A DC experience everyone should try at least once

Waking up early isn’t my favorite thing to do in the world. But I try to do it at least once every time I visit somewhere away from home. Why? Because I’ve found running in the morning at sunrise gives you a peek into a different location in a way you can’t see at any other time of the day. I’ve enjoyed sunrises from Maine to California but one of my very favorite has to be sunrises in Washington, DC.

My kids think I’m a little nutty, but I offer them the sunrise chance when we travel and Jordan took me up on the offer during our visit to Washington, DC. I told her a sunrise run from the Lincoln Monument into the National Mall is worth the loss of sleep. And she believed me. I’m so glad she believed me.

We didn’t wake up early enough to run to the monument, but we grabbed a cab and ran up the stairs of the Lincoln Monument to capture what may become one of my most favorite photos ever.

Jordan and I raced to the Word War II memorial on the other end of the reflection pool. The sunrise was even more awesome as we explored the statues, water feature and Jordan got to learn a bit about the war.

We ran on toward the National Monument. It wasn’t open yet and the area was completely empty other than a few other runners passing by. At one point, Jordan got down on her back to look up at the tall monument. She convinced me to to try it as well… It’s a view I would have never tried and it’s spectacular and not even something I could capture with my phone camera.

We ran down half of the National Mall on our way to the Metro so we could get back and prepare for a day of museums and more monuments. We both agreed it was a chilly but awesome experience… One I hope we can repeat some day when she’s older and we can run to even more monuments during sunrise.