NYC and DC

Author: rozell robinsn
Date of Trip: June 2014

We just completed our vacation to DC and it was nice. We spent the 1st few days in DC. We did the White House tour which was really cool. You had to contact our senator 4 months in advance to get the white house tour. We went to the Washington Memorial and then we went to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. The kids really loved the museum and it was so much for them to see and do. The atrium cafe inside the Smithsonian Museum of Natural history had some really good food also. They had something on the menu for everyone! We stayed at the Grand Hyatt and it was within walking distance to almost everything. We also saw the Lincoln Memorial and the MLK memorial. We visited the Smithsonian aviation museum and it was cool but not as good as the museum of natural history. We drove over to virginia to see the pentagon and the kids were impressed. We also rode the subway for the first time while in DC. We paid $35 a day to park in DC! parking is hard to find. We ate breakfast at Lincoln Waffles and we were not impressed. We had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe and it was good. We also ate at Fuddruckers too and it was good. Overall, DC was a fun stop for the family.

We drove from DC to New York. It took us about 4 hours and the ride wasn’t bad at all. The first mistake I made was trying to stop in New Jersey to get breakfast when we arrived around 9 am. Bad idea. We ran into 8 toll booths just trying to find a good breakfast spot. Whatever you do, dont get off in NJ unless you have to. You will pay in a major way for tolls. Some of the tolls were as much as $15! WOW. I couldn’t believe it.

We finally made it to NYC. We rented an apartment. It took us an hour to find a parking space. we finally ended up parking at the mall and then catching a cab back to the apartment. We had a an awesome time in NYC and we can’t wait to get back. The first day, we went to Central Park with the kids which was fun. Central Park is huge and we only saw about 1/10 of the park. We went to Times Square that night and it blew us away. It was so exciting and people were all over the place. My 5 year old daughter was so excited. We went to the ToysRus store first and the kids rode the huge ferris wheel with my wife. It was awesome. The store has 3 floors and it’s crazy exciting.We then went to M&M world and brought some M&M’s that we didn’t know existed. There are souvenir shops all around times square as well. The next day we did the statue of liberty tour. We used Statue Cruises and it was great. We booked at the last minute so we had to board from the NJ side but it was easy to take the $5 water taxi to the other side of the port. The tour was fun and we got a chance to go up to the pedastal. That afternoon we decided to go the 9/11 memorial. My wife and I enjoyed this one but my 5 year old got bored really fast. My 11 year old was really interested in almost everything we saw at the memorial. If you are going to NY, parking is crazy! if you do find a place to park, it will not be cheap. The food was really good. We had pizza everyday for lunch and it was the best pizza that we ever had. We ate a restaurant called BlueSmoke near the Financial district and it had really good Barbecue. We stayed on the subway while in NY. we even got lost a couple of times. Be sure to ask before you get on the subway if you have any doubts. NYC was more than I expected. The sights and sounds will keep you going and going. We enjoyed NYC and we can’t wait to go back.