Museum of the American Indian

   We’ve been to this museum three times and we still haven’t seen it all. Most of this amazing collection was assembled by one man, George Gustav Heye. When his artifacts were transferred to the Smithsonian, native people from South, Central and North America became involved in all phases of the design of the museum plus interpretation of the artifacts and the traditions of their ancient and modern  lifestyles.

  We almost always park in front of the Air and Space Museum where there’s a section of handicapped parking spaces. There are also some good handicapped spaces by the National Gallery of Art. The street is signed – No Parking  1-10:00 AM  Mon-Fri 3 Hour Limit All Other Times. The spaces fill fast. We try to get there a little before ten. The three hour limit doesn’t seem to be enforced.

  Everything is accessible.  Museum     38.88837, -77.01669   Map

United States Botanic Garden Conservatory

   The greenhouses are sectioned off into eight different rooms with environments ranging from the desert to the jungle. Included are a large collection of orchids and a walkway high in the rainforest canopy. There’s also an outside rose garden.

  Everything in the conservatory is accessible but because there is only one ramp some backtracking is required. An elevator goes to the rainforest canopy walkway. The garden outside has loose sand paths so it’s difficult to push along.

     We almost always park in front of the Air and Space Museum where there’s a section of handicapped parking spaces. There are also some good handicapped spaces by the National Gallery of Art. The street is signed – No Parking  1-10:00 AM  Mon-Fri 3 Hour Limit All Other Times. The spaces fill fast. We try to get there a little before ten. The three hour limit doesn’t seem to be enforced.
 Conservatory   Map
38.88804, -77.01295
 

Holocaust Memorial Museum

        
   This  museum is very good and very disturbing at the same time. Everyone should go see it. Perhaps the knowledge of how Hitler managed to command so much power and how the rest of the world ignored him and allowed the Holocaust to happen will keep something of this magnitude from happening again.

   Everything is accessible except for the most graphic pictures which are behind half walls to shield them from small children. The first section of the museum is a corridor and can get crowded. The best way to make sure that you can see  everything is to stay on the right hand side as close to the exhibits as possible otherwise people will step in front of you and block your view.

  We almost always park in front of the Air and Space Museum where there’s a section of handicapped parking spaces. There are also some good handicapped spaces by the National Gallery of Art. The street is signed – No Parking  1-10:00 AM  Mon-Fri 3 Hour Limit All Other Times. The spaces fill fast. We try to get there a little before ten. The three hour limit doesn’t seem to be enforced. The Holocaust Memorial Museum is almost 1 1/2 miles away so taking the bus or a cab might be a better option for visitors without a lot of stamina.
Museum
     Map 
38.88665, -77.0323

Washington Monuments Walking and Rolling Tour

   Washington DC has eight major monuments and a whole slew of smaller ones. They’re all worth seeing but they’re spread out along the Mall and Tidal Basin so it’s a bit of a trek to see them all. We took the brown route on the map below. Starting from our parking spot at the Air and Space Museum, the route goes past the Washington Memorial, the WWII Memorial, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, and the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. It’s about three miles long round trip. The blue route adds another mile and includes the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Korean War Veterans Memorial. The route is pretty accessible –good paving, good curb cuts, and mostly level.

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  WWII                                               MLK
 
Jefferson                                  A smaller one – George Mason

Washington DC

   We’ve been injected,inspected ,detected and had a Thanksgiving dinner that couldn’t be beat so now we’re on our way south to warmer weather!

   Washington DC is a great city to visit. It has some of the best museums in the country , most of them are free and handicapped access is very good. Seeing  all of the museums and other sights could take weeks.

  We’re lucky because we can park overnight in my sister’s driveway. It takes us about a half an hour to get to the city and we almost always park in front of the Air and Space Museum where there’s a section of handicapped parking spaces. We try to get the one next to the crosswalk so that we use only one space. There are also some good handicapped spaces by the National Gallery of Art. The street is signed – No Parking  1-10:00 AM  Mon-Fri 3 Hour Limit All Other Times. The spaces fill fast. We try to get there a little before ten. The three hour limit doesn’t seem to be enforced.

  The mall area where most of the museums are located is several miles long so keep that in mind if you want to go to the farther away museums. It’s also good to have help pushing because the concrete sidewalks are made with fairly large stones which makes for a bumpy ride. The mall walkways are sand which is soft in spots.
   

Home Base

    Fulltime RVs chose one state over another as their home base for various reasons including reliable mail forwarding services ,no state income tax and simple residency requirements. Our home base is Pennsylvania which doesn’t meet most of the criteria but many of our friends and family live in Pennsylvania or nearby  so we are sure to past through at least once a year. Ideally we’d like to be here in September or early October but it hasn’t been working out that way. November is too cold!

  For the next month or so we’ll be pretty busy with doctors and dentists ,vehicle safety inspections, minor repairs and fix it projects and of course, visiting everyone!  All that won’t leave much time for sightseeing and museums so my posts will probably be very sporadic for awhile. 

  Our plans are to meander down to Florida after Thanksgiving and then head west as the weather warms. Thanks to all of you for reading and please check back!

Mountaineer Casino

   This casino has a large ,level,fairly quiet parking lot but Route 2,the road that goes to it, is narrow and winding-not  good for a large motorhome.

   The casino isn’t very accessible. About half of the machines have fixed in place seats. Many of them are older machines with hard to reach ticket slots. The casino has been added onto several times so it’s a long push to get from one section to another. Update - recent remodeling has improved access. Most of the machines are newer with easy to reach ticket and card slots. Only one section has machines with fixed in place chairs. Casino