Day 20: So many things to do...so little time.

I had a very productive day!!  So you're in for a treat today!!!  I made a list yesterday of everything I want to do before I leave a week from Wednesday, and let me tell you, it's quite a list!  With only 2 weekends left, it's crunch time!!  And believe me, I was able to cross A LOT off my list today!!


This morning is when I had my scheduled tour of the Capitol Building.  My tour was at 10:50am, and they asked you to arrive 45 minutes early.  I got there around 10 and had to go through security.  Before I approached the line I almost yelled "WHAT?!  I can't bring my taser in?!"  But I didn't ;)  Oh, and I made it through security...no worries!!  Getting there 45 minutes early was a little extreme....it was a lot of waiting around, but oh well.


At the beginning of the tour there is a 13 minute video you watch.  It was pretty interesting and very well done (except there were too many dissolves, only some people will get that!!).  Then they take you to the Rotunda.  It is the heart of the capitol and its beautiful!  The architecture and the detail is outstanding.  The next place you go is the Statuary Hall.  Statuary Hall is also known as the Old Hall of the House.  It was the meeting place of the House of Representatives from 1807-1857.  This room was very interesting because our tour guide walked across the room, turned her back to us, talked in a normal voice, and we could hear her....and there were about 8 other groups in the room!  That's how good the acoustics are!  But this was a problem back in the day because then representatives could hear each other and it wasn't working out!  They tried a lot of different things to fix the problem, but nothing worked.  Once they started adding more states, and more representatives, they needed a bigger room so they made the gallery they meet in today.  The final stop on the tour was the Crypt.  George Washington was supposed to be buried in the middle of the room, but when he passed away the Capitol Building was not complete yet, so he was buried in Mt. Vernon.  When the building was complete they asked his family if they could move him to Washington, but his family said no, he wanted to be in Mt. Vernon.  In the middle of the room there is a white star on the ground.  This is literally the center of Washington D.C.!!!  This also marks the point in D.C. in which all the streets are laid out and numbered.  It was very interesting and I learned a lot!  I didn't get to see the galleries, where the senators and representatives meet.  1. They are closed on the weekend and 2. you have to get a separate pass from your representative....which I did not do, but that's ok!  Here are some pictures from my tour of my Capitol Building!!

The model for the Freedom Statue on top of the Capitol

The Rotunda

Statuary Hall

Statuary Hall

The Crypt

The center point of Washington D.C.!

After my Capitol tour I took the tunnel from the Capitol Building to the Library of Congress.  I didn't spend much time at the Library, but I did see the Gutenburg Bible!!  The main reading room was closed because there were people doing research, so that was a bummer, but I got to look in the room and it looked pretty cool!  The architecture in the Library (like in the Capitol) was amazing.  Here are some pictures I took of the Library of Congress.

After the Library of Congress I walked over to the Supreme Court.  I couldn't figure out how to get in, but I still got some nice pictures of the outside!!

It was pretty neat :)  

Earlier this week my aunt Lisa told me I should try to go to a restaurant called Good Stuff Eatery.  This restaurant was created by Chef Spike Mendelsohn and his mom and I'm pretty sure it has been featured on Food Network.  I looked it up and it was very close to Capitol Hill so I decided to go there for lunch.  They had (mostly) burgers, fries, and shakes.  It was so good and I'm really glad Lisa told me about it!  It was fairly busy because it was around lunch time, but there were plenty of places to sit and eat inside and outside.  There was even a picture of President Obama eating there!!  So thanks for an awesome lunch, Lisa!! :)

Now, Good Stuff Eatery is on Pennsylvania Ave. and when I was on my way there a bunch of cops shut down the street and were not allowing any traffic to come through.  People were lining the sidewalks and so I thought I should stay and see what was going on.  Then all these police officers riding bikes came by!  There were a lot of them!  I found out later that it was the Police Unity Tour and they have been riding their bikes from New York to D.C.!  How cool is that?!  Here are a few pictures I got.

After lunch I headed back to Union Station and I went to the National Postal Museum!  Woo!!!  It was pretty flipping sweet.  It was everything I had hoped for and then some.  My two uncles are mailmen, so I had to learn some fun facts for them!  I watched a video on how mail is sorted, and that was awesome.  I also learned about zipcodes, stamps, and Owney!  The U.S.P.S. mascot!!  Basically the Postal Museum is the best Smithsonian :)

Mail sorting technology

Mail boxes

Showing me what a bomb could look like

Fun stamps!

After the Postal Museum Lee picked me up and he took me to the National Cathedral.  It is so impressive.  It is big and absolutely beautiful.  It was also really interesting to see how much damage was done from the earthquake last year...and it was a lot of damage!  Oh...and good news.  I get to cross something off my bucketlist!  When we got to the Cathedral there was a wedding that was just starting!  I took pictures, don't worry.  Lee and I kept joking around about how we could crash the wedding.  "I object!!" or Lee could yell "She's pregnant with my child!!!"  Yeah...we're mature :)  But anyway, the Cathedral was awesome.  Then we went outside and walked around.  There are a lot of gardens around the area, so we went into the Bishop's Garden.  It was a big wide open lawn with different trees and flowers.  The wedding party was actually out there taking pictures!  Lee offered me $50 to photo bomb a picture....and I'm sorry to say this, but I legitimately thought about it.  But I decided against it hahaha.  We then decided that since we were in the church for the whole ceremony and we were there when they took pictures that we were basically family and we were going to follow them to the reception, but again, we didn't.  Here are some pictures of the Cathedral....and the wedding :)

Part of the top structures that fell because of the earthquake

Julia and Nathan :)

My day still isn't over!!  After the Cathedral we drove around Georgetown.  I got to see the steps where the Exorcist was filmed!! (But I haven't seen the movie, so it wasn't as exciting).  I also got to see Georgetown Cupcake (from DC Cupcakes on TLC)!!!!  I was VERY excited, but the line was too long, so I will go back during the week some time to get a delicious cupcake :)


After that we drove to the Iwo Jima Marines Memorial.  I didn't know it was so big!!  It's massive!!  It was very cool though, I really liked it.  Here are a few pictures!

The lighting was awesome so I got some pretty cool pictures!  After Iwo Jima we went to Gravelly Point, and let me tell you, it was SO much fun!  It is a park that is just north of the Reagan Airport.  It is just a few hundred feet away from the runway, so it is an awesome location for airplane spotting!  The airplanes were landing so they were flying right above us!  And we got to see a lot of planes land!!  I really enjoyed it and I just kept thinking about how much my Dad would've loved it!!  Here are a few of my favorite pictures!

Pretty neat huh?!  WOW.  So that was today!  It was such a long day and I'm really tired, but it was awesome because I did so much!  Hope you enjoyed reading all of my adventures!  More tomorrow :)


Shelby*