Shabbos at the Kemp Mill Synagogue was pleasant.  We made new friends and went for a relaxing walk in an adjacent park.

Today we drove into northwest DC and started walking towards the National Mall:
 

We passed the statue of General Logan in Logan Circle:

Our first stop was the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site:

We learned quite a bit about Miss Bethune, as she’s referred to by NPS staff.  Mary McLeod Bethune was a giant in the civil rights movement and advisor to four US presidents, among other accomplishments:

We toured her home, which was also the headquarters for the organization she founded, the National Council of Negro Women.  The chandelier in this parlor was a gift from President Roosevelt, the husband of Miss Bethune’s best friend, first lady Eleanor Roosevelt:

The kids completed their Junior Ranger workbooks and received their badges:

This visitor center is also the visitor center for the not-yet-opened Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site, so the kids completed the workbook for that site here as well:

We continued walking south towards the Mall, arriving at Ford’s Theatre National Historic Site.  In the lower level of the building there’s a visitor center:

After viewing the exhibits, we went upstairs to the theatre and viewed the box seat where President Lincoln was assassinated:

The gun that Booth used to kill President Lincoln:

The kids completed their Junior Ranger workbooks and received their badges and patches:

We continued towards the Mall:

We could see the scaffold-covered Capitol Building in distance:

We next visited the visitor center for President’s Park National Historic Site, which includes the White House and the surrounding grounds.  The film was incredibly moving:

The kids completed their Junior Ranger workbooks and received their badges:

Behold, the White House:

Looking from the White House towards the Washington Monument:

We next visited the Washington Monument:

We could see the Jefferson Memorial in the distance:

We continued on to the World War II Memorial:

Next, we visited the Vietnam Memorial:

Our last stop on the National Mall was the Lincoln Memorial:

The kids completed the Junior Ranger worksheets for the Washington Monument, World War II Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, and Lincoln Memorial, and received their badges for the National Mall and Memorial Parks:

As night fell, we started walking back to the truck:

We waved to President Obama as we walked by his house:

After over seven miles of walking, we made it back to the truck and drove back to the RV at the synagogue.

See the trip map for today’s drive and walk.