Merry Christmas Eve blog world The Husband and I have flown to the east coast to be with our families this week and have had a wonderful visit thus far.  We’ve spent time catching up with friends and are with my family today and his tomorrow.  We hope that wherever you are, that you’re enjoying this holiday with loved ones!

Yesterday, we met up with good friends that we haven’t seen since our wedding nearly 3 years ago.  Our friends Chris and Melissa and their little ones, Amelia and Eli, had plans to check out the Christmas on the Potomac display at the Gaylord National hotel at the National Harbor.  Since they live a good distance away from our families, we appreciated the opportunity to see them closer to home (though we would have traveled far to see them if that was the plan) and get in some holiday festivities at the same time.

When we first started planning this excursion, I confused myself on multiple instances.  First, I thought we were going to the Southwest Waterfront, which would have been metro accessible.  I had never heard of the National Harbor (per the wikipedia page above, it looks like it opened in April 2008, after we moved to North Carolina).  Luckily we cleared that up before heading out to meet with them.  Then, I thought the only activity at the National Harbor was the ICE! Experience, which is a 15,000 sq. ft. exhibit made entirely of ice with the theme of the Grinch Who Stole Christmas for this year.  When I looked at it yesterday morning, I learned that the tickets were sold out! Luckily, though, we actually were planning on checking out all of the free festivities at the resort anyway, so no tickets needed to enjoy!

After a relatively easy drive from my parents’ house (minus a bit of traffic around East Capitol Street on 295), we followed the very helpful signs to the National Harbor (if you aren’t familiar with it, it’s right at 295/495 on the Maryland side of the Wilson Bridge).  We followed signs to one of the parking garages, and made our way through the chilly wind to the other end of Waterfront Street where the hotel is located.  Our friends were already there so we found our way to the Christmas tree and Potomac Express train.

From the main lobby area, we saw the Christmas tree in the distance and took some escalators down to find the train.

While we waited for the kids to get onto the train (the line moved quite slowly) we admired the decorations around us.  Although we didn’t see the big man himself, Santa is available for visits and photos according to this sign and Santa’s house where one can pick up their photos.

The Potomac Express train was located directly below the Christmas tree and was a relatively small circle around this Christmas present.  However, it goes around multiple times (we think we determined it was 12 rotations) and all of the kids seemed to love it.  This activity does cost money and requires buying tokens at various locations throughout the resort.

Behind the train (or in front of it depending on your perspective) was a fountain that changed colors throughout the wait.  It was also the location of an fountain show which you’ll see farther down in this post.

Right at 6pm, the fountain show, music, and Christmas tree lighting began (we could only see the fountain from our angle).  It was like our own little Bellagio fountains show, but here in DC

The fountain show continues hourly at 7pm, 8pm, and 9pm.  Throughout the atrium, there are beautiful “northern lights” sparkling throughout.

And the trees are all decorated in a festive theme.

At 6:15pm, it begins to “snow” much to the children’s delight

Pretty much any time I have the camera, I have to take a photo of the Husband

As we headed to the glass elevators for a “free ride” with the kids (who knew riding in a glass elevator was so exciting?!?!), we saw The Grinch who must have been taking a break from the ICE! Experience.

At this point, after all of the festivities, we had two hungry kids (and one hungry HungryWanderer) on our hands so we decided to head out for some dinner.  As we did, we wandered through the very elegant reception area of the hotel.

Apparently, there are polar bears hidden throughout the hotel.  We saw our only spotting poking down through the ceiling.  If I’d known, I would have been looking for them all along!

Overall, this was a fun holiday experience, especially since it was free We definitely encourage those of you with little kids to check this out as we’re sure they would love it (as gathered by the immense joy of the little kids all around us).  We hope to check out the ICE! Experience some time in the future.  Have any of you been to the ICE! Experience? If so, did you enjoy it? Was it worth the price?

Happy Holidays Blog Readers!