Virginia Vacation - DC Sights Pt. 2

As I mentioned it was pouring while we were in Washington, D.C.  We made it back to the car after the Jefferson Memorial soaked to the bone.  Thankfully I had a pair of flip-flops with me and took of my sopping wet socks and tennis shoes.  Dave and Drew weren't so lucky.

After we left the Jefferson Memorial our goal was to try and get by the Lincoln Memorial and then walk to the White House - the only DC sight Drew cared to see.  Well we missed the parking for the Lincoln Memorial so we kept driving and parked near the Washington Memorial.  There really isn't much public parking near the Mall and it's not marked very well - FYI.

So we parked and started walking toward the Washington Monument which was covered in scaffolding and closed to visitor due to earthquake repairs.  Armed with our umbrellas and poncho we decided to chance the weather (which was dry for the moment) and make the 15-20 minute trek to the White House - which was virtually a straight shot.

Dave and Drew did their part to make sure the Washington Monument stays upright.

The view of the Lincoln Memorial and the Mall.  This would be as close as we get to this one - we were hoping to make that our last stop in our DC tour.  I'll explain our "challenges" a bit later.

And here was our destination.  Both shots of the Lincoln Memorial and the White House are the view from the Washington Monument (or in the vicinity of).

We got about 10 yards away from the Washington Memorial and the downpour returned - again torrential.  We decided to try and wait it out on a park bench under a tree.

 Poor Drew and Dave - The rains were coming in on all sides and Virginia rain is nothing like California rain. It's big fat blobs that were coming down hard and fast.  After about 30 minutes or so under the tree we decided to just finish the trip to the White House - we were maybe 200 yards away at this point.  But it was going to be a wet remainder of the walk - not to mention the return to the car.

Dave and I at this point just had to laugh - it was such a miserable experience.  Drew was being a trooper and wasn't complaining despite being soaked to the bone and enduring the conditions he was.  For those that are familiar with the area... I'd guess this was about a 1 mile walk from our car, to the White House then back... in the pouring rain.  But we persevered (a word Drew loves to use) because all Drew wanted to do while in DC was see the White House.  We couldn't leave with out getting as close as possible.

So braving some puddles that were no lie - up to the middle of my calves - we finally made it to the White House.

We had one happy little boy - until we told him, no you can't go in there.  We didn't even attempt to get tickets for the tour since we didn't know what our schedule would be when we were there.

One wet family shot...

We managed to squeeze the camera through the fence to grab this shot.  Thankfully no Secret Service came after me.

So after our 5 minute White House visit, we braved the walk back too the car, but not before we came across an Asian Family where "grandma" ripped a good one.  A big old fart.  Dave and I just gave each other that "Did that just happen" look and we saw grandma turn around to "look at her vapor trail" and chuckle to herself.  That incident helped us brave the rotten return walk.

We decided to skip the Lincoln Memorial because the boys were sopping wet walking in wet socks now for about 2 hours and Dave at least was getting blisters already.  Plus Drew was dawdling and ended up eating it at one point... he was embarrassed and just wanted to get on the road.  It was nearing dinnertime on a Friday night so we opted to head back to Williamsburg - getting a little ahead on our 3 hour return drive.

Here's a shot of the Pentagon as we were driving out of town.  Notice that it started pouring... again.