July 4th in our Nation's Capital

National Zoo * Air and Space Museum

We decided to stay away from the National Mall today. Most of the streets are closed for the parade this morning and the concert and fireworks show this evening. The zoo seemed like a good family July 4th activity. The National Zoo is great on a hot summer day because it’s full of trees and right next to Rock Creek Park. It usually feels several degrees cooler in that area. 

We started at the bottom of the hill and worked our way up to the Panda Bears, the highlight at the zoo. We were lucky to see both of the panda bears active; one outside walking around and the other inside chewing on a box. The other zoo highlights included an orangutan climbing overhead on a rope from one area of the zoo to another, an exotic bird show, and an elephant giving himself a dust bath. Riley wasn’t too interested in the animals, but she enjoyed being outside.

Stewart had a flight back to Worcester at 2:00 so we left he zoo about noon to get him to the airport. Afterwards we decided to head out of the air and space museum by the Dulles airport because the traditional air and space museum in the city is closed for some updates. It was pretty neat. We were able to see one of the space shuttles and learn about that NASA program. We also saw a concord plane and a stealth Air Force place. All were pretty impressive! It was nice and cool inside the museum and there was a Shake Shack which made for a tasty lunch. Also, because it was Monday we were also able to connect with Emma on her mission.

On our way back into DC we made a stop at the temple which just completed a major remodel and open house. It will be rededicated in just a few weeks. We were reminded of its beauty and splendor and size! It’s the 3rd largest temple in the world.

Tonight Sydney, Charlie, and Lara went to the Iwa Jima memorial to watch the fireworks. Amazingly enough we found free parking a 20-minute walk from the monument. The fireworks show was amazing. At one point there were smiley face fireworks and some that where spelling USA. The rest were beautiful and impressive. The hill by Iwo Jima was packed body to body as I’m sure the mall was as well.