The Washington Monument is under restoration, I am told. I have many memories of it as a child and I sort of like the Under Construction look.
The first night we arrived in the Washington, DC area, I
knew exactly what we had to do: the Monuments by Moonlight Tour it would be.
I found about the tour in an article about the best thing to do with teens in Washington. I knew I wouldn’t have much time with Emma during her week at the National Youth Leadership Forum, so I knew I would have to be choosy. She was very excited to be in DC and wanted to see as much as she could squeeze in.
I felt confident because I had my GPS and reportedly there was parking at Union Station so instead of hopping on the Metro, I decided to drive instead.
First mistake.
Watch for the article I plan to write in praise of the metro system and leaving your car parked at an outlying metro station to explain more about a much better solution than driving around DC.
There was quite a bit of traffic as we got into the city and my heart was literally pounding as I saw such memorable sites I had not seen for decades. The GPS told us we would get to Union Station right on time to be early for our tour. We had the address but where was the Union Station? I kept driving in circles.
I pulled into a parking lot where the attendant just looked at me and shook his head, trying to prevent me from approaching at all. “Where is Union Station?” I asked him, trying to smile with my not-so-deranged tourist face. He pointed and told me behind that building over there.
I drove around that building over there and yes, there was this really cool white
Washington DC's Untion Station, Second in size only to Grand Central Station in New York City
building there, but it didn’t have numbers or names on
it and besides that, it was on the wrong side of the street from the address I
had. Any building as important as the Union Station would have a huge sign for
goofy tourists like me, right?
Second mistake. Don’t expect things to be the way they are at home. Perhaps other people would recognize the building.
I drove around again. I saw one of the trolleys that looked like the one in the Monuments by Moonlight advertisements. Yes, I did the mortifying: I drove beside her and rolled down my window. “Excuse me, where can I catch your tour?” The driver raised her finger and pointed in the vague direction of that big, lovely, old white building.
I moved again in that direction and we were now ten minutes late to our recommended arrival time.
There it was, sitting on the throne of the traffic circle so I decided I would drive the other way around it to see if I could figure out where the heck the Union Station might be.
That was the first thing I did right. As you may have guessed, the beautiful white building was the Union Station and by following a road that looked like the absolute wrong road to follow, I found the parking. Emma and I raced through Union Station with me asking nearly every person who worked at a kiosk we ran passed, “Is this the way to the tour buses?” and “Are we on the right way to the tour buses?”
We found the trolley right as my bladder felt it was about to explode. The first gentlemen told me to get on now, a stop would have a rest room but a second gentlemen looked at my face and said, “Why don’t you just run in over there and we’ll wait a few more minutes.”
I looked at him and said, “You are my hero!” I didn’t know where Emma was as I dashed to the restroom inside the gorgeous white building I now knew was the Union Station.
Once I calmed into my seat of the trolley, the tour was excellent.
Our driver was so knowledgeable and she referred to herself as a historian, which naturally I appreciated.
A Poignant Moment: Monuments by Moonlight Tour: Nurses Memorial
I learned new things and revisited old favorite monuments –
saw the Lincoln monument two nights before it was vandalized – and saw some new
to me monuments: the Nurses memorial and the Eleanor/Franklin Delano Roosevelt
memorial is another.
Tears rose up repeatedly as the historian behind the wheel (who some would call tour guide) referred to the legislative branch of our government as YOUR house. It felt good to feel good about being an American.
The next time you find your way to the United States Capital, I would heartily recommend taking a bus tour. Many depart from Union Station, which is that big building that looks like this: Yes, there is parking in the rear but really consider taking the metro. It is easy to master and good for the environment as well as your nerves.
Most of all enjoy your travels, wherever they take you!
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