Vacation, all I ever wanted

I had an absolutely fabulous time in DC. I was totally exhausted at the end of every day, but it was so worth it. We managed to fit a lot into four and a half days:

* Mt. Vernon, where we went on the National Treasure tour. No secret tunnels, but we did get to see the basement. We also saw Washington's dentures and the Lincolns' china (theirs was the prettiest of the presidential china). The bus trip out there was made interesting by the bus driver pulling over at McDonald's so he could use the bathroom. We all just looked at each other like, "Is he serious?" He was.


* The memorials at night. Korea is incredibly eerie that way--really cool. Also, Vietnam is impressive when you have all of the biker vets hugging each other there.


* Arlington National Cemetery. Apparently I picked a good weekend to go because it's the only time they allow flags on the graves. And the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown was incredibly moving. It was like watching a choreographed dance.


* The Memorial Day concert on the lawn of the Capitol Building. We heard Gladys Knight, Idina Menzel (Elphaba on Broadway), and Sarah Brightman. I also got some really cool shots of the Capitol Building while we were waiting in the security line...for 45 minutes. Still no idea why it took so long.


* The National Archives, where we saw the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Magna Charta. It seems I entertain myself by taking pictures, because I also ended up with a bunch of this building because we had to wait in a security line again.


* The Memorial Day parade. The highlight for me was seeing the nurse from this picture.


* The Museum of Natural History. I loved seeing the Hope Diamond, but my favorite part was the live butterfly exhibit. The pretty purple butterfly I wanted to take a picture of came and landed on the back of my leg. There are now pictures of my backside all over the country.


* The National Portrait Gallery. The presidents were cool, but I was also a fan of the modern art piece that was supposed to be an enchanted forest (we think). Really, we just sat there so long because once we sat down, we couldn't get back up again.

* Dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, which I had never eaten at (any of them...I know, I lead a sad, depraved life).


* The National Museum of Women in the Arts, which was the only museum we read all of the little descriptions at because we were trying to figure out what it all meant. It didn't help. The tag for the movie of the girl crawling through Seoul on a small, flat scooter actually confused us more. Modern art is really just not my thing.

* A staff-led tour of the Capitol Building (thanks Chase!). I loved the Rotunda and the old Senate room. And we got to ride the underground subway cars that the Senators use.


* The Library of Congress. Books. Lots of books. This was my favorite building. Kerri laughed at me, saying she'd never seen anyone so excited about a library before. But how could I not get worked up about the Gutenberg Bible? Because of that book, the modern world can read. I think that's huge. Thomas Jefferson's library was also really impressive. That man was interested in everything.


* The Air and Space Museum, which did us a favor by staying open late Tuesday night, so I could see more than just the main hall.

* The memorials in the day. Aside from the obnoxious small children there on field trips, I enjoyed this a lot. We even found Einstein.


* Even better, I got to spend time with a friend I don't get to see too often anymore (I know, it's my own fault for moving to California), and I got a break from normal life.

This concludes my interesting-only-to-me travel log. Stay tuned for irregularly scheduled blog posts.