the past and the present

On Day 4, we traveled up to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Danielle really wanted to go. Me... not so much. But I figured it would be a nice break after spending 3 days in DC. Plus, Scott (friend living in Alexandria) offered to drive and John (his dad) already had an audio tour of the battleground that we could listen to.

It was a perfect day weather wise and I really enjoyed driving through the countryside of Virginia and Pennsylvania. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't what you find when driving into Gettysburg. First off, I didn't know there was a town of Gettysburg. What a nice little place.

The battlefield is vast area of rolling green hills dotted with canons, memorials, and monuments, amidst forests, orchards, and farms. And the audio tour we listened to made the facts and figures of the battles during those historic three days come to life. I found it all very interesting, more than I could have imagined I would.


Day 5 was a short day since we had to be all packed up in the morning and to the airport by 4:00. We hopped back on the Metro and headed back up to the National Mall. The only thing we really wanted to do was see the Library of Congress. A few people had told us that we really should see it. And I'm glad we did. It was, indeed, a beautiful building. My pictures don't do it justice.

We then walked over to the Capitol building by way of a tunnel between the two buildings. If we had had more time, we would have taken a tour, but instead, we walked through the exhibit at the visitor's center. It was another interesting experience. They had a live feed of the state representatives casting their votes for something. We sat there and watched that for a long time.

We then walked out and back around to the other side of the building to take more pictures. We noticed snipers on the outside balconies and found out later that President Obama was in the building signing some bill into law. Danielle and I both thought it was neat to see and be so close to the workings of our government.

In fact, the whole trip gave us a better sense of the environment our politicians work in and the history that fills the area through the buildings and exhibits, the monuments, and the memorials. We had a great time and would recommend a trip to visit this area to all.

I've uploaded all my pictures to my flickr account. I only posted a few here from day 4 and 5 so I hope you'll click on over to see the whole group of photos. Once you have, you can click on "slideshow" in the upper right hand corner to view them as a slideshow.