The Hams invade Washington, D.C.

We arrived in D.C. on Monday May 29th. Our campsite was in Greenbelt Park which was part of the national park system. It was close to the metro rail which was the preferred method of getting our large family around the city. We went to the station and purchased our 6 Smart Cards and loaded them with some money to get us started for the next day's adventure.

 
We started at the National Mall and visited many exhibits over a 3 day period walking over 25 miles. Some of the exhibits were: Holocaust Museum, Museum of Natural History, Museum of American History, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Washington Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Arlington Cemetery, National Gallery of Art, The White House, Chinatown and the Space and Aeronautical Museum.

 

 

 

  
 

 

 
 
 

We covered a lot of ground but still didn't scratch the surface of all the Washington D.C. has to offer. You could probably spend a month there before seeing it all. It was "museum overload" for the little guys and they needed some downtime to play and cut loose on the grass at the national mall. Daily ice cream treats also helped. 

 

My favorite was the Holocaust Museum and we had the privilege of speaking to two survivors that were volunteers in the museum. One lady was Susan Strauss who is 91 years old now. Susan, her grandmother, mom and only sibling were sent to the Riga ghetto, Latvia in 1942. Her grandmother was killed there. Then in 1943, Susan, her mom and sister were sent to a concentration camp where they were separated. She was sent to a factory to work on boats then worked as a bricklayer. Susan was liberated in 1945 but here mom and sister had been killed at other camps. 

The other survivor was Louise Lawrence-Israels who is 77 years old now. Her family went into hiding in Amsterdam in 1943 to escape deportation to concentration camps. Her family was liberated in 1945 when she as 3 years old. This was the first time Louise had been outside in 3 years.

I had goosebumps even talking to these ladies. All of the boys were impacted greatly by what they saw and heard at this memorial. SamBob and Wesley even had questions for the 2 survivors.

We left D.C.exhausted but feeling "full"...of knowledge, history, power, freedom and National pride.