We headed back to our College Park Metro stop bright and early today—
We have a date at the Capital!
Mom’s friend told her to call our Congressman
To get a personal tour of the White House or Capital.
So she got ahold of Congressman Cleaver’s office
And next thing we knew, we were booked for a private tour!
We got to see all the hallways and tunnels that connect the offices,
Workspaces and the Capital.
There is a HUGE gallery of pictures
Chosen from each state in one of the hallway tunnels.
Here’s the Missouri section:
Soon we popped out next to the Capital Rotunda
Meet Lady Freedom—
At 19 feet, 6 inches, she is the tallest statue in DC
and no other statue is allowed to be taller.
Her “twin” is on top of the Capital
(This is the plaster mold used to make the bronze one on the dome)
We got to see the original Supreme Court—
It was tiny!
I guess the current one isn’t much bigger.
And then to the Rotunda.
Whoa.
George Washington’s rise to the heavens.
It was gorgeous.
All of the paintings and statues were.
So much history.
Our staffer insisted on laying down to get a 0.5 for us!
The Rotunda connects the 2 chambers—
Here’s the Senate!
Crazy to be so close.
We got to go to the gallery of the House to sit
Since they weren’t in session.
The security was insane.
We had to leave all our phones, watches and
Even the truck keys with security.
We sat for quite a while, soaking it all in.
The decor and furnishings are unchanged through history.
It was sobering to think about people breaking into
That sacred chamber on January 6th.
It was a cool tour.
Thanks, Congressman Cleaver!
Of course, we needed a picture
Since we were in the area,
We stopped by the National Archives
Check all these out!
The Magna Carta
This was as close as you are allowed to get pictures of the biggies:
The Declaration of Independence
The Constitution
and The Bill of Rights
Crazy that we got to see them
And be that close to them.
Up next was the Natural History Museum.
Mom was really excited about this one.
The had a Moai statue from Easter Island—
It was taken illegally a long time ago
And eventually gifted to the museum
Probably as close as we’ll get to one!
Meet Henry, the African elephant in the lobby
But what we were all excited to see
Were the DINOSAURS!
There were so many of them
My favorite—
The tyrannosaurus eating the triceratops
As a part of the dinosaur exhibit,
There was a huge display about evolution and 2 different mass extinctions
As well as all the weird animals that survived/morphed.
Like the super weird anglerfish
We could have stayed for hours
But we had to tear ourselves away…
To go UP in the Washington Monument
How about these views 500 feet up?
We learned that there is nothing but stone in the walls
(No rebar or other metal holding things together),
No mortar between the stone.
Due to funding, it was build in 2 phases
So it is 2 slightly different colors of stone.
There are lots of memorial stones on the inside
That you can see from the elevator
And a tiny aluminum pyramid apex at the very top.
We’re learning all sorts of stuff this week!
Speaking of learning,
We finished our Washington Mall Junior Ranger books
Which meant Mom had to find a Ranger
To swear us in to our newest badges
It’s really an awe-inspiring sight.
You know what else is?
The Hope Diamond.
After our tour of the Washington Monument,
We headed back to the Natural History Museum
To explore more.
We accidentally wandered into the mineral section
But wow.
We ended up roaming around for almost an hour
Taking it all in
Unfortunately, the museum closed at 5
And we didn’t have dinner reservations
For a few more hours…
So off to the National Portrait Gallery we went.
The Four Justices was Mom’s favorite.
Tuck and I liked Washington
And Jack really like President Obama
The Smithsonian American Art Gallery was connected
So we wandered over there…
And found some screens.
Another 12 mile day
And we were beat.
We stopped in at Round Robin Bar in the famous Willard Hotel
For some drinks and snacks.
But our night wasn’t over…
We had dinner reservations at Old Ebbitt Grill,
Where everyone who’s anyone in DC has dined.
And now, so have we.
With that,
We headed back to the Metro for one last ride
We didn’t see everything
But we sure saw a lot.
Thanks, DC!
Until we meet again…
No comments:
Post a Comment