For a long time now I have wanted to explore the National Mall at night when the monuments are all lit up. In the past when we have gone into DC its always been in the daytime so we could visit museums and get home at a reasonable hour. Now that Jared and Lydia are older I am less concerned about keeping them up late and thought it would be so fun to drive up and visit the National and US Capitol Christmas trees and then take a walk around the monuments. It did not disappoint. We hadn't been into DC around Christmas time for a few years and it was fun to be back. The National tree is kind of weird but pretty and since its right by the White House we could see it all lit up too. The Capitol tree is big and fun. Mark was super stressed about driving and parking. The right hand lane on Constitution is such a headache with people trying to park and then all of a sudden it is a turn only lane or you are driving across the river on a bridge when you did not mean to, its just hard to navigate. Going on a Saturday, after 5:00, during a pandemic did help but it was really unpleasant for Mark. There was a good amount of people at the National Tree but the Capitol Tree and monuments were not busy at all. Mark dropped us off at the Capitol tree so he did not visit it in person but he came to the National tree and of course the walk on the Mall.
I really enjoyed our walk. Jared and Lydia ran around and played tag and were good sports. We passed by hardly anyone and it was just a stress free outing. We walked to the Lincoln Memorial, then stopped by the Korean War Memorial, then headed to the WW II Memorial and the Washington Monument. The view from the Lincoln Memorial is so beautiful, to look out over the reflecting pool and see the Washington Monument and Capitol building at night is just special. It's a historic place and seeing it at night was great. When we were walking back to the car Lydia and Jared were falling behind Mark and I. I frequently looked back to make sure they were together and near by and one of the times I saw them walking away from us in a different direction. I quickly called out to them and they stopped moving that way. I could see that they were following another couple thinking it was us! It was scary and funny. We were all reunited and made it back to the car. After our walk we drove over to the Yards to view an art installation. Four giant, metal stars are set up and they change colors over time. Its trendy area with limited parking, Mark just dropped the three of us off to check it out and circled around the block.
Korean War, the design of this memorial has always been one I really like, its so real like.
WW II It was nice to see the wreaths out as well.
I had plans to try to drive through a few business "neighborhoods" because this year they were all making extra efforts with their decorating because of COVID and it was supposed to be really well done but it didn't quite work out because we wanted to make it to the temple and they close the gates at 9:00. Even though it was only a drive thru option this year we wanted one last chance to see the lights at the DC temple in case this is our last Christmas here. We were only partly successful. The traffic was horrible and we did not make it in time. We did get a very long time to view the temple lit up which was beautiful. It has been closed so long so its been a long time since we have been there. COVID came right as they were finishing up renovations that had the temple closed for the last 2 years. We did see some beautiful lights near the visitor center parking lot. They were amazing, it felt like they put up way more than they normally do that or it was just not as spread out. From what we saw it looked beautiful and we wish we would have made it in time to do the drive thru.
Blurry as we were driving by but they were very impressive.
It was a great night out. We smartly stopped for ice cream at Moo Thru on our way up because we knew it would be too late for the drive home. I drove most of the way home which I do not do often and it went well. Its really not a bad drive once you are out of the District but inside there is such a challenge since we are not there frequently.
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