US Botanic Garden Christmas Trains

Ever since we moved to Capitol Hill sixteen years ago from the cold Midwest we have visited the US Botanic Gardens many, many times. After I retired we would walk past them almost every day. There is always something to see both inside the conservatory and outside on the grounds. At this time of the year the gardens are turned in to a Christmas wonderland. Inside are the memorials and monuments that are made up of plant material scattered throughout. But the Christmas trains are the big draw and the lines are always long to see them starting right after Thanksgiving. Only one time early on were the trains located outside. But since the pandemic, the trains have been relocated to the west side of the building. That makes it a lot easier to see everything because there are no lines - at least when we were there. It is more of a wandering around to see what you can see. Usually there is a theme and this year I think is the same as last year - farms across the world. It hardly matters what the theme is. There is just something about trains at Christmas time. My brother had a Lionel train set when he was a youngster. After we strolled around for a bit we walked over to see the Capitol Christmas tree that came from North Carolina. We do need to come back one of these evenings to observe it all from the car and see the twinkling lights. It was a lot more convenient when we lived on Capitol Hill to walk to all of these things. Now we need to drive in from northern Virginia. It’s always worth the ride.