Summer Road Trip - DC

Mark totally messed up my flow with that last post...uugghh! I guess I'll have to hurry up and finish blogging about our road trip, so we can continue with China stories.After spending the morning at the mine, we continued on to DC. We arrived just in time to visit Arlington National Cemetery that afternoon. We stopped by JFK's grave, saw the changing of the guards, and reveled in the solemn sites. It is a really powerful place to visit, and definitely makes me proud of all those in the military who fight and die for our freedom.The next morning, we visited the Museum of Natural History and had a great time. We loved all of the skeletons and replicas, and I especially loved seeing the Hope Diamond.

Waiting for the museum to open.
The Hope Diamond!
They had lots of amazing jewels, many that were owned by queens.
Mark holding a sick-a cockroach.

After the museum, we headed over for our scheduled tour of the White House, which I was looking forward to SO much. I'd emailed our congressman a month or so earlier and was really excited that we were able to get in. When we arrived, we were told our tour was postponed for an hour or so, so we had lunch nearby while we waited. At 1:30, the time we were told to come back, we headed to the line and were told that our tour was canceled and was rescheduled for 3 days later...too bad we were only there 1 more day. I was so upset!After pouting and cursing Obama, we headed over to the Holocaust Museum. I've always been interested in the Holocaust, ever since middle school when my favorite teacher dedicated most of our year to studying it, and thought this museum was very informative. The main exhibit was about the propaganda during that time, and they also had an exhibit told through the eyes of a child during the war.
That evening, we joined up with a free walking tour called DC by Foot and visited the memorials. This was definitely one of our favorite parts of our visit. The tour guide was great and it was fun talking to other tourists and hearing some background info on the memorials. I would HIGHLY recommend this tour to anyone going to DC!After the tour, we drove around town for a bit (aka we were lost for a bit...I swear DC is the WORST city in the country for driving...it's such a mess!). We did drive by the National Cathedral, which looks amazing - definitely on my list as a must see for next time.Our next day in DC was as equally packed as the last. We started off the morning with a visit to Ford's Theatre, which we really loved. It was really interesting to learn more about John Wilkes Booth and to hear details about that tragic day.

We thought this sign was a bit ironic; as Mark said, "Someone should have told John."
The gun that killed Lincoln.
The booth where the Lincoln was shot.

After the theatre, we went to the Air & Space Museum. This is touted at the most popular of the Smithsonian's...I've gotta say one word: over-rated. It was an OK museum, but I just wasn't feeling it. Except for the photography exhibit, which was amazing - photos of the planets like you've never seen.We had a scheduled tour of the Capitol Building that afternoon, but it went a little longer than we expected, so we had to leave in the middle.

Mark, on the tour.
The underside of the dome.

Apparently I scheduled our visit at the National Archives too close, and we didn't want to miss that of course. So we tried to get out of the Capitol with time to spare, but it was a madhouse exiting that place. The exits were all closed for some reason, so we had to go through the underground tunnel and exit through the Library of Congress (which is the wrong direction from the Archives). By the time we were finally out of there, we only had 15 minutes til our tour started and we had quite the time getting there. We arrived just in time, but totally sweaty and tired. Getting to see the Constitution, Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence, along with some other awesome documents (like the Louisiana Purchase) was well worth our hustle there.

The National Archives

That pretty much sums up our time in DC. I'd recommend about 1 week here, but you can sure see a lot in 2 days too!