American History Road Trip - Part 2

Hi, friends! Thank you for stopping by again today to see part 2 of Liam’s road trip through American history. If you missed part 1, you can find it here. Today is all Washington DC, one of my most favorite cities!

I know there are a ton of pictures on this post, but it didn’t justify making two posts out of part 2. Part 3 is still to come with a few more historical adventures.

On our first official night in DC, I booked us a semi-private tour in a glass topped bus. We visited ALL the monuments after hours, and they were so beautiful at night.

We began at the World War II Memorial. Stone architecture and bronze sculptures honors those who lost their lives for the ultimate victory on both the Atlantic and Pacific fronts.

And directly across from it, you see the Washington Monument. We did not go inside it on this night. It is only accessible during the day.

We were then taken to the Martin Luther King, Jr. monument. His inspirational quotes are engraved throughout, and the mountain design itself was chosen from his “Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope” quote.

We visited the Marine Corps Memorial, which is sometimes known as the Iwo Jima memorial (because of the flag raising statue), but it is truly a memorial to all Marines.

We were allowed as close as the front lawn of the White House. As I mentioned in part one, this trip was in the spring of 2024. It was an election year, campaigning was at an all-time high (and then soon the VP replaced the incumbent as the candidate and a whole lot of other drama was going down), so no one was allowed public tours at this time.

But – I am planning a return trip to DC in the next year, and we will get a private tour of the WH then!

He said he’s going to live there someday.

I don’t doubt that…

The Capital is spectacular at night, but we had a private tour booked for the following morning!

And of course, the Korean and Vietnam memorials were sobering.

You can see pictures of the Jefferson Memorial online and in books, but nothing does it justice.

But the Lincoln Memorial was my favorite.

He is so much bigger than I ever imagined. I have a great deal of respect for that man, and I look forward to meeting him someday!

The next morning was our tour of the US Capital, and a deluge decided to visit DC. I gladly paid for an Uber to take us one mile so we could get to our tour.

You first see the Statue of Freedom when entering the Visitor’s Center.

This statue of Jefferson Davis was placed in Statuary Hall to represent Mississippi. While most recognize him as the leader of the Confederacy, he was first a US Representative and Senator who went on to serve as Secretary of War on the Pierce Cabinet.

The top of the Capital Rotunda.

This white marble “compass stone” in the floor of the Crypt marks the center of the U.S. Capitol and is the point where Washington, D.C., is divided into quadrants: northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest.

Since it was still monsoon season when we left the Captial, we spent the afternoon touring The National Art Gallery and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.