Well, it’s
Monday. Our last full day in
Washington! What a trip we’ve had so
far! Of course we are exhausted from our
long day on Sunday. Leaving the room at
8 am and not returning till 11 pm makes for a very long day.
Today my schedule
calls for a tour at the Capitol at 11 am.
So we decide we will head over to Union Station to grab us some breakfast
and hop on our trolley. I’m not sure I
mentioned it yet, but this is also the day the Pope is going to land in
Washington! We noticed as we walked to
Union Station that barriers and all kinds of stuff was going up everyone on the
downtown streets. They were even putting
out porta potties. As we climbed on the
trolley the guy started announcing that he would not be able to make some of
the normal stops (here we go again!) because they were shutting down the roads getting ready for
the parade for the Pope! You can just
imagine the thoughts going on in my head at this point……. Another day with my schedule screwed
up……now to find alternatives and still see the things we needed to see before our trip ended.
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| The Capitol |
The 1st
stop on the trolley was the Capitol, but we had not planned on stopping there first because
our tour was not till 11 am but due to all the changes with the Pope we decided
to get off the trolley. We were told we had to go
pick up our tour passes ahead of time anyway, so I told Gary we would get off
and walk around the Capitol and pick up our passes early where we would be ready to go on time. If you’ve never been to the Capitol, let me
just say it’s HUGE! Everything in
Washington is HUGE! It’s beautiful! I was disappointed that the dome had tons of
scaffolds around it. It seemed so many
places we had been to see were having “summer repairs” that were still going on in
September! I grabbed a few pictures as
we walked around as I followed my husband who I figured knew where he was
going. He had been to Washington before
with his kids.
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| Another view of the Capitol ... Check out all those steps! |
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| Long view of the Capitol |
However, I soon
realized my husband had no clue as to where he was going. He was just walking circles around the
Capitol! Oh and there were tons of people running and walking around the
Capitol. There are tons of runners
everywhere in downtown!
I finally got up enough nerve to ask Gary where he was going (you know men hate for you to question them..hee hee). He said he was looking for where the booth was to pick up our passes. I told him the map said we needed to go down the stairs that looked like they were going underground, which we had already passed. He told me that couldn’t be right. But you know me….. I’m a woman and I don’t mind stopping and asking someone! So I stopped and asked a security guy that just happen to be where we were at walking and you guessed it…. I was right… down the stairs we had passed would take us into the Capitol Visitor Center to get the passes. So off we went.
I finally got up enough nerve to ask Gary where he was going (you know men hate for you to question them..hee hee). He said he was looking for where the booth was to pick up our passes. I told him the map said we needed to go down the stairs that looked like they were going underground, which we had already passed. He told me that couldn’t be right. But you know me….. I’m a woman and I don’t mind stopping and asking someone! So I stopped and asked a security guy that just happen to be where we were at walking and you guessed it…. I was right… down the stairs we had passed would take us into the Capitol Visitor Center to get the passes. So off we went.
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| Me showing the Capitol |
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| Inside the Visitor Center in Capitol ... and the statue of Freedom which is also on top of the dome of the Capitol. |
The bronze Statue of Freedom by Thomas Crawford is the crowning feature of the Dome of the United States Capitol. The statue is a classical female figure with long, flowing hair wearing a helmet with a crest composed of an eagle's head and feathers. The helmet is encircled by nine stars.
The visitor
center was a busy place. People were in
lines trying to get in and you had to wait until the security guard let you go
in the doors, then you had to go wait in another line to get your passes. I was standing in line thinking to myself
that I sure was glad we came early because it looked like we would be in line
for a while just to get our passes. The line
moved rather smoothly and we were soon at the desk. The lady looked at our email confirmation and
said, “Oh your tour isn’t till 11 am”. I
replied that I knew it wasn’t till 11 am but we were told we could pick up our
passes early. She looked at her computer
and told us that if we wanted to go ahead in with the 10 am tour we could... so we immediately jumped on that. I was thinking this is
great! We can get our tour done early and still have plenty of time for museums
this afternoon!
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| Inside the Capitol...nice Scaffolds! |
The tour was
great! I was however disappointed that scaffolds were also all inside the dome
of the capitol so you couldn’t get a good view of all the beautiful paintings
on the wall and ceiling. Someone in our
group finally asked why there was so much construction going on. Our tour guide told us they were scrapping
all the lead paint off the building and repairing tons of cracks which had caused
leaks in the dome. She said Sherwin
Williams had been awarded the bid on the paint that would be put on the dome once all
the leaks were repaired. I couldn’t wait
to tell my brother that since he’s the store manager at our local Sherwin
Williams store! Anyway, she said the
repairs were estimated to take 2 years and they had been working on them for over a year
already and hoped all would be finished by the next President. We were not allowed to take our phones or
cameras inside the House of Representative or Senate Houses. I really wanted pictures of those but it wasn’t
allowed. Boo hoo I will say the Capitol
is simply beautiful!
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| One of the rooms in the Capitol |
As we left the
Capitol, I noticed more and more barriers going up on streets! We sat and
waited around 30 minutes and the trolley never came by (normally they came by the stops like every 15 minutes). By now,
Gary is not too happy. He knows we have got
to walk. LOL I quickly scan the map and
told him we are not far from the Air & Space Museum. That got him excited because that was another
museum he wanted to go to while in DC. I wasn’t sure
if I would like it or not. One of our trolley
guides had told us about a simulation ride in the museum where you would get to fly a
fighter jet. Gary had said he wanted to
do just that so off we went walking
again. Now if you’ve ever been to the
museums they are mostly around what they call the "National Mall" area. It’s like a 2 mile loop full of all kinds of
things to see. We ended up walking this
loop several times because of the trolley stops being blocked off.
I was amazed from the
moment I walked into the Air & Space Museum.
It wasn’t at
all like I had pictured! I mean they had
full size….. REAL… planes hanging from the ceiling! The place was HUGE! I
quickly scanned the signs looking for the simulation ride and we headed in that
direction. I had not eaten lunch yet and
if was to be flying in a fighter jet, I wanted to do it before I ate. :>O ….
So we got to the booth and the guy asks us which one of us will be the captain
and who will be the gunner. Immediately
Gary says he is the captain and I go along.
That’s a good wife, right? LOL
Anyway, the guy takes us to a station that has these controls on it like you'd see on an Xbox controller. He tells Gary that
as the captain he will be flying the plane.
He will need to control the plane with the joy stick. I’m standing there thinking to myself this is
going to be interesting because he can barely control his iPhone. The guy says we have 2 minutes to practice before
getting into the simulator. Let’s just
say that Gary was constantly crashing the plane! We were not even in the
simulator yet so I was already getting nervous thinking about how it was going to feel when we would be
inside the thing which would be making it actually feel like you are in the
air flying! As the instructor opened the door
and said for the captain to get in first, Gary turned to me and told me that he
wasn’t going to be captain that I needed to just do it because he couldn't control the plane during practice. LOL Now
I’m standing there thinking to myself…. Oh boy.. I didn’t even get to PRACTICE!
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| The picture take of us during our flight. |
The ride was
hilarious! I could actually roll the plane and it felt so real. Talk about getting your stomach! Gary was hanging on for dear life and I was
laughing so hard! It was just hilarious and we survived. Once we got out of the simulator they
directed you to a photo booth where you could view your pictures they took
while you were on your ride. Yep, just
like being at Disney! It didn’t matter
to me that the picture cost $20 bucks! I
had to have it! Gary thought I was crazy
buying that goofy picture but it’s a memory that every time I look back at that
picture it cracks me up.
When we left
there, Gary told me he was ready to sit down.
Imagine that! ha! In the center
of the National Mall people were sitting, playing, running, and there were a
couple of booths where you could purchase quick snacks and drinks so we headed
to one of those. We sat down and ate a
light snack and rested our legs for a few minutes then we head to another
Museum. We went to the American History
Museum. It was also AMAZING! But the Air & Space was by far my
favorite.
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| This Elephant is right in the lobby when you walk inside the Museum. |
We quickly
looked at the Indian Museum, but didn’t really take time to tour it.
Then we ventured to the castle at the end of the National Mall. It’s absolutely gorgeous!
After making our rounds at the National Mall to several museums we were pooped. We head in for an early supper and bed. I really wanted to get a good night sleep because I knew I’d probably be doing the 4 hour drive to PA to see Gary’s parents the next morning. Which by the way, I did! I could not work in Washington and drive in to the city! That 495 beltway is AWFUL. Five lanes of traffic going full force and packed! I was a nervous wreck until we got off of it. I had the most wonderful time in Washington and would love to go back, but I was glad to be heading to PA for a couple of days to finish out the week where I hoped I’d get some afternoon naps. Which didn’t happen by the way! We stayed busy the whole time we were in PA. It was one of the most draining/wonderful trips I’ve been on recently (well, beside doing Disney in January!). I told Gary that next year, we would go back to our old way of visiting his parents… We would just go to his parents for the week so I could nap on their couch in the afternoon and really have a VACATION with REST……. I think he LOVED that idea also. :>)
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| They believe corners or bad so the whole Museum is curved/rounded.. not corners. :>) |
Then we ventured to the castle at the end of the National Mall. It’s absolutely gorgeous!
After making our rounds at the National Mall to several museums we were pooped. We head in for an early supper and bed. I really wanted to get a good night sleep because I knew I’d probably be doing the 4 hour drive to PA to see Gary’s parents the next morning. Which by the way, I did! I could not work in Washington and drive in to the city! That 495 beltway is AWFUL. Five lanes of traffic going full force and packed! I was a nervous wreck until we got off of it. I had the most wonderful time in Washington and would love to go back, but I was glad to be heading to PA for a couple of days to finish out the week where I hoped I’d get some afternoon naps. Which didn’t happen by the way! We stayed busy the whole time we were in PA. It was one of the most draining/wonderful trips I’ve been on recently (well, beside doing Disney in January!). I told Gary that next year, we would go back to our old way of visiting his parents… We would just go to his parents for the week so I could nap on their couch in the afternoon and really have a VACATION with REST……. I think he LOVED that idea also. :>)
I’ll have to
write a post on his parents later.
They are amazing. Late 80s and
still going strong. :>) Here we are at their house in Williamsport, PA.
~ For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light. Psalm 36:9 ~
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