Indian Time - A Voice from the Eastern Door

We had been promising the kids a trip to Washington DC for the last two summers. Something always came up though. Someone got sick, only one parent could get the time off work, there was extreme weather warnings. When we were on our way home from Myrtle Beach we decided to stop for the weekend in that city. Big brother was so excited since he’s the big history buff who knows what museums are there. The night we arrived it was late and we had to really fight to make the boys go to sleep. They were just so excited to go exploring that all they did was bounce off furniture and ask where we going first. It was after midnight by the time we had them asleep and after a day on the road we were tired.

In the morning, I ran to get them breakfast before they were up. It worked out so well because as soon as they smelled the food they jumped out of bed. After everyone was fed and showered we took a shuttle from the hotel to the city’s subway system. I couldn’t get over how clean it was and how easy it was to use. Ok I had no idea what I was doing or how the fare worked, but the city workers were right there to guide me through so that made it easy. Once we got our subway tickets we pointed in the direction we had to go to catch our train. Little brother had big eyes and was skipping alongside us. When we boarded we found a few seats so we could be out of the way plus I’m too short to hang onto the railing above your head like in the movies. When the train took off it was really fast and you sort of got pushed back into your seat. Big brother grabbed onto little brother as if he’d fly away. Little brother was amazed by this, he had the biggest smile and giggled like it was an amusement park ride. After a few more stops the kids asked if they could stand up to see how it felt when the train took off. We let them and the pictures I took of their faces are priceless. That is something little brother will never forget. He still talks about that experience a few times a week and it was two months ago.

We reached our destination, which was the National Mall area. Coming out of the underground it was so bright and big brother was in awe of the city that he saw when he turned that last corner coming out of the subway station. We made our way to the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum first. It was a busy Saturday and there were many people milling around. My husband and I each grabbed one of the kids’ hands and I appreciated our odds. One kid per parent, so we were able to cut through big crowds with ease. There was so much to see in that one building. Big brother was so immersed in the fossil and dinosaur wing that we kept moving ahead on him on accident. We forgot that he’s such a reader and wanted to stop and read everything on each exhibit. After years of keeping up the pace with kids who race through things it was a nice change to actually walk and stop to take in all that was there. Little brother’s attention span is much shorter at five years old than big brother’s at nine, so we took turns being the person to make him stop and wait for us readers. Little brother’s favorite stop was the ocean hall and he liked checking out all the exhibits there until he saw they had a giant squid. He said that was gross! We saw the Hope Diamond and walked through a butterfly pavilion before making our way back outside to walk in the National Mall area.

After some lunch on the lawn and people watching, we made our way to the Air and Space Museum. Now this was more up little brother’s alley. He loved all the planes, jets and shuttles displayed. We spent a long time in that museum and I don’t think there’s a corner in that building the kids didn’t check out. Little brother knew the difference between the aircrafts and when it came to the older ones he’d laugh and say “it’s here because it retired!” We browsed the gift shop before heading over to our next tourist stop. Our last museum of the day was the American Indian Museum and my husband and the kids were basically just dragged along because I wanted to go there. Oh what good sports they were. As soon as we walked in we saw a gustowah made by someone in Akwesasne! Big brother the reader felt like the world was a little smaller. It took maybe all of forty-five minutes to see this museum mostly because of the speed the kids were going. They were restless by then and kept hiding in things or running around. We decided to let the boys just run when we got to the National Mall because it’s really just a giant long lawn. Little brother managed to find a stick that he said looked like a gun and he went into full navy seal mode. He was darting behind trees and rolling. That little stick made it on the subway back to the hotel with us. Little brother fell asleep on the subway ride and when he woke up he said all worried, “where’s my gun!” of course we had it because it was cool. The rest of the night he was all about that “gun” and didn’t need any toys. And that was our day one in the Capital.