Days 13,14,15,16 and 17, St. Louis Gateway Arch, Independence, Liberty Jail, Far West Temple Site, Haun's Mill, Colorado Springs, Garden of the Gods, HOME AGAIN

Day 13 we got up early, packed up, ate breakfast and set out on a very LONG day of driving.  We left Washington D.C. and drove to Cincinnati, Ohio.  We tried to meet up with my sister Jennifer since she lives close by Cincinnati, but she was on her own family vacation, unfortunately.  We drove through a few states where we tried to get the pictures.  We missed a few, but got most of them.

Pennsylvania:

 West Virginia:

 Indiana:

 Illinois:

We stopped for the night and then did it all over again the next day.  The second day of driving we broke it up by stopping to see the St. Louis Archway in the middle of our drive.  It was cool because as you came around a bend in the road you could see the archway right away.

 We didn't spend a whole lot of time here because we still had a lot of driving to do and I couldn't find any close parking so I ended up parking illegally--DOH!!  We walked around and looked at the arch.

 Daniel begged for a selfie:

 Here's what the archway base looked like:

 Thankfully on getting back to the car we didn't get a ticket--phew!  We were then back on the road again.  A funny thing is we passed an Idaho Potato truck.  We were getting a bit homesick about this time in our trip so it was funny to pass this truck on our drive:

We made it to Kansas City and that's where we spent the night.  The next morning we got up, had breakfast and then headed over to see Independence, Missouri. On our way we came over a hill in the highway and saw the Kansas City LDS temple.  We stopped to get a quick look and then headed over to Independence.

 At Independence we stopped by the LDS visitor's center where we learned about the LDS history of the area.  The visitor's center had displays up of how the pioneers lived at that time and the experiences they had there.  They had a mock cabin built where you could see what inside of one looked like.  The kids tried out the bed:

 Josh and Aaron sat by the fireplace:

 They then talked about the history of the area:

 We got to see the proposed temple site, but no temple was ever built:

 The temple site land is owned by the Community of Christ church.

We did go inside their church to see the cornerstone of the temple that was never built.  While we were there one of the members of that church talked to us about their beliefs.  It was interesting to hear the differences in our religions.  Here's the cornerstones they had on display:

We also go to drive over to see the Far West Temple site.  

 The cornerstones:

The cornerstones were laid, but the temple was never built due to opposition by the local Missourians.

 We also got to see Liberty Jail.  Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Sydney Rigdon, Lyman Wight,  and George Robinson were confined here on false accusations of treason.  It was horrendous time.  They were here for 4 months in the basement of this cold, damp jail.  During those 4 winter months they were fed rotten food and unclean water.

Just looking around the jail and hearing the prisoners accounts it sounded like a horrible time.

 Even despite these horrible conditions Joseph was able to receive revelation for the D&C sections 105, 121, 122, and 123.

Afterward we drove out to see the site of Haun's Mill.  We were expecting some kind of marker of where it stood, but after looking around we just saw this sign:

And this small cement marker:

 We had to drive on a dirt road to get out here, but even looking around for the markers it was a beautiful place:

 After seeing most of the LDS sites in the area we started our way back to the hotel.  Since we were staying in Kansas City we HAD to try out a BBQ place.

 We were not disappointed.  It was pretty tasty.  I could only eat half, but good thing Josh is a bottomless pit so he could finish the rest of my plate.  Here's what Aaron ordered:

 Afterward the kids made Aaron's day by telling him that his food tasted better than that BBQ place.  Aaron was on cloud 9.

The next morning we got up, packed up, ate breakfast and started to do some more driving.  We passed through Kansas:

We drove into Colorado and stayed in the night in Colorado Springs.

 Before getting to the hotel we drove through the Garden of the Gods and let the kids get out and climb around.

 We were excited to start seeing mountains again.

 We hit Garden of the Gods as the sun was setting so we got some cool pictures:

 That night we let the kids go swimming in the hotel.  Then we went to bed.

The next morning we got up, packed up, ate breakfast and headed HOME.  Yay!!  The way we were originally going to go was closed due to wildfires so we took a slightly longer detour and drove through Wyoming.

Everyone was so EXCITED to see the UTAH sign.  We were so ready to come home!!

 Tired and sore from sitting in the car for so long we were excited to be back home and sleep in our own beds that night.  I was done with driving, too.  I drove 99% of the whole entire trip and I wanted to be done gripping the steering wheel.  My hands were sore if I moved them in any other position besides gripping the steering wheel--haha!

It was an amazing trip and I am glad we got to opportunity to take it.  We learned a lot and I hope the kids' testimonies grew. I know Aaron and mine did.  Although things weren't always peachy, it was awesome to experience so many things together as a family.

17 days, 18 States (Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Washington D.C., Virginia, West Virginia, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah) , and 2 Countries (USA, Canada).  We only crossed over into Ontario, Canada, but it still counts as another country--haha!

Days 11&12 Washington D.C., Smithsonian, World War II Memorial, Lincoln Monument, National Mall, Vietnam Memorial, White House, Holocaust Museum, Supreme Court, Capitol Building, Arlington Cemetery, D.C. LDS Temple

Day 11 we left Philadelphia early in the morning and drove 3 hours to get to Washington D.C.  On the drive we passed through three different states: Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.  We missed the actual Delaware sign so Aaron just got a picture of the Delaware Park sign instead--haha!

 Maryland:

Virginia:

 Luckily, Aaron had gone on a business trip earlier this year so he was able to do some reconnaissance for us when we would be coming later in the year--wahoo about that!  On the drive Aaron used the website Spothero to secure a parking spot.  We then parked and started exploring and walking and walking and walking.  There is so much to see in D.C.  You could spend a month here and still not see everything.  We first went to the National Archives where we were able to see the original copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. They were kept in a room that was really dim to try and keep the ink from fading.  They wouldn't let you take any pictures, but you could hardly read the writing on the documents since it had faded so much.  They were still pretty cool to see.  These were the ones with the actual signatures on them unlike the ones that had all the names printed instead of signed that were displayed in Philadelphia.

We then went to the National Gallery of Art.  I got to see one of my favorite paintings The Japanese Footbridge by Monet.  I was excited to see this painting which is part of a series he painted since I had seen another similar painting of that series when I went to Paris 20+ years ago.  I loved it so much I bought the print back in Paris and mailed it home for when I got back home.  When I got home I had it framed and it still is hanging at the head of my bed today.

 Here it is above my bed:

We also got to see some Vincent Van Gogh paintings, too:

 This painting is done by Leonardo DiVinci.  The amazing thing about seeing this is that it is the only DiVinci painting on display in the entire U.S.

 There was a huge painting of Daniel in the Lions Den by Rubens that Daniel made us take his picture in front of:

 As much as I could have stayed and looked at the art museum the kids were starting to get bored so we decided to move on.  We walked over to the National Museum of Natural History:

 They had all kinds of cool things to see there:

 We even got to see the Hope Diamond:

 It was really pretty despite it sad history:

 We stayed until close to closing time at the museum.  Then we grabbed a quick dinner and started seeing the outside stuff.  We walked over to see the Washington Monument:

 The World War II Memorial:

 Here's the WWII Memorial with the Lincoln Monument in the background:

 The WWII Memorial has 56 granite pillars that represents each state and territory that fought in the war.

 Here's the Utah pillar:

 This was a sobering display.  There is a Freedom Wall which is a wall of stars in which each star represents the death of 100 Americans who died in the war.

 There was a total of 4,048 stars meaning 404,800 Americans lost their lives for our freedom.

 We then walked along the reflecting pool down to the Lincoln Monument.  Holy cow the distances were a lot longer than they looked.  We walked and walked and walked to get around the Washington Mall!

 We made it to the Lincoln Memorial which was pretty cool:

 Here's the view at the top of the stairs at the Lincoln Monument:

 Then we walked over to see the Vietnam Memorial.  There were so many names on that wall which is heart rending.

 We then wandered over to see the White House.  We could only get as close as across the street, but it was still pretty cool.  By the time we got there the kids were tired as you can see:

 While we were waiting for our turn to get a picture we got to see the White House Christmas Tree which was close by as well as the Washington Monument behind it:

 Here's the White House:

We then walked all the way back to our parking spot and then went to check in at the hotel.

The next morning we got up early, ate breakfast and then headed back into D.C. to see some more.  Since we only saw a fraction of the Natural History Museum we wanted to go back and explore it some more.  We had to wait in line to get through security, but the kids were refreshed from the day before and were ready to get started.  Here we are waiting in line:

 We went up to see the display about Narwhals.  Daniel has been fascinated with them for a few years and was excited to actually learn more about them.

 The Narwhal tusk can grow to be pretty long.  Here's everyone measuring up to a tusk:

 It's even taller than Josh so you know it was pretty long!

They let us handle one, too:

 We then went over to check out the insects.  We even got to handle a few:

They had a beehive set up behind the glass where you could watch the bees come and go from outside.  It was pretty cool:

 Here's the actual hive where you could see all the bees working:

 Here's a presentation about tarantulas:

 We only had about an hour to stay here because we had tickets to the Holocaust Museum for 11 am.  On our way out we got a picture by the ancient statue from Easter Island:

 We then walked over to the Holocaust Museum.  I didn't feel right taking any pictures there because it was such a somber place.  When you enter they assign you a Jewish person through a pamphlet where you could read about their life before they were put into a concentration camp.  You then rode an elevator to the top floor and walked through the museum floor by floor learning how Hitler came to power and how the Jews were eventually taken and a lot were killed in concentration camps.  It was really sobering to read about their different family stories.  It was so sad.  Aaron and I knew this would be a downer museum to visit, but we felt it was important that the kids really understood what happened and how it happened.  It was really sad.  By the bottom floor I was having a hard time reading about the atrocities that those poor people had to endure.  The museum did have some safeguards in place for smaller kids.  In order to see any graphic video they were all behind a half wall that you had to be tall enough to see over.  I was glad for that because there were some things I didn't think Sarah and Noah should see even Daniel for that matter.  I was glad to be able to see that museum, but I don't think I would ever want to go back and I think Aaron and the kids feel the same way.  It was important to see and think about, though.

After the Holocaust Museum we headed over to the Air and Space Museum.  Aaron is fascinated with all things space so he was really enjoying this place.  There was so much to see there.  I only got a few pictures of everyone because we were too busy looking at everything.  We got to see Neil Armstrong's actual space suit:

We also got to see the Russian Gagarin's Space suit as well:

 We learned about Newton's laws of Motion:

Daniel got to try out a hands on gyroscope force display:

Sarah got a turn as well:

Sarah got to learn about airplane lifting force:

Josh got to learn about airplane resistance and drag placed on the wings:

 Noah got to try out sitting in an airplane cockpit and see all the dials.  He thought it was pretty cool:

 Matthew tried it out, too:

 I thought it was fascinating that they had the actual Wright Brother's very first airplane the Wright Flyer built in 1903 on display:

It is so amazing to me how far airplanes have gone in the last 100+ years!

Noah and I got to check out a hot air balloon basket:

 We then walked over to the Museum of American Art where we were able to see a Jackson Pollock painting:

 And an Andy Warhol Marilyn Monroe painting. I had pictured it being bigger than it was so I was surprised when we actually saw it.

 I am not a huge fan of modern art so we didn't spend too long here.  Afterward we went over to the National Museum of American History.  We started out on the ground floor hoping to make our way up through the building.  We were excited to see the Batmobile on the bottom floor so we had to take a picture:

We got to see the history of each decade.  That's when you start to feel a bit old when you can see stuff you saw when you were a little kid:

And when you see 'cutting edge' stuff you saw come out about 20 years ago like the first iPod:

 Aaron and I felt a little old after looking at these....

They also had a record scratching or scrubbing machine where you could get your rap sounds on.

 Here's rap master Sarah trying out her scrubbing skills--haha!

 Sad to say, but we didn't make it off the ground floor of this museum before it closed.  Again let me say there was so much to see!!!

After the museum closed and we left we decided to drive around and look at the different buildings.  We got to see the Capitol Building:

 Capitol Building from the side:

 The Supreme Court Building:

 We then drove over to Arlington National Cemetery.  We were glad to get there just in time to see the changing of the guard in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Hearing them play 'Taps':

 There were so many graves with headstones.  This picture is just a very small fraction of how many graves there are at this cemetery:

 We then went to see the Eternal Flame at John F. Kennedy's grave as well as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and two of their infant children:

The view from the cemetery was pretty cool.

 After Arlington we drove over to see the Washington D.C. temple.  It is closed for renovation so this was as close as we could get.  It was still really beautiful:

It was a good note to end our day on.