Speaker 1: First season two park Landia. There are a lot of
Speaker 1: first we're excited about, from the first guest interviews to
Speaker 1: the first time we called nine one one from a
Speaker 1: national park, of course, and today is another first. It's
Speaker 1: our first time covering in urban park and of course
Speaker 1: there's no better place to mark our first urban park
Speaker 1: than Washington, d C. It's a city filled with more
Speaker 1: National Park sites than most dates have. Yeah. Plus the
Speaker 1: city itself is just so rich with history and culture,
Speaker 1: and the omnipresence of memorials and historic sites is inescapable.
Speaker 1: So if you're looking to come to d C and
Speaker 1: just have a chill, history free day, you'll probably lose
Speaker 1: your mind now. But really, why would you come here
Speaker 1: and not at least do a little bit of history. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's so much fun. It's not the like boring school
Speaker 1: trip typee stuff that a lot of people remember. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and that's definitely how I remembered it, mainly at first,
Speaker 1: from when I first came here in middle school or
Speaker 1: like whatever great that was. But my distance with DC
Speaker 1: at the time may have also been due to the
Speaker 1: fact that I had no friends during that phase of
Speaker 1: my life. So it's just me like this lonely sad
Speaker 1: child wandering around memorials. Fortunately we were able to go
Speaker 1: together this time, and I'm happy to be your friend. Thanks,
Speaker 1: and we're able to take lots of cute selfies together too.
Speaker 1: That looks like you and I were part of some
Speaker 1: sort of awesome twin type directed DVD movie or something
Speaker 1: like Probably had we would have like these cute names
Speaker 1: like the Day in d C or District Dudes or
Speaker 1: something like that, d C Dudes for another podcast stop
Speaker 1: this today we need to really focus on this incredible
Speaker 1: legacy of national park sites in Washington, d C. From
Speaker 1: the National Wall to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and beyond. Hi,
Speaker 1: I'm Matt and I'm Brad. This is park Landia, a
Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio. We sold our loft in Chicago,
Speaker 1: moving to an RV, and now we're choving in the
Speaker 1: country full time with our dog Finn, exploring America's national parks.
Speaker 1: And today we're talking all about Washington, d C, the
Speaker 1: National Mall and Memorial Parks. So our trip to d
Speaker 1: C was another stop along the event trail that I
Speaker 1: was working on earlier um with Burns Maplewood Farms. So
Speaker 1: like every week or two there would be a different
Speaker 1: craft market along the mid Atlantic coast. So we spent
Speaker 1: a couple of months visiting places like Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia,
Speaker 1: and one of those events UM was in Virginia in
Speaker 1: the suburbs of d C. So it was the perfect
Speaker 1: excuse to get here early and spend some time in
Speaker 1: the capital city. Perfect excuse, and I was seriously very
Speaker 1: excited d C. It's just one of those cities that
Speaker 1: has really interested me for a while and I've been
Speaker 1: wanting to go. So the timing and location of your
Speaker 1: work schedule just really worked out. And I've always had
Speaker 1: an inkling that I would like d C, I think,
Speaker 1: which is also somewhat tortuous because it's one of those
Speaker 1: cities that could never reford to live in. It's really
Speaker 1: a great city of all the big cities we've been
Speaker 1: to since living on the road, It's definitely one of
Speaker 1: our favorites. UM and I try not to use favorites
Speaker 1: anymore because there's so many wonderful places in this country,
Speaker 1: but I'll make this reception because it literally is one
Speaker 1: of our favorites. It's the perfect mix of a big
Speaker 1: city with culture, and neighborhoods with help feeling is busy
Speaker 1: and overwhelming these places like New York or San Francisco. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think a big part of the reason why I
Speaker 1: like it so much is, do you see kind of
Speaker 1: reminds me of Chicago in that way, Like Chicago is
Speaker 1: a huge city, but it still feels relatively calm and
Speaker 1: accessible at least when you compare it to those other
Speaker 1: places like New York or San Francisco, And it's not
Speaker 1: like as dizzy as those types of cities. That's probably
Speaker 1: why we lived in Chicago for so long because we
Speaker 1: felt that way and why I'm constantly drawn back there.
Speaker 1: That and Chicago's incredible coffee scene and it's burgers and
Speaker 1: it's rooftop bars and two people short. Yeah, Chicago, we
Speaker 1: really do um and we crave cities like this. So
Speaker 1: d C was um a way to satisfy that craving.
Speaker 1: It was so it was an emotional time because going
Speaker 1: to see the history of that city, but also just
Speaker 1: going into the city for this trip. We didn't drive
Speaker 1: over v R V and of course because it's DC
Speaker 1: um and there's a ton of traffic, I mean, it's crazy,
Speaker 1: and parking at twenty six RV would have been a
Speaker 1: nightmare expensive and if at all even possible, Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't know that it would have been. And the traffic
Speaker 1: here is really no joke. I feel like I could
Speaker 1: totally speedwalk faster than most of the cars and traffic
Speaker 1: trying to get into the city. Especially granted I do
Speaker 1: speedwalk faster than like Sonic the Hedgehog, but you get
Speaker 1: the gist. Like it's tedious, tedious traffic here, it really is.
Speaker 1: And that's why we took an advantage of DC's public
Speaker 1: transit to get in and out of the city, which
Speaker 1: was awesome. Um. It's another reason why we really love
Speaker 1: cities because when you're on the transit like this, um,
Speaker 1: it's much easier to get around. But also like there's
Speaker 1: this beautiful mix of culture. When you're on the transit
Speaker 1: in big cities. You get to see who's living there,
Speaker 1: who's cohabitating, who's like the different personalities of that city.
Speaker 1: And I feel like their transit was just very diverse
Speaker 1: and it was a beautiful thing to see. Yeah, much
Speaker 1: more so than just like suit and high politicians and
Speaker 1: stuff like that. There are a lot of people going
Speaker 1: in and out of DC when we were, and so
Speaker 1: not only is it a great option and economical option
Speaker 1: for traveling, but it's nice to be around them and
Speaker 1: see that, especially since we've been removed from Chicago for
Speaker 1: self all months at this point, and it was a
Speaker 1: nice reminder of being like, oh, this is a great
Speaker 1: asset of urban living and visiting urban places as well.
Speaker 1: Because at the time when we were visiting DC, we
Speaker 1: were initially staying at some huge and kind of fancy
Speaker 1: RV park and campground on the Maryland side of the city,
Speaker 1: and conveniently, there was a bus stop literally right at
Speaker 1: the entrance of our r V park. So what we
Speaker 1: were able to do is just get up early in
Speaker 1: the morning, catch the bus, take that to the nearest
Speaker 1: train stop, which only took like ten or fifteen minutes,
Speaker 1: and then just hop on the train and go into town.
Speaker 1: It was super easy. It was just a few stops
Speaker 1: um on the train to get to d C and
Speaker 1: it was super smooth and quick. And that's one thing
Speaker 1: like us being from Chicago, we understand how to use transit,
Speaker 1: So for a lot of people this might be confusing,
Speaker 1: sure for your first time, so you know, it's just
Speaker 1: about like like, oh, my gosh, I have to take
Speaker 1: a bus to a train to then like walk around
Speaker 1: or take an opera lip. It's really not that. Make
Speaker 1: it a journey. Make it about the journey while you're
Speaker 1: doing this, because it really is easy and it's fun,
Speaker 1: and again you get to see the diversity and that culture.
Speaker 1: It is really fun and you don't have to stress
Speaker 1: about parking stuff like that dreamy nuts. I can't do that.
Speaker 1: And it's like super smooth and it's really clean and cheap. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know all of it, and I feel like DC's
Speaker 1: public transit has that that part over Chicago in a
Speaker 1: little bit, like I love the transit options when we're
Speaker 1: at home, but the al in Chicago is nowhere near
Speaker 1: as smooth and clean as DC's trains. Food. Yeah, for
Speaker 1: a first stomp in DC, we needed to feel for
Speaker 1: the day of exploring and touring, so we made a
Speaker 1: way to the d C location of milk Bar, because
Speaker 1: of course, God, we love milk Bar and we're truly
Speaker 1: obsessed with it. So milk Bar is in New York
Speaker 1: City based mini chain of like dessert shops from this
Speaker 1: famous pastry shaff Kristina Tosi and she developed this reputation
Speaker 1: for these beautiful, whimsical, kind of quirky desserts. So she's
Speaker 1: known for things like cereal milk soft serve ice cream
Speaker 1: and corn flake cookies and like cake truffles stuff like that.
Speaker 1: So cookies are literally the best. And that Cerea monk
Speaker 1: so soft serve in Las Vega is she does like
Speaker 1: a serium milk boozy cocktail thing. Yeah. Sorry, they had
Speaker 1: to jump over there, but but we really got into
Speaker 1: them when we were in Las Vegas last year and
Speaker 1: we went into the location of the Cosmopolitan Um probably
Speaker 1: half dozen times for cookies and those boozy lattapes. We
Speaker 1: went a lot, Yeah, the boozy lattes. And it's great
Speaker 1: too because it's like you have this cereal milk flavor
Speaker 1: which is like so nostalgic and it's like childhood. But
Speaker 1: then you can also get a boozy so it's like
Speaker 1: pouring like vodka all of our childhood memories. It's really
Speaker 1: really nice, kind of fun. And I yeah, just talking
Speaker 1: about now, like I missed them dearly, those milkball cookies especially,
Speaker 1: I wish we had them do too immediately. So they
Speaker 1: have a few locations in d C though, which is
Speaker 1: beautiful but I went to the one in the city
Speaker 1: center location since it's like so central and right next
Speaker 1: to all the main historic sites and attractions where we'll
Speaker 1: be wanting to see, so you know, it's just like
Speaker 1: three blocks from the train stop. I mean it literally
Speaker 1: perfection of where it was located. Yeah, it would have
Speaker 1: been silly not to go, honestly, like we needed to.
Speaker 1: It was preordained. I think I had one of my
Speaker 1: beloved Cereal milk Lauts there's no booze Jack, you got that.
Speaker 1: And then I probably had a corn cookie, which is
Speaker 1: my favorite cookie from Milk Bar and Jack Jack. I
Speaker 1: just love having cookies like this for breakfast or cookies
Speaker 1: in general. It's it's a great breakfast food museum, you know.
Speaker 1: I think we first tried to go to the National
Speaker 1: Portrait Gallery because we wanted to see the new President
Speaker 1: Obama Michelle Obama portraits, but the gallery wasn't open until
Speaker 1: later in the day, so we just kept walking and exploring,
Speaker 1: which was kind of a bummer. Yeah, that was a
Speaker 1: bit of a bummer, and you know, we weren't able
Speaker 1: to see that one this time, but it was the
Speaker 1: perfect day for walking and exploring. It was probably like
Speaker 1: mid toill late March at this point, so it was
Speaker 1: still chilly and we had light coats on, but it
Speaker 1: was sunny and comfortable for walking especially, and things warmed
Speaker 1: up into the afternoon. So at this point we decided
Speaker 1: to make our way to the U. S. Capitol building,
Speaker 1: since neither of us have ever been in. My main
Speaker 1: memory of this building is seeing it blown up an
Speaker 1: Independence Day. So I figured it was time to make
Speaker 1: new memories, ones that aren't so destructive. That's a good idea.
Speaker 1: It wasn't. On the way there, didn't we pass where
Speaker 1: Lincoln was assassinating Oh yeah, the fourth not skipped the
Speaker 1: Ford's Theater that we kind of did, Yeah, I know, um,
Speaker 1: but yes we did again, Like gosh, we skipped a
Speaker 1: lot of there's a lot, there's ton We saw a lot,
Speaker 1: but we also skipped a lot. It's absolutely packed, um,
Speaker 1: all the way right through it. Yeah. But back with
Speaker 1: the U. S. Capital, you know, that's right up there
Speaker 1: with the White House and the Washington Monument. Is one
Speaker 1: of the most iconic buildings in d C. And it
Speaker 1: really was the only one we were able to book
Speaker 1: a tour at, right, Yeah, because that stuff is not
Speaker 1: the easiest, like you didn't you try to like book
Speaker 1: at tour for the White House initially, but it was
Speaker 1: like probably too last minute and they didn't have availability
Speaker 1: or something. Yeah, you need to email your state senator
Speaker 1: to set it up for both of these, but you
Speaker 1: can do this one is a walk in as well,
Speaker 1: the Capitol Building, but the White House you have to
Speaker 1: do like way, And I'm not surprised at all that
Speaker 1: one's difficult to do, but like the state senator thing
Speaker 1: seems so like and unnecessarily difficult. Yeah, inofficial, Like isn't
Speaker 1: that kind of shouldn't they be doing other things? Like
Speaker 1: I'm sure they're busy. What I think it is is
Speaker 1: they're trying to educate people on who their senators are
Speaker 1: because a lot of people still don't vote, they still
Speaker 1: don't like, so they're kind of forcing contact or senator
Speaker 1: and they don't realize like you're supposed to have this
Speaker 1: trek window to them. So it's like this education thing.
Speaker 1: I can respect that. So you did that, you emailed
Speaker 1: are like Illinois Senator. Absolutely, um, but I'm really just
Speaker 1: glad we got to get into the Capitol Building and
Speaker 1: it all worked out because it was an epic experience
Speaker 1: in case you need to refresh her. It's a huge
Speaker 1: dome topped building at the eastern end of the National
Speaker 1: mall right, it's impossible to miss. It's a huge building
Speaker 1: looming over the whole park, the entire city, and it's
Speaker 1: super important building obviously. It's basically like if you think
Speaker 1: of DC as kind of the circulatory system, this would
Speaker 1: be the aorta of d C is. It's home to
Speaker 1: the U. S. Congress, plus the seat of the legislative
Speaker 1: branch of government, and it's the center of the city's
Speaker 1: for geographic quadrants in numbered streets, so it's really central
Speaker 1: in more more ways than one here every way. So
Speaker 1: for some background here, the Capitol Building was built way
Speaker 1: back in the eighteen hundreds and it was expanded in
Speaker 1: later years with that iconic dome and extra chambers. But
Speaker 1: an important fact is it was made mostly by Savory
Speaker 1: m hmm. Yeah, we learned that in the tour. We
Speaker 1: definitely did. The architectural style is neo classical, which makes
Speaker 1: sense because it totally looks like something from ancient Europe.
Speaker 1: It's very distinct among any U. S building in general,
Speaker 1: especially since it's like all pristine white, so it's almost
Speaker 1: just like glowing from the end of the National Mall here.
Speaker 1: It's magnificent looking. Yeah, it was actually like Alexander, like Hamilton,
Speaker 1: who helped establish DC as the nation's capital. It's to
Speaker 1: create more of a neutral location so that no single
Speaker 1: state would have more influence or power over the federal government.
Speaker 1: That's why d C is the district of how we
Speaker 1: that's how we got here and cool to a broadway
Speaker 1: start helps solidify our country's capital. Pop quiz, Okay, is
Speaker 1: Washington d d C estate? No, exactly. I know that
Speaker 1: this sounds silly, but a lot of people still don't
Speaker 1: know that Washington, DC is not a state or within
Speaker 1: a state. They think it's owned by a state, but
Speaker 1: it is its own district, right, Like I could I
Speaker 1: could see people thinking it's part of like Virginia or Maryland. Right.
Speaker 1: It's it's so easy. You're like, oh, that's just a
Speaker 1: district of it, but it's not. Yeah, So this part
Speaker 1: I love, and I probably knew this at some point,
Speaker 1: but my memory is foggy. But Philadelphia was actually our
Speaker 1: temporary capital while the city while d C was being
Speaker 1: planned and built along the Potomac River. So it's been
Speaker 1: quite a saga for the city in our country in general. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, the really cool part about building this new
Speaker 1: city from scratch was how city planners were able to
Speaker 1: lay it out with the specific vision in mind. The
Speaker 1: President's House was intentionally like connected west to the Potomac
Speaker 1: by a public space that would come to be known
Speaker 1: as the National Yeah, and eventually that public space would
Speaker 1: grow and expand to including connect the Capitol Building, the
Speaker 1: Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Smithsonian Museums, and slew
Speaker 1: of other important sites, National Park and otherwise. Also, the
Speaker 1: Capitol Building was initially called Congress House, but Thomas Jefferson
Speaker 1: wanted to change the name, inspired by the Latin origins
Speaker 1: of the word and its connection to Capitoline Hill in Rome. Yeah. Right,
Speaker 1: So the tour we did here was excellent. It was
Speaker 1: pretty sizable group, i would say, and we were all
Speaker 1: led around the interior of the building into numerous chambers,
Speaker 1: learning about the construction of the building, how it was
Speaker 1: partly burned and damaged during the War of eighteen twelve,
Speaker 1: and how the building was expanded in the mid eighteen
Speaker 1: hundreds to accommodate the House of Representatives in the Senate.
Speaker 1: Since the country was growing and adding more states, they
Speaker 1: were running out of room for all the new legislators,
Speaker 1: so it was literally a full house. This was also
Speaker 1: when the new dome was added. Like a cherry on
Speaker 1: the top of a Sunday Yeah, and I'm still starting
Speaker 1: for a milk bar chat. So these food references are
Speaker 1: kind of tortuous for me to handle, but I do
Speaker 1: like it. So if the dome is the cherry, then
Speaker 1: the Statue of Freedom on the top of the dome
Speaker 1: would be the chocolate drizzle or the whip cream, or
Speaker 1: the sprinkles or the like Jimmy's Chocolate Jimmy's Yeah, but
Speaker 1: yes to all of it. It's the statue is actually
Speaker 1: in ornate bronze statue of a woman with a military
Speaker 1: helmet holding a sword and shield, so he's basically like
Speaker 1: a badass statue of liberty. Now, after years and years
Speaker 1: of restorations and add ons, the Capitol Building was named
Speaker 1: a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service in
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty and rightfully so, yeah, rightfully so. So. My
Speaker 1: favorite thing about our tour here was seeing all the
Speaker 1: different states that were so well represented. I felt such
Speaker 1: a sense of unity and especially important during a time
Speaker 1: when our country really needs that feeling that unity. The
Speaker 1: tour started in a small round room with statues and
Speaker 1: important pioneering figures from the original thirteen colonies, including my
Speaker 1: home student of Hampshire. Nice to see that. Yes, this
Speaker 1: area was called the crypt enough um. It was filled
Speaker 1: with columns and had statues of people like Samuel Adams
Speaker 1: from Massachusetts, Charles Carroll from Maryland, and Roger Sherman from Connecticut. Yes,
Speaker 1: and New Hampshire was wrapped by John's Stark. Actually, each
Speaker 1: state has its own statue somewhere in the buildings. Some
Speaker 1: of them have more than one, so it's not just
Speaker 1: the crypt and it's not just the Thirteen Colonies. Statue
Speaker 1: can be found in the visitor center, at the National
Speaker 1: Statuary Hall, connecting corridors and the Hall of Columns. Also
Speaker 1: at Statues. Yeah, I think the Statuary Hall is my favorite.
Speaker 1: It's a huge room with a tall ceiling, filled with
Speaker 1: these beautiful statues from across the country, and the tour
Speaker 1: guide was really on it with his like information. He
Speaker 1: would ask people in the crowd to say where they're from,
Speaker 1: and he would immediately point to the statue in the
Speaker 1: room and talk about that person in their role in history. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this guide was on it. You know. The really cool
Speaker 1: thing about like statue really hall is that like that
Speaker 1: is where like Congress collected for a long time until
Speaker 1: they outgrew it. But it wasn't like the modern day
Speaker 1: like basically the game. It was a full house. But
Speaker 1: I think every state can have up to two statues, um,
Speaker 1: and they're donated by your state and the beautiful Yeah
Speaker 1: good team. So states can change who their important characters
Speaker 1: are if they want to in the future. So it's
Speaker 1: just such a it's really there's a really crappie's like
Speaker 1: to unpack there. If you want to honor some someone
Speaker 1: new or you know, swap things out, or someone being
Speaker 1: honored turns out to be you know, awful if they
Speaker 1: haven't aged well in history, then swap that out. Um.
Speaker 1: On another note, on our way into this hall, we
Speaker 1: also passed by Nancy Pelosi's office, which was a total
Speaker 1: surprise to me. I didn't know her office was here, Um,
Speaker 1: so I wasn't expecting to see it. We didn't see her,
Speaker 1: but we saw her office, and it reminded me of
Speaker 1: a dream I recently had with Nancy and it did
Speaker 1: I tell you about the stream? No, I don't think so.
Speaker 1: So I dreamed that she invited me to her office
Speaker 1: for some sort of meeting. I guess I just envisioned
Speaker 1: this is what her office would look like. It kind
Speaker 1: of felt like a elementary school principal's office or something.
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's how it actually is. But
Speaker 1: she invited me into her office for a meeting. And
Speaker 1: then we didn't really talk about business, but she did
Speaker 1: pour me some red wine and like a paper cup,
Speaker 1: and I was like, Nancy, she's cool. I like her.
Speaker 1: And then I don't know what we talked about or
Speaker 1: if anything, but the meeting was pretty much over, like right,
Speaker 1: I she did hug me goodbye. That so I woke
Speaker 1: up feeling great. Mm hmm. That is amazing. I love it. No,
Speaker 1: I'm a dream of some weird dreams. Um, but that's
Speaker 1: one that doesn't seem too far off to maybe what
Speaker 1: would happen. I just think that Nancy is maybe she
Speaker 1: would do more classy than a paper cup like I
Speaker 1: think she would give you. That's the unbelievable part. That's
Speaker 1: really the only unbelievable part of that dream. It's like
Speaker 1: paper cup. She probably is like stemmar. Absolutely, And when
Speaker 1: we come back from the short break, we'll get back
Speaker 1: to reality with more from our trip to Washington, DC's
Speaker 1: national park sites. Hi, I'm Matt and I'm Brad. This
Speaker 1: is park Landia, and today we're talking about Washington. Do
Speaker 1: you see the National Mall and all the memorial parks
Speaker 1: that we visited in the city mon event So, like
Speaker 1: we mentioned, d C has a ton of National park sites,
Speaker 1: many of which are well known and popular, along with
Speaker 1: others that are less visited. In addition to the Capital
Speaker 1: Building and the National Mall itself, which serves as the
Speaker 1: grand public connector to all of it, the other national
Speaker 1: parks we visited were the Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial,
Speaker 1: President's Park, AK, the White House, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial,
Speaker 1: and Pennsylvania Avenue, which is considered a National park site
Speaker 1: in and of itself. Like we said, there's a lot here.
Speaker 1: And we also stopped at the Washington Monument, but we
Speaker 1: weren't able to go into it or to the top
Speaker 1: of it because it was closed for renovations. Um it
Speaker 1: is since reopened, so it's bummer. We missed it, but
Speaker 1: you do not have to write yeah, it was a bummer.
Speaker 1: We did go into the little Visitor Center story though,
Speaker 1: and preads that for a little bit. But we'll just
Speaker 1: have to go back, which I'm totally fine with because
Speaker 1: that means more milk Bark cookies and more American history,
Speaker 1: So sign me up. The great thing about how DC
Speaker 1: is laid out is that the National Mall makes it
Speaker 1: super easy to get from one site to the next. Yeah,
Speaker 1: do you remember when you mixed up the National Mall
Speaker 1: with the Mall of America? I don't really want to.
Speaker 1: You're how you dare you through the end of the
Speaker 1: bus here We're wandering from one side to it and
Speaker 1: your milk bar cookies for you? You were like, where's
Speaker 1: the roller coaster? And I'm like, what I did? I
Speaker 1: don't like You're You're horrible for bringing that up while
Speaker 1: my favorite thing and I have nothing to say except
Speaker 1: utter embarrassment. Honestly, though, I feel like, in all fairness,
Speaker 1: that probably is an easy thing to confuse because the
Speaker 1: names are super similar. They're basically like synonymous names, even
Speaker 1: though like an actual out of the two places could
Speaker 1: not be more different. They represent entirely different things they
Speaker 1: really do. Um it really I love them? Yeah, I do,
Speaker 1: you know anyway things for embarrassing me there, um. Our
Speaker 1: first stop after eating lunch at the US Capitol Building
Speaker 1: was the National Archives Museum them to see the Declaration
Speaker 1: of Independence and the Bill of Rights. Yes, And I
Speaker 1: was so excited to go there, and I'm so excited
Speaker 1: to talk about it because this is the part of
Speaker 1: the episode where I begin to talk pretty much NonStop
Speaker 1: about my favorite movie of all time, National Treasure. As
Speaker 1: you remember, it took place in like most of the
Speaker 1: movie took place in d C. Nicolas Cage epic you know,
Speaker 1: epic adventure, and I was thinking about where we're in
Speaker 1: d C, of course, especially the National Archives. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: let me make sense because like Nicolas Cage tried to
Speaker 1: steal the Declaration of Independence, well he didn't try, he succeeded,
Speaker 1: which would be probably more impressive and honorable if that
Speaker 1: wasn't like a heinous crime, like a horrible thing to do.
Speaker 1: But honestly, after visiting the Archives, I'm starting to think
Speaker 1: that movie was a wee bit fantastical and unrealistic. Are
Speaker 1: you really now just realizing that? Well, as as far
Speaker 1: as I was concerned, like National Park was as accurate
Speaker 1: as maybe a documentary, Like all these things were laid out,
Speaker 1: their plan were laid out, and Nicholas Cage would run
Speaker 1: you know, through his itinerary of like thing, and I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: I have no reason not to buy this. But then again,
Speaker 1: I'm also the type of person who thinks, like Jurassic
Speaker 1: Park seems viable, like if they were to do that
Speaker 1: with mosquitoes today, Like next, you're gonna tell me that
Speaker 1: the meg is the same thing. I thought, Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean that that movie about the giant shark of the
Speaker 1: battle in the ocean and how they broke through this
Speaker 1: what was that like a frozen layer, like a freezing
Speaker 1: layer and there was like a megalodon down there like
Speaker 1: they're explained in the movie. And I'm like, okay, I'm
Speaker 1: in like this seems maybe we should actually explore this.
Speaker 1: You just love those documentaries, Yes, documentaries with quotes around them. Yeah. Um,
Speaker 1: I think it's safe to say that no one would
Speaker 1: be able to steal the Declaration of Independence, not even
Speaker 1: Nicos Gage. This thing was unheavy lockdown and guarded by
Speaker 1: several staffers, and they don't even let you take photos
Speaker 1: of it with your phone, let alone. Anyone's deal with it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's true. I've never seen anything that's guarded. And even
Speaker 1: though photos weren't allowed, it was still really really cool
Speaker 1: to spend a few minutes with it, just trying to
Speaker 1: read it in the dark room. It's hard to see
Speaker 1: because the ink is so faded and it's all fancy
Speaker 1: clearphy that my eyes are are not able to decipher. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the same thing with the Bill of Rights. A lot
Speaker 1: of cursive fancy. We do know how to write in cursive,
Speaker 1: but they are hundreds of years old, so it's the
Speaker 1: big fancy cursive big and it's something that we just
Speaker 1: we don't read like that anymore. Um, it's a lost art.
Speaker 1: Both of these documents are in the rotunda section of
Speaker 1: the building, which is kept mostly dark and chilly to
Speaker 1: help preserve them. Yeah. Another neat thing here is the
Speaker 1: Hawkner Murals, these enormous oil on campus works created by
Speaker 1: Barry Faulkner in six They are depicting a fictional scene
Speaker 1: of the presentation of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution
Speaker 1: and it's extraordinary. It's this huge mural, just gorgeous, and
Speaker 1: it's perfectly. Yeah, absolutely stunning. After this week continued down
Speaker 1: to the National Mall to probably which is the most
Speaker 1: iconic memorial in the city. The Lincoln Memorial. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: would definitely say it's the most iconic, like after of course,
Speaker 1: like the White House and I don't know, I mean,
Speaker 1: I just I mean I like it better. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess White House Lincoln Memorial. Those two can go
Speaker 1: get tossed up. There's nothing that's really going to beat
Speaker 1: those two. No, no, no no. And remember that scene
Speaker 1: a National Treasure when Nicolas Cage is sitting on the
Speaker 1: steps of the memorial like talking with the sidekick. His
Speaker 1: sidekicks name was Riley. I don't remember like what that
Speaker 1: actor's name is in real life, but it's iconic. Although
Speaker 1: that in the movie, the craziest part about that scene
Speaker 1: was when they were there at the memorial, they pretty
Speaker 1: much had it to themselves somehow, like nobody was around,
Speaker 1: which doesn't make any sense to me. Maybe that's the
Speaker 1: point when you should have realized that the movie was
Speaker 1: not a documentary. I mean, that was the most unrealistic
Speaker 1: part of that movie. One thing I will agree though,
Speaker 1: is that the Lincoln Memorial is definitely a national treasure.
Speaker 1: It is a national treasure, like we talked about in
Speaker 1: our Gettysburg episode, which we are big fans of Abe Lincoln.
Speaker 1: He was the Beyonce of Gettysburg and he's the Beyonce
Speaker 1: of DC too. Absolutely, um, the Memorial is such a
Speaker 1: special place with this giant statue inside of like this
Speaker 1: Greek Doric temple overlooking the mall, and speaking of Gettysburg,
Speaker 1: that speech is inscribed along one of the interior walls,
Speaker 1: along with his like second inaugural address. Yeah. So the
Speaker 1: Memorial was officially dedicated in designed by architect Henry Bacon
Speaker 1: Daniel Chester, French and carved by the pia Really brothers.
Speaker 1: Julos Guarin painted the murals on the inside. So good
Speaker 1: job team, everybody pulled it together. Ever since, it's great,
Speaker 1: and it's just been this endless source of inspiration, not
Speaker 1: only for us and for the visitors today, but for
Speaker 1: people like Martin Luther King Jr. Who gave his famous
Speaker 1: I have a Dream speech in front. And addition to
Speaker 1: being a National Park site of its own right, the
Speaker 1: Memorial was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
Speaker 1: in nineteen sixties six. Yeah, and when we said it
Speaker 1: was popular. We were not kidding. The link of memorial
Speaker 1: alone gets more than seven million annual visitors. But despite
Speaker 1: these almost constant crowds, it's still somehow like a very
Speaker 1: peaceful feeling place of reflection. It's nice and quiet inside,
Speaker 1: so you can drink it all in and admire the
Speaker 1: work and the subject that inspired it. Yeah, and speaking
Speaker 1: of Martin Luther King Jr. That's another memorial we major
Speaker 1: to visit um like most things on and around the
Speaker 1: National it's nearby, Yes, it's in West Potoma Park. And
Speaker 1: the main attraction here at this memorial is the intricate
Speaker 1: granite statue of Martin Luther King Jr. Which was carved
Speaker 1: by Lee Yushin, who drew inspiration from the memorial by
Speaker 1: the I Have a Dream speech he gave nearby. Right,
Speaker 1: The statue is actually called the Stone of Hope, which
Speaker 1: is part of a line from that speech when he said,
Speaker 1: out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.
Speaker 1: It's a really deep and it's a definitely still resonates
Speaker 1: today as like civil rights are still a huge issue
Speaker 1: in this country. Sadly true. Yes, but the civil rights
Speaker 1: movement was such an important and turning point for the
Speaker 1: country and we're all so much better off thanks to
Speaker 1: Martin Luther King Jr's bravery and leadership. The memorial is
Speaker 1: one of the newer editions in DC since it opened
Speaker 1: in two thousand eleven, and it's overlooking the Title Basin,
Speaker 1: so it's got a gorgeous location and gorgeous scenery. Another
Speaker 1: like amazing slash like crazy thing is that the memorial
Speaker 1: is still or was, the first African American memorial on
Speaker 1: the National Mall. Most of them are presidents, and this
Speaker 1: is only the fourth memorial that's not a president. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And honestly, if anyone deserves to being memorialized, it's Martin
Speaker 1: Luther King Jr. Another one of those presidents who have
Speaker 1: been memorialized is Thomas Jefferson, who had his own famous
Speaker 1: memorial just southeast of the Martin Luther King Jr. One
Speaker 1: across the Title Basin. When we visited, it was just
Speaker 1: at the very early beginning of terry blossom season, so
Speaker 1: these bright pink florals were starting to bloom a little
Speaker 1: bit on the trees around the title Basin, which made
Speaker 1: for a very pretty walk from memorial to memorial. Got
Speaker 1: a little sneak peak about now. This is just another
Speaker 1: beautiful structure, almost totally surrounded by the serenity of the
Speaker 1: title basin. It's a neoclassical building with a bronze statue
Speaker 1: of Thomas Jefferson in the middle under the huge dome.
Speaker 1: Love it. It was designed by John Russell Pope and
Speaker 1: built by John McShane, finished in nineteen forty three, and
Speaker 1: the statue was out in It's right up there with
Speaker 1: a like a memorial in Washington Monument as one of
Speaker 1: the most visited sites in town, with more than two
Speaker 1: million annual visitors. This is another side. I remember visiting
Speaker 1: a middle school, actually probably by myself. I mean, like
Speaker 1: the rest of they were somewhere there, but I was like,
Speaker 1: you know, alone, we'll leave it this way. You were
Speaker 1: probably able to focus more and appreciate the details better. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you mean without the actions of friendship. Sure. Um. So
Speaker 1: the other memorials we visited in and around the mall
Speaker 1: were more war focused. Um, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and
Speaker 1: the World War Two Memorial. Naturally, these were especially somber destinations,
Speaker 1: but so beautiful and inspiring. Nonetheless, Yeah, the Vietnam's Memorial
Speaker 1: is really close to the Lincoln Memorial. It's UM a
Speaker 1: two acre structure UM designed to honor USRM forces you
Speaker 1: fought and died or went missing in Vietnam War. UM.
Speaker 1: They're one thing that really hits me the hardest is
Speaker 1: when I see families going there with their paper and
Speaker 1: chalk or their their pencils and their outlining the name
Speaker 1: UM of their loved one. A lot of people do this,
Speaker 1: so they're going at home and it's that like UM
Speaker 1: keepsake for them. But just knowing a lot of people
Speaker 1: who served, especially during the Vietnam War, it's you know,
Speaker 1: for those who died, it's it's really hard, but also
Speaker 1: those who have survived. And so for me when I
Speaker 1: hit this, it just hit me in a full circle
Speaker 1: because it was just like from my time in the
Speaker 1: Marines and just realizing what it was that they use
Speaker 1: people sacrificed UM. That just really hit me extremely. I know,
Speaker 1: it's a very impactful place, very somber, and I mean
Speaker 1: that's heart wrenching to see. And we thought there was
Speaker 1: a lot of people there and the main part of
Speaker 1: memorial is the Memorial Wall, which consists of these two
Speaker 1: long black ranite walls with a walkway that runs the
Speaker 1: entire length, and these walls are etched with more than
Speaker 1: fifty eight thousand names of service members from the war,
Speaker 1: many of which had flowers and cars and other sentimental
Speaker 1: items placed on the ground. When we visited, I think
Speaker 1: there was actually like a school field trip happening, or
Speaker 1: probably more than one, and students were writing letters to
Speaker 1: service members. I think it was so sweet and again
Speaker 1: heart wrenching. It was in an absolutely like it was
Speaker 1: just one of those inspiring moments where like, it's nice
Speaker 1: when they have us base to leave those letters of things,
Speaker 1: you know. Um. The main part of this memorial was
Speaker 1: finished in nineteen eighty two and a day attracts about
Speaker 1: three million annual visitors. Uh. There are two other parts
Speaker 1: of the memorial as well, Um, the Bronze three Soldier
Speaker 1: statue at the and the Vietnam's Women's Memorial, which honors
Speaker 1: the nurses who served during the war. Yeah, it depicts
Speaker 1: three women with an injured shoulder and it's powerful stuff.
Speaker 1: Then also nearby, speaking of more powerful stuff, is the
Speaker 1: World War Two Memorial, which is dedicated to American service
Speaker 1: members and civilians who died during the Second World War.
Speaker 1: This one is a really big and central. It has
Speaker 1: fifty six large pillars and a fountain, and it gets
Speaker 1: about four point six million annual visitors, which is really
Speaker 1: incredible since it's only been open since two thousand and four. Yeah,
Speaker 1: those pillars are really stunning. It's this striking series of
Speaker 1: seventeen foot tall granite pillars in a circular ape around
Speaker 1: this central plaza, with forty three ft arches on either side,
Speaker 1: one for the Atlantic and one for the Pacific. East
Speaker 1: pillar stands for a different US state, plus d C,
Speaker 1: the Commonwealth of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa,
Speaker 1: and the US Virgin Islands. When we come back, we'll
Speaker 1: explore more of d C, from the Smithsonian to one
Speaker 1: of the city's most historic restaurants. Hi, I'm Matt, and
Speaker 1: I'm Brad. This is park Landia in today's episode is
Speaker 1: all about Washington, d C, the National Mall, the Lincoln Memorial,
Speaker 1: and so much more. Park So even though we weren't
Speaker 1: able to tour the White House, we were at least
Speaker 1: able to stroll along President's Park, which is overseen by
Speaker 1: the National Park Service and it's part of the National
Speaker 1: Register of Historic Places. Un Surprisingly, Yeah, Lafiat Square is
Speaker 1: the main part of the park. It's just shy of
Speaker 1: seven acres of public park space that has been used
Speaker 1: for a variety of different things over the past century,
Speaker 1: including a graveyard, a zoo, and a slave market. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so it definitely had a pretty dark past. Today it's
Speaker 1: pristinia and peaceful, with incredible views of the most iconic
Speaker 1: mansion of the country. The south part of the park,
Speaker 1: it's called the Ellipse. It's a fifty two acre lawn
Speaker 1: that's open to the public for leisurely meandering and also
Speaker 1: serves the site of annual events like the White House
Speaker 1: Easter egg Roll and the Christmas Pageant of Peace. We
Speaker 1: weren't able to do much here other than marvel at
Speaker 1: all of our beautiful spaces in public lands. And um
Speaker 1: I did ride one of those little like urban scooters
Speaker 1: around for a while, um, which you didn't want me to.
Speaker 1: Now you pretty much begged me to. You wanted to
Speaker 1: write them together, and I just i'd other walk. Plus
Speaker 1: I was mostly scared of like crashing into something like
Speaker 1: a car head on or just a big group of people.
Speaker 1: It's there's a lot of activity like buzzing around me.
Speaker 1: So I'm more comfortable, like I'm going to two ft.
Speaker 1: Yeah that's true. I mean that's true. So it's a
Speaker 1: very walkable city anyway too, so more food, and we're
Speaker 1: also able to walk a block away from just an
Speaker 1: old that Big Rill, which is the oldest restaurant in
Speaker 1: the whole city. I know, yeah, first established in eighteen
Speaker 1: fifty six. That is crazy, especially when you think about
Speaker 1: how like merciless and tough the restaurant businesses nowadays. It's
Speaker 1: it's difficult for like restaurants to even stay open for
Speaker 1: like a decade, let alone like more than a hundred years. Well,
Speaker 1: they stay on top of it. I mean, they're very innovative,
Speaker 1: and they like their cocktails are very updated. Like it's
Speaker 1: not like you're still getting muddled old fashioned or something
Speaker 1: like that. No, it Yeah, there was an interesting combo
Speaker 1: of like freshness here. It still felt like fresh and
Speaker 1: clean and new, but also clearly very vintage and classic
Speaker 1: in a in a sleek way, so exact ideal. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's always really great to seek out these historic restaurants
Speaker 1: and bars whenever we're in a different city. Um, not
Speaker 1: only do they feel historic and super unique, but the
Speaker 1: recipes are total originals and they taste like the culture
Speaker 1: of that city. Yeah, they do. So we started pretty early.
Speaker 1: We went for like an early with dinner at like
Speaker 1: five or even a little bit earlier. I think we
Speaker 1: got to the bar area first, around four forty five
Speaker 1: or so. And I love the bar area. It's this rustic,
Speaker 1: like wood filled space where we had um oysters. Right,
Speaker 1: we had oysters and cocktails, and the coctives were so
Speaker 1: good and fittingly strong, which I always enjoy. I think
Speaker 1: we had things like blood orange and growning for me
Speaker 1: probably and the Irish old fashion for me. Did you
Speaker 1: have that? Yeah? So it's basically a regular old fashion
Speaker 1: about with Irish whiskey, which is sounds great and I'm
Speaker 1: surprised they don't see that more regularly. Yeah. And it's
Speaker 1: like literally a place that the bar tenders and servers
Speaker 1: have been for a long time, Like you could just
Speaker 1: clearly see it because they're passionate about their jobs. They
Speaker 1: know the menus like the back of their hands. But
Speaker 1: they're staying up with like current like qualities, you know,
Speaker 1: And so that's just the beauty thing. That's why it's
Speaker 1: stayed along around so long. Yeah. Right, they're clearly passionate
Speaker 1: and like very very good at this and very yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's wonderful. Plus everyone who works here is super
Speaker 1: dapper and buttoned up, but like in a fun, still
Speaker 1: kind of casual way. It doesn't feel stodgy or anything
Speaker 1: like that. It's it's perfect. So the main down here
Speaker 1: and when we went after drinks is kind of this expansive,
Speaker 1: opulent space that's bustling and lively without feeling too fussy,
Speaker 1: doesn't feel too fancy. It's kind of perfect. And then
Speaker 1: after our drinks at the bar, this is where we
Speaker 1: met a couple of my friends who live in d
Speaker 1: C and had an early bird dinner. So long as
Speaker 1: you can see I have friends now, it's good, especially
Speaker 1: since this is the type of rest front that's best
Speaker 1: enjoyed with a small group. The menu is just fun
Speaker 1: to explore and try different things. Yeah, it definitely is.
Speaker 1: So we met up with my friend Lauren, who I
Speaker 1: actually went to high school with back in New Hampshire.
Speaker 1: She now lives in d C. And I'm insanley jealous
Speaker 1: and she we met her and her fiancee, Nick, who
Speaker 1: I had met once before in Chicago. They're a great
Speaker 1: couple and super fun to hang out with. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: surprised you didn't go to d C in high school.
Speaker 1: That had have been great because then you would have
Speaker 1: actually had friends. I'm sorry that might have been But
Speaker 1: the food there was solid um. They have things like
Speaker 1: jumbo lump crab cakes and trout parmesan and pants heard scallops.
Speaker 1: They had that crispy roasted chicken and meat loaf. I
Speaker 1: love meat loaf. That's something you make me so I
Speaker 1: really love it. But it's all very American, which is
Speaker 1: perfect for such a classic restaurant in America's capital city
Speaker 1: next to the White House. Yeah, I know, I mean
Speaker 1: it is perfect. It's quincidentral American recipes in one of
Speaker 1: the oldest restaurants in country, like literally smacked up in
Speaker 1: the middle of America's capital. It's all just beautiful ideal. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And then speaking of all American, we also went to
Speaker 1: a couple of Smithsonian museums. Of course, cannot go to
Speaker 1: DC and not do that, especially because they're all free,
Speaker 1: which is phenomenal. So some of my favorite things about
Speaker 1: d C all these iconic museums. And we started with
Speaker 1: the National Museum of American History. Fantastic. It was great,
Speaker 1: and we saw things like the Ruby Slippers, the Batmobile,
Speaker 1: and then tons of other like quintessential American things from history,
Speaker 1: like everything from Oprah to D Day. Yeah, we really
Speaker 1: wanted to see this movie they're playing about National Parks,
Speaker 1: which would have been perfect E R F E C T. Perfect,
Speaker 1: but the theater was closed for event or something. It
Speaker 1: was just like, I know, we are kidding, let us
Speaker 1: in special screening. But regardless of that, we definitely still
Speaker 1: had fun and also went to the newest Smithsonian museum,
Speaker 1: the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which
Speaker 1: was utterly incredible and also a very moving place, like
Speaker 1: super Yeah, really felt it. Yeah, because that one only
Speaker 1: opened up just in and it's right next to the
Speaker 1: Washington Monument. It's hard to believe it took this long
Speaker 1: from museum dedicated to African American history, but I'm sure
Speaker 1: glad it's here now. Yeah, it's clearly super popular and
Speaker 1: super special. Um it's first full year be being open,
Speaker 1: it was already the fourth most visited of all Smithsonian museums. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's amazing and I just love that. So that just
Speaker 1: tells you how important it is. We need to tell
Speaker 1: how many people across the world, let alone just the
Speaker 1: United States. Yeah, truly and also fittingly, this museum is massive,
Speaker 1: literally like enormous. This building has like ten stories, five
Speaker 1: of which are underground, and in total three square feet.
Speaker 1: The main crux of the museum is this long, incredible
Speaker 1: tour of the slavery history galleries and the concourse. It's
Speaker 1: all a timeline starting in four and kind of meanders forward,
Speaker 1: depicting things like the trans Atlantic slave trade in king Cotton,
Speaker 1: the Civil War, all the way through the gym Crow
Speaker 1: era segregated rail cars. They can go on in the
Speaker 1: Civil Rights movement heads up that some of the galleries
Speaker 1: and content here is quite graphic and potentially unsettling, and
Speaker 1: they have signs like in red warning about them ahead
Speaker 1: of time before entering these specific spaces as trigger warnings,
Speaker 1: particularly with stuff relating to the KKK and lynching, which
Speaker 1: is unsurprisingly pretty graphic and hard to see. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: definitely brutal, um, but it's an important part of history. Um.
Speaker 1: In addition to these galleries, there are other areas celebrating
Speaker 1: African American history and film, music, sports and TV, plus
Speaker 1: a great museum store in a sweet home cafe with
Speaker 1: dishes inspired by the rail coast in the South, the
Speaker 1: Western Range and beyond my favorite. All right, now it's
Speaker 1: the time of the episode where we share our favorite
Speaker 1: parts of DC and its national park sites. We haven't
Speaker 1: told each other our answers, so it's all the surprise. Matt,
Speaker 1: what was your favorite part of Washington, d C And
Speaker 1: the National park systems? The fantastic question. I would say
Speaker 1: my favorite part is probably the National Archives because seeing
Speaker 1: the Bill of Rights in the Declaration of Independence is
Speaker 1: probably one of the most like Americana things I've maybe
Speaker 1: ever done. And also, you know, directly ties into my
Speaker 1: favorite movie, National Treasure, so that that plays a big
Speaker 1: pardon in that decision. But it was We're only there
Speaker 1: for a few minutes really in the ratenda like looking
Speaker 1: at these documents, but you are so immersed in it
Speaker 1: in every way. It's like a dark space. It's it's chili,
Speaker 1: so it basically got an environment, and I just it
Speaker 1: was it was really really cool. It skimming over a
Speaker 1: little bit, I couldn't read most of it, but the
Speaker 1: impact of these documents is profound, and yeah, I absolutely
Speaker 1: loved that. So I'm glad that we're able to do that.
Speaker 1: What about you, What was your favorite part is a
Speaker 1: very tough question, but I would I would have to
Speaker 1: say the Lincoln Memorial. There's just so much history too
Speaker 1: to contemplate there. There's so many lessons in life, the
Speaker 1: being on the road and just seeing these different memorials
Speaker 1: and these sites um that impact us as like a culture,
Speaker 1: as a single culture and within the multiple cultures of
Speaker 1: the United States and trying to figure it out. And
Speaker 1: I think that's the one thing that I aby him.
Speaker 1: Lincoln means to me is like he he realized that
Speaker 1: we're all individuals. We have our individual cultures, but we
Speaker 1: have an American culture as well, and bringing people together
Speaker 1: was his mission. Yeah, and it's his legacy. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: is his legacy. And so that's really what it is
Speaker 1: to me. A little bit, there's more too like process
Speaker 1: and go over there, But I just really love everything
Speaker 1: that Abraham Lincoln was about and figuring it finger it out. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And it's also cool because that legacy and his whole
Speaker 1: ethos is really living on today. As you can see,
Speaker 1: the Lincomorial gets seven million visitors. That's a ton. It's
Speaker 1: like one of the most visited places in d C.
Speaker 1: And swarming with people. We were there, and people from
Speaker 1: all walks of life from all over the world presumably
Speaker 1: are there, mingling together and absorbing this experience. And that
Speaker 1: was amazing. And I also of how in spite of
Speaker 1: how crowded it was, while you're inside the actual memorial,
Speaker 1: everyone is quiet and respectful of that, and there are
Speaker 1: signs that say, like, you know, please respectful and quiet
Speaker 1: while you're in here, etcetera. And everyone is very well behaved,
Speaker 1: you know, and they are. Yeah. And also the view
Speaker 1: from up there is just the best. You're like, up
Speaker 1: this long series of steps and overlooking the reflecting pool
Speaker 1: the Washington Monument. It's probably the best view in the
Speaker 1: whole day. I think. I love that. Yeah. Sorry, I'm
Speaker 1: like kind of stealing your favorite thing down that's what
Speaker 1: comes or me into my own. But I'm just listening
Speaker 1: to them having fun, uh, you know, and this this park,
Speaker 1: the or Washington d C, the District of Columbia, however
Speaker 1: you want to look at it. The three things to
Speaker 1: bring really isn't you're normal? I mean, honestly, um, I
Speaker 1: would bring friends and family because you don't want to
Speaker 1: be like thirteen year old Matt liked and friendless. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't experience it like guy did in middle school
Speaker 1: because you might not have the best memories. But I
Speaker 1: would say definitely, Yeah, awesome place to visit with groups,
Speaker 1: with family especially, and then there's a lot to do here,
Speaker 1: and it's hard to kind of summarize it because it
Speaker 1: is so spread out in so many different except you
Speaker 1: don't bring money for milk money, yeah, because you need
Speaker 1: to get your serium milk, latte's and your corn cookies.
Speaker 1: Yes you do, and then you also need to go
Speaker 1: to old Evid grill of course have an iconic meal
Speaker 1: if we actually ate and drank very well in d C.
Speaker 1: So I'm glad that we haven't even scratched the surface
Speaker 1: of that. And that's fine. Though maybe maybe there'll be
Speaker 1: a special bonus episode in the future, maybe branching out
Speaker 1: into the neighborhoods and checking out more culture and other
Speaker 1: kinds of you know, activities in DC, because this is
Speaker 1: just at the very beginning. And let's see that third thing.
Speaker 1: So we got money, friends and family, Yeah, slash appetite
Speaker 1: of some sort a camera and it can be yourself
Speaker 1: when it doesn't have to be like huge and beautiful camera.
Speaker 1: But like there are places to take great photos too,
Speaker 1: so but just bring some kind of uh camera because
Speaker 1: there's so many memories that like, you're just gonna take
Speaker 1: pictures all day anyway, um, and what you're gonna using
Speaker 1: your look through them and you remember you went to
Speaker 1: that place, and then you're gonna start researching it, because
Speaker 1: that's what we do, Like we take pictures and I'm like,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, I forgot about this, and then I just
Speaker 1: go back and start researching more and try to understand
Speaker 1: and see what else is in there, because that's just
Speaker 1: what I love to do, right right for sure. Also,
Speaker 1: I think this is another little thing to bring. It's
Speaker 1: like well, or I think more so, I think to
Speaker 1: get while you're there. It's public transit cards like we
Speaker 1: talked about, because it makes it really easy to get
Speaker 1: around town. I mean it's walkaball to like while you're
Speaker 1: in and around the National Mall, very walkable, but the
Speaker 1: train makes it super easy to branch out from that
Speaker 1: as well. Yeah, those public transit cards are definitely definitely
Speaker 1: worth it. Yeah, I gotta say it was much nicer
Speaker 1: spending time in DC now that I'm not a socially
Speaker 1: awkward seventh creator I learned a ton. I had so
Speaker 1: much fun and I left feeling very inspired and very
Speaker 1: well fed. This is definitely an all American city filled
Speaker 1: with inspiration and history. Plus it has inspired us to
Speaker 1: obsess over Netflix shows like House of Cards and Madame Secretary. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Obsesses and understatement. Best enjoyed, of course, while eating milk
Speaker 1: Bar cookies. You've been listening to park Landia, a show
Speaker 1: about national parks. Parklandi is the production of My Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: created by Matt Carouac, Brad Carouac and Christopher has e
Speaker 1: otis produced and edited by Mike John's. Our executive producer
Speaker 1: is Christopher has eiotis our researcher. It's Jescelyn shield A
Speaker 1: special things goes out to Gabrielle Collins, Christal Waters and
Speaker 1: the rest of the Parklandia crew and Hey listeners. If
Speaker 1: you're enjoying the show, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.
Speaker 1: It helps other people like you find our show. You
Speaker 1: can keep up with us on social media as well.
Speaker 1: Check out our photos from our travel us on Instagram
Speaker 1: at parkl India Pod, and join in on the conversation
Speaker 1: in our Facebook group Parklandia Rangers. From our podcast My
Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows, and as always,
Speaker 1: thank you for listening.