Washington, DC (USA)

Today, Mollie and I spent the whole day in the District, collecting NPS stamps! After picking her up from Nicky's house (1000), I chauffeured Mollie to the Visitor Centers for the National Mall and the White House.  We’d already been to all the parks in the immediate area but hadn’t got all the stamps for Mollie’s book before. While waiting (about 45 minutes overall for the two locations), I thought about taking Mollie to Ford’s Theater but decided we should get stamps for places that were harder to visit.  So, we drove north (through the city), to visit the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House NHS.  Unfortunately, it was closed.  Undeterred, we drove to the Nature Center for Rock Creek Park. At the latter stop, we found that the Planetarium was closed for maintenance but the horse stables were open. It was brisk and overcast so we only took some short walks in the area before heading south again. We used US-29 and side streets to cross the city (traffic was horrible) but eventually reached the Navy Yard, where we ate a delicious lunch at Gordon Biersch (1245). After about an hour at the restaurant, we crossed the Anacostia and located the Frederick Douglass NHS. We watched an inspiring film about the civil rights icon and then walked the grounds of his historic home. From “Cedar Hill”, we could see for miles, including the major landmarks on the Mall. At 1445, we headed back to Alexandria. Topped off my day by walking Mollie’s dog, Bear. Mollie was quite elated about our day - she’s now collected a stamp for every box in her Passport Book for the National Capital Region!