Memorials by Day or Night

Whether you want an afternoon out or an evening stroll, a walking or segway tour of the various memorials in the National Mall are a beautiful sight.  They remind us of the heroes who have fought for this country and the freedoms that we have, and not just the famous fighters but the everyday Joe who has put his life on the line for the lives that we are able to live today.

On the west end of the National Mall, the Memorial area is flanked on one end by the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial on the other.  In between, you will find the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the World War II Memorial, and a few scattered smaller ones like the DC War Memorial, the John Paul Jones Memorial and the Signers of the Declaration of Independence Memorial. Across the Tidal Basin, there are the Jefferson and FDR Memorials (but a slightly longer walk to get to these).  There is a reflecting pool that stretches the length of the area and Constitution Gardens, a beautiful area with a lake where you can lay a blanket on the grass and take in the scenery. http://www.nationalmall.org/maps.php

Without going into detail about each of them, let me just say that each memorial by itself is beautiful, not only in what it stands for but how it is displayed. But, when you tour them all and see the hundreds of thousands of names engraved, or the multicultural faces etched, or the resonant words carved in the marbles of the memorials, that's when it really hits home how lucky we all are. Although the kids enjoyed the tour, I'm not sure they grasped the significance of the memorials completely but I feel they did learn something from the experience. Our last visit was a sunny Sunday afternoon family outing in the park but we've been there several times at night too and felt perfectly safe.  I think the World War II Memorial is the most beautiful at night.


The whole area is lit up at night and open to visitors (with security) until about 11pm and everything is free, so you can break them up into several visits or put your walking shoes on and take a tour of them all.

Kids View:  "I thought the day trip was fun because the weather was great and we could walk around and explore but some of it was kinda boring.  I really liked going at night and the Washington Monument and the World War II Memorial were my favorites because they were really pretty all lit up and we put our hands in the water at the big fountain."