Our DC trip! So, we had decided on DC for a number of reasons. One, Chris and April live in NC and we had not seen them for a couple of years, partly due to the pandemic and partly due to that fact that it's hard to travel with a toddler and a baby. Elli, our niece, is already 1 1/2 and we haven't even seen her yet. Two, we have a small Mexico cruise planned with Amy's family in February and we had sent Kai and Jad's passports for renewal so we couldn't go anywhere international.
Overall, it was a good trip, though in retrospect, traveling to two places in one month is too much disruption. The best part was that the kids got along so well with Ryan, our nephew, and seeing everyone. It's been a while since all the Udom brothers managed to be in the same place. Here are some highlights:
We got a great overview of public transportation on this trip, going from plane to bus to train to subway to streetcar. We stayed pretty close to Union Station and the Mall but there was still a lot of walking on this trip. Luckily, we didn't have a strict itinerary so we could take things fairly slowly. I'm glad of their exposure to public transport so they don't think we can just get into a car and drive everywhere (like we do at home in California).
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| Plane! |
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| On the bus from the airport to the rail station |
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Took the train into Union Station
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| Many trips on the Metro |
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| Kids rode the lines like champs! |
The first day there, we went to the White House for a tour. Amy had written to Ro Khanna, our CA House representative, and gotten on the list a couple of months prior. We went through three security checkpoints and then started the tour. I thought it would be guided but it was just self-guided, which is not as cool. Come on, WH, can't you spare a few interns for this?! :p
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| Who let these silly boys in the White House |
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| We got to see the Blue, Red and Green rooms. Some cool paintings and displays. |
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Under the Presidential Seal (this is
right in the foyer of the main entrance) |
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| Favorite Prez! |
There were, of course, a lot of museums in DC. We didn't want museum overload either so we kept it to the main ones that the kids would enjoy. The first was the American History Museum which had a lot of cool exhibits but the part the kids liked the most was the history of Entertainment, which had a lot about TV and even video games. Some really cool and historic stuff in there.
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There was a Star Spangled Banner special exhibit which
displayed the original flag from Fort McHenry. The flag is huge! |
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| Captain America's shield from the movies |
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| Kristi Yamaguchi's from Fremont (Amy's hometown) |
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Abraham Lincoln's top hat, worn on the
night of his assassination |
One of the best things about the trip was how well our kids go along with Ryan. Chris's kids, Tad and Elli are too young to do much now, but Ryan (12) is the prefect age for our kids. Old enough to look up to but also young enough to goof around all the time. It made this trip a lot less stressful as they would occupy themselves much of the time. Kai especially as he tends to create trouble with Sora and Jad if he is bored. Joe was sick for part of the trip so Ryan came out with us a lot as Joe recuperated at the VRBO.
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| Group hug! |
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Ramen at Toki Underground. Pretty good ramen but
the kids didn't like the vulgar stickers/graffiti at the bar |
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At the National Archives, where we saw the big three: Declaration of
Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights |
The kids did still have homework so we would spend most of the morning to early afternoon wandering around somewhere then go back home for a snack and homework time. The evenings were pretty quiet as we cooked up some easy dinner or got take out. Lodging is pretty expensive in DC but we managed a VRBO for about $650 a night for our three families. The location was very good, on H street on the east side of the National Mall, with pretty good access to the Metro via Streetcar or we could just walk about 25 mins.
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| Playing some Dominion in evenings |
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We also watched National Treasure :D
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The Air and Space Museum was very cool though and a nice mix of aircrafts, space stuff and some scifi thrown in there.
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X-wing fighter (though our kids
don't know Star Wars yet) |
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| The original Wright Flyer! |
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Astronaut suits and they also had
some rocks from the Moon! |
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The kids spent much of the time playing
(and crashing) planes on the USPS delivery route |
We also took several walks along the National Mall. The weather was in the 60's with just one day of light rain, really a very nice time to be in DC. The fall colors were just starting too which was cool. I don't know if the kids appreciated the grandeur of the monuments we saw but at least when they see it later or read about it in their history books, they can remember that they were there.
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| Cavorting and running along.. not too many people either! |
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| Sensitive artistry at the Washington Monument |
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| The Reflecting Pool in front of the Lincoln Monument |
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| "Four Scores and Seven Years Ago.." |
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The Korean War Memorial (very poignant, along
with the Vietnam War Memorial opposite) |
We also went to the National Zoo twice (the kids chose it again when we let them decide what to do the last full day we were there). The nice thing about these attractions is that they are free so when we had lunch at the various places for about $50, it didn't feel like it was so expensive. If there had been entrance fees and we also had to buy food, it would have been harder to manage.
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There was a Halloween event there in the evenings
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| Jad says the zoo smells |
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| The cousins with the otters |
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| There was a cool playground there as well |
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That morning, Jad said "I want to see an
armadillo". Well, there you go, dude! |
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| Amazonia exhibit.. they had piranhas too |
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| Can't forget the elephants! |
I had a chance to meet up with a couple friends who live in the area as well. Plomarz, who moved out from the bay area, many years ago and is working with Kaiser out there now. He's having some mid career thoughts as well so I ran my job situation by him and he agreed that putting family first is the right choice. He's also got a giant beard now :) I also met up with Hsiong, my neurologist friend that I met while playing Halo on Xbox online. Viet and I were in Midland Base, a Halo online group, and Hsiong was a good teammate on there as well. He mentioned that he worked these odd nights, 7 on and 7 off, and Viet was like, "that sounds like a hospitalist job!" and it turned out he was a doctor too. We've kept in touch and met up a couple of times since which has been fun.
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| Look at that beard! Was nice to grab some Ethiopian food with Plomarz |
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| Went to Bar Taco with Hsiong.. very tasty! |
We spent one morning at the Natural History Museum. It's such a big museum that I don't think we even saw a quarter of it but we did make it through the dinosaur hall, the ocean hall and the mineral and gems exhibit.
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| Ryan joined a lot of our family pics |
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It was tough with Tad and Elli but at least here
Tad could run around and play |
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I think this display was about ice cores but the kids just
thought it was a cool place to run in circles ;D |
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| Sora was a big fan of the colorful displays here |
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This was near the Ocean Hall and the Terrace Cafe (more
healthy options, pretty tasty) .. I don't think Ryan is actually
crying, just pretending to be scared |
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Our family picture where we got everyone in together!
(Amy had to photoshop Jad's eyes from another pic because he had them shut) |
We also made it to a tour at Congress, which was neat. Again, I don't think the kids got the sense of how important Congress is but for me, it was hard to believe that rioters would march through the hallowed halls.
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| The US Capitol Building! |
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I think I remember these paintings
in the background from school history books |
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| Cool ceiling dome |
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Kevin McCarthy had just been removed
from the Speaker of the House role |
After that we went to the National Arboretum which had some cool plants and displays. The kids liked the venus flytraps and other carnivorous plants as well as the mini play area. They had a cool rainforest portion which was very humid as well for tropical plants.
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| The misters were a hit too |
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| I oscillate between sweet and volcano Thai :D |
We had planned to take the bus to get back to the rental but we ran into a pro-Palestinian protest. The kids were a bit apprehensive as the big crowd rounded the corner and came towards us but we just walked briskly to the side and let them pass. There was a lot of chanting of anti-Isreal slogans and noise but overall, was very peaceful. I was actually glad the kids saw it and talked to them later about how, if you care about something, then you have to go out and speak up or fight for it and that non-violent protest is a normal and healthy part of democracy.
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They probably have protests all the time and this was likely
permitted with the DCPD having blocked off some streets nearby |
As usual, Amy went on several runs during the vacation, usually sneaking out in the morning before the kids were up. DC is a big running city apparently, perhaps because of the large military presence around, and Amy said there were a lot of very fit people exercising. She did manage to make it to several places that the rest of us didn't because she was unencumbered by a large group.
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| Riverview of the Jefferson Memorial |
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| Some inspiring words |
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The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, which looks
especially nice in the morning light |
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| Good job with the running, Amy! |
Our last morning there we packed up and headed out to Union Station with all of our stuff. We do tend to pack light but still had one big suitcase that we had to carry around, in addition to several backpacks and a violin (long story, but Kai ended up doing an online violin competition while we were there). We had heard nice things about the Postal Museum and it turned out to be right next to Union Station so we stopped by there to see the history of the postal service. It was a pretty cool museum actually with a lot of nice displays. Worth a couple hours to visit, especially if you're just waiting for a train to the airport in the early afternoon!
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Mail was delivered by pony, stagecoach,
bike, canoe, plane and trucks |
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The famous Inverted Jenny! We also saw a Penny
Black, the first stamp ever in England |
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This Hawaiian mail box was pretty cool.. they used to weld it
shut and throw it overboard when they were passing the islands |
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There were stamps from hundreds of years ago
and many different countries |
After that, we headed to the airport and flew home. All in all, a fun trip and it was really good to see my brothers and their families. Maybe Ryan can come down to spend a week with us next summer :)
I'm almost caught up on the blog... Til next time!
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| Sora drew this cute pic on Tad's magnetic board :) |
