a day in DC

Today, my mom and I went into Washington DC... of course, we took the Metro!
my mom, enjoying the Metro...

I had hoped to get to the Washington Monument early enough to get tickets to go to the top, but was unsuccessful again. So, instead, we made our way towards the Capitol for our scheduled tour. We ended up taking a taxi but getting stuck about 6 blocks away when they started shutting the roads down around it for the president's motorcade. So.. it was pretty cool that we got to see the motorcade..and saw the president but just didn't know it. The bad thing was that the cab's meter was running while we were waiting for the motorcade to pass. Do you think I can mail my bill to the White House and get reimbursed?

Anyways, we had a nice tour of the Capitol. We got to see the rotunda and Statuary Hall. I learned a few new things on this tour.. like how the increased humidity in the building is possibly what thwarted the assassination attempts on Andrew Jackson.. and how George Washington was supposed to be buried in a hole in the middle of the rotunda.

My mom and I also got to go into the House of Representatives and observe what was happening. Even though it was Saturday, they were in session and actually voting on the health care bill. We got to see some of that but mostly heard some of the representatives stand up and give a little speech to go on record for why they voted the way they did. It was interesting. Some other tourists near us got reprimanded by the speaker of the house because they applauded and cheered for what one of the representatives had said.. So I may have been shown on C-SPAN..

people protesting the health care bill

After our tour.. we walked past the Smithsonians, IRS, FBI, and the EPA and ate some pizza in a deli near the Navy Memorial. We were going to eat at a hod dog cart, but my mom said that she only wanted to eat at "a real hot dog cart." I am still not sure what that is, but I do know that we never found one. After that, we toured the National Archives. Then, around sunset, we walked around the Washington Monument and walked past the Lincoln Memorial. We decided that we did not need to go up the steps- so we just kept walking. We were tired but ended up making it to the White House.

my mom touching the Washington Monument

the walk to the Lincoln Memorial

The last thing that we did in Washington DC was walk around the shops in Union Station. I had deprived my mom of this when I was in elementary school when we had an Amtrak layover there.. so I thought I should make up for it now.

I made my mom walk a lot today, but she said that she still had fun! We saw a lot in just one day.