is going on with those things spanning the street in your last picture?
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Also, perfect icon for your username, 11/10 no notes I love it.
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And thank you, it's a longtime favorite book.
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Yes, the two buildings on either side of the street are part of the Department of Agriculture. Its headquarters occupy several blocks in this part of Washington, DC. The overhead in the foreground is officially called the Wilson Arch. Yes, it's a pedestrian crossing linking two buildings so employees don't have to go all the way outside the main doors and walk a few blocks to find unlocked doors in the next building. And it's named not after Woodrow Wilson (my first guess) but James Wilson, secretary of the department about 100 years ago.
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So it wasn't hitting the right matching-space.
Brains, aren't they wild?
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