Learning about Washington DC

The District of Columbia received insufficient attention from our family due to a family trip and a camp for one of our children, but at least we were learning about Washington DC on July 4!

For music, we listened to John Philips Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever," Duke Ellington's "Soda Fountain Rag," John Denver's "Country Roads, Take Me Home" (his breakout song was mostly composed by DC-based collaborators, who hadn't actually been to West Virginia beforehand and were describing a Maryland road near Washington DC), Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten's "Freight Train," and Sweet Honey in the Rock's "Run, Mourner, Run."

We also went to a baseball game, ate crab cakes and Philly cheesesteak sandwiches, ate pork with Chesapeake Bay seasoning (that was more a political joke than a nod to actual DC cuisine), and watched fireworks. We read books about the Smithsonian museums and watched videos showing DC monuments; our children now want to visit the DC museums, and the girls loved Season 1 of "Wonder Woman" with Lynda Carter, which is mostly set in DC.

Our nation's capital definitely deserves a family trip in a few years when all the children will be old enough to remember it.