I had an opportunity to tag along with Nancy and Bob on a trip to Washington, DC. With some advanced planning, I was able to get us passes to tour the White House, Pentagon, and Capital Building. Once we were in DC, we discovered Senator Patty Murray holds a Thursday morning coffee session with constituents. We were all over that. Other than the scheduled tours, we really had no plans yet somehow we all flew home absolutely exhausted and lacking sleep.
When I arrived DC, Nancy and Bob were already there. Bob immediately invited me to rent bikes and go to Mount Vernon, George Washington’s estate. It was only 8 miles south of Alexandria where we were staying. The bike trail was awesome; up, down, weaving left and right. We only crossed a few street besides that we were along the river.
If you visit Mount Vernon, be sure to watch the 20 minute movie in the visitor center. We did not have time before before our scheduled tour of his home so we stopped on our way out. George really was an amazing man. It is said the only thing our government has ever agreed upon was that George would be our first president.
His home is very simple. The center is the original 4 rooms. Then George built up a floor. Then he had a wing on each side built.
When you walked up the stairs, you used the original wood railing. The bed in George’s bedroom is the one he died in. The desk in his study is original. Almost everything on the estate is original. And when they need to repair things, they use materials from his time. Bob and I spent sometime watching the blacksmith make nails. For any history buff, this is a must see.
Bob and I spent the next 2 mornings getting up a 6:30 (eastern time), logging onto the Museum of African American History to try and get “day of” tickets. These tickets go so fast… 3 minutes max. This museum opened over a year ago and people still line up daily at 1pm to see if there is any open space in the museum.
The unique part of the Museum of African American History is that half of the museum is above ground and the other half is below. You start by taking an elevator down 3 floors. When the elevator open, you step into the beginning of slavery. How it all started. The museum moves you from slavery to racism to the civil war. Through segregation and the civil rights movement, ending with today and returning you to the ground floor.
They do an excellent job of incorporating movies, write ups, and visual experience like walking through a very dark slave ship where you hear individual talking about a day in the life of a prison. I liked the fact that at the end of each floor they had benches and another movie. Nice break before you headed into the next experience.
Not sure what was above ground. After 3 and half hours on the lower floors, my time was up and the museum was closing. I will definitely be going back.
The only other museum we got to was the Holocaust Museum. After being in Europe this last summer, I must say it had some difficult parts. What I did like was learning about what the USA saw and did. We did not have this view point in Europe.
As we exited the exhibit, there was this quote on the wall. Good thing to always remember.
After 2 intense days of slavery and the holocaust, I was ready for the White House. The White House has the most amazing security, as it should. Our passports were examined twice, we went through a metal detector and some sort of screening that involved a dog, and we were only allowed to bring in a cellphone or small camera, car keys, umbrella (if raining), and a wallet (no purse). If you had a baby, you were still not allowed to bring a diaper bag.
Once inside, you could stay as long as you wanted but there are no bathrooms, water fountains, or food so eventually every has to leave.
We entered the White House through the East Wing and the gardens.
This hallway contains all the fun pictures of the Presidents. Lots of pictures of them playing with their dogs and kids.
Other pictures include guests like this one with Princess Diana dancing with John Travolta.
This is the wing that displays the Presidential China, ….
… has the library …
… and the ever famous China Room.
We were not allowed to go into these rooms just look through the door. Once we were inside the main house, we were free to roam (under Secret Service supervision) through the Ballroom, …
… the Green Room, ….
.. the Red Room, …
… the Blue Room, …
… and Dining Room with a painting of Abraham Lincoln over the fireplace.
From the Blue Room, you could look out the windows and see down the back lawn all the way to the Jefferson Memorial.
There were painting of previous Presidents all through the rooms.
The tour ended with the flags inside the front doors where we had seen many famous pictures from.
Nancy and I had a blast trying to get a picture of us as a reflection in the entryway antic.
The tour ended with us walking down the steps in front of the White House looking out over the fountain and lawn at the people with their faces pushed up against the gates.
The Pentagon was not as impressive but security was pretty much the same. We were not allowed to take pictures once we got past the meeting room.
After leaving this room, we went up escalators, past the guy with a machine gun (yes, machine gun), and through small glass doors. We entered a private city with a chocolate shop on the left and a bank on the right. Everything one might need is inside security: doctors, dentists, hair salons, and grocery stores.
The tour was non-stop walking. They don’t let you stop any where. If you need the bathroom, the group goes with you. Not sure I would recommend the tour but the 911 Memorial outside on the grounds is very well done. I would visit it again. (If you go, make sure you dial the phone number at the entrance so you get the audio tour.)
We spent the rest of our trip on Capital Hill. We had coffee with Senator Patty Murray.
She was very friendly yet direct. Talked to us about what was going on right now and in the near future. Then took questions and discussed issues that we had. There were 14 of us. We only got 30 minutes of her time but we all felt privileged.
The Senate and the House were both in session and had votes taking place. She gave us tickets to the Galleries so we could watch. The first day we sat in on the Senate. We missed the vote but we were still fascinated by the going ons.
The first thing we learned was a Senator has to sit in the main chair if there are in session even if they are the only one in the room (they rotate ever 60 minutes). There are pages everywhere. They look like high school age kids. They ran documents, got water, and setup/took down podiums.
Different Senators came in, stood at their desk, and addresses the empty room with the issue at hand (today it was the life time appointment of judges). Every Senator has their personal desk. They are ordered by seniority and look to be from the 19th century.
The next day we went to the House. It was a big room with benches. Democratics on the left and Republicans on the right. Both faced a stage with the Speaker of the House or someone representing him.
They were working on a Vote so we got there early to avoid a long security line. By the way, you are not allowed to bring anything into the Galleries. You check you stuff in before you go through security.
The House ran more like a courtroom. The first hour was closing arguments on the Vote. Each side took turns address either the Speaker of the House or the crowds in the Galleries. Their speeches were timed and multiple Representatives spoke from each side. No one had the floor for longer than 2 minutes. When it was over, one side asked for a postponement of the vote so everyone voted on that.
Directly in front of the Galleries where wallpaper once was a reader board appeared with all the Representatives listed. As each voted, a Y or N appeared in front of their names. On the ends of the assembly room, scoreboards appeared displaying the number of “no” votes versus “yes” votes plus a 5 minutes timer which was counting down.
When the vote was over, the “no” votes won so all the votes were cleared and they immediately went to voting on the the issue. It was awesome to watch the floor come alive. When we first got there, it was civilized with only 20 people in the room. By the time the vote came, there were 400 people in the room. A few brought young kids around 4 or 5 years old. Bring your grand kid to work day?
After the vote, it took about 15 minutes for the Speaker to get the floor cleared so they could move on to future business. At this time, the Majority Leader and the Democratic Leader took their prospective sides and started to discuss where they are on current projects.
They both summarized their visit to Puerto Rico and talked about issues there. Then they discussed a few more issues before the release of the new tax cuts hit the floor. It was at this point that things got really interesting. They went back and forth like attorneys arguing a court case. We were very impressed with the manure they conducted themselves.
After about 30 minutes on the tax cuts, they moved on to other committees and the issues they are working on. It was interesting to hear that there is an issue that is being held hostage. Something they both agree on but the Majority Leader won’t bring it to the floor. I have heard of this but it was interesting to see it was real.
We were so very lucky to get to see our government in action. This was not something that could be planned. If you are in DC, I advise asking the guards at the bag check in. They seem to know what is really happening. Don’t rely on the published schedule. Things are always changing.
While at the Capital Building, we did take the public tour. I have taking it before and I consider it a must do. New to the tour was the original Supreme Court meeting room.
They also showed us the new chambers.
All this under one roof
During our time in DC, we were able to fit in a tour of NPR (National Public Radio)
I took a 4 hour walking tour of the National Monuments. Highly Recommend.
The Martin Luther King Jr Memorial is new. They carved him stepping out of “A stone of hope”. The detail was amazing.
One of the trips highlights was watching the sunrise from the Lincoln Memorial. You would think we would have the National Mall to ourselves but there were joggers everywhere.
