Day 16 of our 2025 RVing Adventure with Historical & Musical Interludes

On day 16 of our 2025 summer adventure we had planned on driving to the metro and then grabbing the train down and walking around. But, Milt is still recovering from knee surgery so we wanted to limit our walking.

Since we were not proactive enough to get tickets to a White House Tour from our representatives, we had to find another way! We did! We decided to UberXL into DC to our first stop, The People's House. Before our scheduled tour time at The People's House, we walked to the north side of the White House again and took more pictures. 

We also enjoyed learning more about the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, formerly known as the Old Executive Office Building, and originally known as the State, War, and Navy Building, is a United States government building that is now part of the White House compound. It is a grand structure designed in the French Second Empire style. 

It was built between 1871 and 1888 and housed the staffs of the State, War, and Navy Departments. The building was renamed the Executive Office Building in 1949 and became known as the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in 1999. It is a designated National Historic Landmark and serves as the headquarters for many executive branch agencies, including the White House Office, the Office of the Vice President, and the National Security Council. 

We enjoyed coffee from Peet's coffee on the opposite corner from the Executive Building and The People's House.

The People's House: A White House Experience is a cutting-edge educational museum experience. It tells the story of the Executive Mansion, its inhabitants and the people who have dedicated their careers to its functions. 

This experience was created by the White House Historical Association and opened on September 23, 2024. Located on the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue NW, across the street from the Executive Building. This building features exhibits and galleries bringing the White House and its storied history to life. 

We watched an opening film tell the rich history of the Executive Mansion through the windows of a replica of the White House’s South Facade. The architectural story of the White House from 1790 to present day comes to life.

We turned the corner and we got an inside look into the White House from the other side of the model. You literally could direct the multimedia program that brings the White House to life. We used tablets to activate various rooms and see historic and contemporary moments fill the space. We even got pictures taken on the red carpet!

We were able to walk in the president’s footsteps and experienced the commander-in-chief’s commute to the Oval Office as we passed the Cabinet Room and Rose Garden. 

Magical reflections in the windows along the Colonnade provide ever-changing glimpses into the past. The windows are decorated like the Rose Garden. You can imagine what it’s like to be welcomed on the South Lawn of the White House.

My favorite room was the East Room, Green Room, Blue Room, Red Room, and State Dining Room. They were all in one place in a 360° immersive projection room. 

You could gesture toward an object of interest to gain an unprecedented level of detail about the objects, stories, and people associated with these significant spaces.

We stayed in there for 2 room changes, but I could have stayed for all five! It was awesome!

We got to sit at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office and feel the weight of the office! Its a full-scale replica of the Oval Office, furnished with reproductions of the art, objects, and furniture that adorn the president’s office.

Funniest picture is the Canadian, as the President of the US!

On the second floor, we could interact with framed digital “portraits” of White House staff to hear and see reflections from people who have held non-political staff positions. I enjoyed listening to them so much, I did not get any pictures!

We did get to sit in on a State Dinner!

The White House serves as a space for governing, entertaining, and living. On any given day, various rooms are busy with engagements and official meetings, programs and performance, and private family time. The White House in Action exhibit allows you to experience all of those elements through three distinct immersive media experiences. Sit in on a meeting in the Cabinet Room to participate in historic conversations, be a guest at a State Dinner and listen to diplomacy in action, and enjoy historic and contemporary scenes from everyday life in the White House. We watched a cabinet meeting with Abraham Lincoln and his staff about resupplying Fort Sumter.

Our final space on the second floor was the Stories in Objects displays. Even the simplest objects can tell a remarkable story. The objects represented in this gallery provide glimpses into the wide-ranging history of the People’s House.

You literally touch various objects to uncover the overlooked and extraordinary stories from White House history. What an awesome experience!

We walked south along 17th Street, keeping President's Park on our left. We passed the 1st Infantry Division Monument. This memorial is dedicated to the heroic soldiers of the First Division of the American Expeditionary Forces who gave their lives during World War I. The memorial sits on a plaza in President's Park, west of the White House and south of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

We turned onto Constitution Avenue and headed toward the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. We enjoyed an overpriced lunch at the museum, but since it has free admission and is open 364 days a year I can not really complain! 

The world's most popular natural history museum is dedicated to understanding the natural world and our place in it. Delve into the fascinating story of our planet, from its fiery beginnings through billions of years of transformation, and explore life on Earth through exhibitions and activities, collection objects and research that happens in the lab and in the field. The museum is larger than 18 football fields and is home to the largest natural history collection in the world.

Highlights include the 45.5-carat Hope Diamond, Ocean Hall, Mammals Hall, Hall of Human Origins, Insect Zoo, dinosaurs, and the magnificent African bush elephant in the museum's rotunda. 

In Bone Hall there are hundreds of skeletons of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fishes—ranging from the gigantic extinct Steller sea cow to the tiny pocket mouse—are shown in characteristic poses and grouped by order to illustrate their relationships. The groupings of these skeletons show how bone structures evolved in adaptation to environment. 

I was amazed by the FossiLab. It is a real fossil preparation laboratory. Preparing and maintaining all the fossils in our collection is a big job. Watch through the lab's windows as museum staff and volunteers unpack new fossil shipments from the field, remove fossils from rock and loose sediment, repair and conserve fossils as they come off exhibit, photograph and illustrate fossils, and perform many other fossil preparation and conservation tasks. 

The Hope Diamond is located here. It's history is rich with intrigue, spanning centuries and involving numerous owners, some of whom met unfortunate fates, leading to a legend of a curse. The diamond was originally discovered in India and later acquired by French merchants.

274 mammals from Africa, North America, South America, and Australia are featured in this exhibit. It explores their diversity and how they originated and adapted to changing landscapes and environments over the last 225 million years—from polar to desert regions and from dry to humid environments. 

I could go on and on... but I won't. I will let the pictures do the talking! 

Stay tuned for more Two Lane Adventures!