Washington, DC

Last week I traveled with Ben and his classmates to the nation’s capital.  I have never until now been able to visit, and I enjoyed it, though it was a whirlwind trip.

This will be a rather lengthy post, so I will break it here.  If it interests you to read further, continue after the jump.

Monday the 14th was a travel day.  About 45 minutes into the trip, we noticed a strong odor in the bus.  It turns out that there was a leaky brake line on one of the right rear wheels.  We waited for over 2 hours for a replacement bus to appear.  Other than that, the trip was uneventful.

Tuesday morning we met with Congressman Robert Aderholt, who with his staff gave us a personal tour of the capitol building.  The Congressman took us onto the floor of the House of Representatives, where we were allowed to sit in the chairs and listen while he explained the chamber, the voting machines and process, and answer questions.  The staffers took us through the capitol Visitor’s Center and gave us a quick tour of the rotunda and other sections of the building.

After that we visited the Library of Congress, which is a gorgeous building.  We proceeded from there to Ford’s Theater and the Petersen House, where Lincoln was shot and where he died.  After that, we drove around the area looking at all of the sights.

Wednesday morning we visited the National Air and Space Museum complex at Dulles International Airport.  The visit started with an unintentional comedy routine by a security guard whose mannerisms immediately earned him the nickname “Barney”.  The museum itself was wonderful, with an F4U Corsair and a P-40 Warhawk greeting you as you arrive. The space shuttle “Enterprise” is on display, as is the B-29 “Enola Gay”, the last active Navy F-14, the last active Air France Concorde supersonic airliner, and many other wonderful aircraft too numerous and too beautiful to name individually.  Our guide was excellent and told us a couple of very good stories about some of the aircraft we saw.  We left the museum and went to the Pentagon, where we had a guided tour by an Air Force and a Navy honor guard.  They each took half of the tour, and the lead person did his or her entire route BACKWARDS without looking!  Impressive!  We visited the chapel and the memorial to the victims of the Muslim PIG-DOGS who murdered innocent Americans on an airplane and in the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

Thursday was Constitution Day, and we celebrated by going to the National Archives and seeing the actual Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.  There is also a copy from 1297 of the Magna Carta from England.  After the Archives, we walked across the National Mall to the Smithsonian Institute complex.  Ben and I (of course) went to the other Air and Space Museum, where one of the highlights was the rebuilt Wright Flyer. There were also displays of WW1 and WW2 fighters, some commercial aviation displays, and space-related items like John Glenn’s Mercury capsule and the Apollo 11 command module.  Upon leaving that building Ben and I went to the Museum of American History.  There we watched a naturalization ceremony in which 26 people took the oath of citizenship and became American citizens.  The oath that they swore is really something!  My opinion is that anyone who wished to exercise the right to vote in this country should swear the same type of oath after studying the same type of information that is required of naturalized citizens!  The museum was filled with all types of things too numerous to list.  One of the highlights was the actual flag that flew over Fort McHenry and inspired the “Star Spangled Banner”.  After the Smithsonian we went to the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam War Memorial.  My thought on the Vietnam Wall is that it perfectly illustrates what happens when politicians and journalists try to run and influence a war.

Friday we visited Mount Vernon, George Washington’s home.  It was very interesting.  Unfortunately we did not have time to spend looking over everything that was there to see.  From there we went to Arlington National Cemetery.  We took the little tram around, but got off to see the Kennedy gravesite with the “eternal flame”, the Arlington house, and the Tomb of the Unknowns.  We watched the changing of the guard, which was fascinating.  We also saw the Jefferson Memorial and the FDR Memorial.

Friday night Lori’s brother Tom and his family drove over an hour to come see us for a short visit. We had never met 2 of their 4 children, and it had been at least 15 years since we saw his wife.  We had a really good time together.

Saturday was a long bus ride home. Fortunately it was exceptionally uneventful, and we reached home a little more than 13 hours after leaving our hotel.

The only “complaint” I could have about the trip is that I did not have enough time to fully experience everything that I wanted to see. Of course, I’m not the only one with that comment.  But at least I did get to go, and I did get to see many things that I have never seen before.  Someday I hope I can return and spend more time exploring the city, the museums, and all of the other historical sights in our capital.

BTW, I get extra points for using the words “capital” and “capitol” correctly.