Ranger Dan: Collecting America 250 National Park Stamps in DC

Date of Visit: February 23, 2026

On our way up to Philadelphia to see Independence Hall for America's 250, we spent a day in DC collecting national park stamps. Our original plan was to start at the White House Visitor Center than head out to Arlington, but due to the overnight snow Arlington House was closed for the day and the White House Visitor Center wasn't open at 7:30am despite no notice on their website or door that it was operating under different hours. Thus, instead we ended up starting at Ford's Theatre, which was operating on a delayed start, but their box office was open as usual at 8:30am so we could get tickets for the first time slot for the museum at 11am.

Since we had a few hours before we could do Ford's Theatre and we hadn't had much of a breakfast, we decided to go to Lincoln's Waffle Shop across the street. We enjoyed a second breakfast/early brunch and worked on the Ford's Theatre Junior Ranger booklet.

As we still had time before our Ford's Theatre tour, we decided to walk over to the White House Visitor Center and see if it was open. It was and we got the 250 stamp.

White House Model

At Ford's Theatre we got our 250 stamp and got a rare look at where Lincoln was shot as they do not often have the area open to see if from the back.

Next we drove out to the George Washington Parkway Headquarters at Turkey Run to get the 250 stamp and also the over 30 other stamps they have for the area.

Mom and Dad dropped Nora and I off at the Lincoln Memorial to start our walk for 250 stamps at the memorials. The Lincoln Memorial gift shop at several 250 stamps including for the Lincoln Memorial and Korean War Veterans Memorial. We then got stamps the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, and met Mom and Dad at the Jefferson Memorial to get the stamps there and walk to where they had parked by the Tidal Basin.

Korean War Veterans Memorial

Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial

FDR Memorial

At the FDR, I dropped Ranger Dan while trying to take the photo. His legs came off and it took us a few minutes to find them. Pieces of his hat also broke off. Thankfully, the stamps that got wet did not get too smudged.

Jefferson Memorial

We drove to the Washington Monument where Mom and Dad dropped Nora and I off nearby to get the stamps while they went around the block. Our final stop was at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial where we did the same thing, except I remembered to take the time for a photo here.

While the overnight snow meant we didn't get to do Arlington House, at least we knew in the morning it was closed for the day and we had already modified our plan for the day, which allowed us to still get all the other 250 stamps we planned even with the delayed openings. Plus, we had a good relaxed breakfast/brunch at Lincoln's Waffle Stop.

See full list of Ranger Dan's National Parks Visited here.

Our Koffee Trail: Madis Coffee

Date of Visit: February 25, 2026

Location: Madis Coffee, Philadelphia, PA

Rating: ❤️

After our tour of Independence Hall, we were hungry and found Madis Coffee nearby. We enjoyed having some coffees and hot chocolate along with some good food for lunch.

Mom had a Mocha Latte.

Dad had a Kenya pour over coffee.

I found the Blueberry Bliss Latte different and delicious. Nora also enjoyed their White Hot Chocolate.

We all enjoyed our food. I especially liked the Salmon on Multigrain.

See full list of Our Koffee Trail stops here and Our Koffee Trail Google Maps list here.

Our Koffee Trail: Proteus Brews

Date of Visit: February 24, 2026

Location: Proteus Brews, Greenbelt, MD

Rating: 👍

After visiting Greenbelt Park as we headed up to Fort McHenry, we found Proteus Brews to get some coffee (and hot chocolate for Nora).

I enjoyed the Vanilla Cinnamon Latte. Mom, I think, had a mocha (she ordered while the rest of us were trying to decide).

Dad had a pour over coffee of the Coast Rica Gesha.

See full list of Our Koffee Trail stops here and Our Koffee Trail Google Maps list here.

Ranger Dan: 111.1 Prince William Forest Park

Date of Visit: February 22, 2026

Originally we did not plan to stop at Prince William Forest Park, but due to the rain we ended up not spending much time at our other planned stops for the day and decided to fit in one more stop for a 250 stamp. Because of the rain, we also just stopped at the visitor center here. However, it was an interesting stop and we spent some time talking with the ranger about the park's history related to the CCC and OSS. Nora also had fun with the morse code exhibit as she enjoyed when we learned about morse code in school last year and got to use it to tap out the alphabet.

Pyrite exhibit

Morse Code display

See full list of Ranger Dan's National Parks Visited here.

Ranger Dan: 110.1 Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park

Date of Visit: February 22, 2026

While I haven't been to Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, we really didn't see anything due to the rainy weather that was predicted to turn to snow in few hours and the regular visitor center being closed for renovations. At this stop we pretty much just got the stamps, although I did read the history of the building the gift shop is in while waiting for the bathroom, which is in the space that was originally the Colored Men's bathroom.

Segregated History Sign

Visitor Center Closed for Renovations

See full list of Ranger Dan's National Parks Visited here.

Ranger Dan: 81.2 Richmond National Battlefield Park - Chimborazo Medical Museum

Date of Visit: February 22, 2026

After Petersburg National Battlefield, we headed to Chimborazo Medical Museum, which is part of the Richmond Batltefield Park. Here we watched the movie about Chimborazo as a Confederate hospital during the Civil War and looked at the small one room Medical Museum. If it hadn't been raining, we probably would have spent some time looking at the outdoor exhibits and had lunch overlooking the river instead of in the truck.

The model of what Chimborazo looked like during the Civil War gave a good overview of how large it was.

Ranger Dan w/ Stamps

Medical Museum

Medical Museum

Previous Visits to this National Park unit:

• 81.1 Tredegar Iron Works

See full list of Ranger Dan's National Parks Visited here.

Ranger Dan: 82.2 Petersburg National Battlefield

Date of Visit: February 22, 2026

For the Semiquincentennial of the United States, originally I just wanted to visit Indpendence Hall. When I found out that most National Park units have a special 250 National Park passport stamp, I decided to try to collect as many of them as I could this year. I got the Ocmulgee Mounds in December, but Petersburg National Battlefield was my first one in the actual Semiquincentennial year.

As I had previously visited Petersburg National Battlefield and I was trying to fit in as many stops for stamps as we could on our way to the DC area, we just stopped in the visitor center to get the stamps and watched the movie.

Ranger Dan w/ the Stamps

Cannon outside Visitor Center

Previous Visits to this National Park unit:

• 82.1 Petersburg National Battlefield

See full list of Ranger Dan's National Parks Visited here.