recap

of my trip to Washington DC...

Highlight: If I had to pick just one (which is really hard), I'd have to pick seeing the capitol and Jefferson Memorial at night.


Lowlight: There was nothing that was disappointing so I'd have to say since we didn't have a car, carrying our luggage 3 blocks to the Metro and then on the Metro to get to another station where our friends picked us up.

Speaking of our friends, I just want to take this moment to thank them for putting us up for a couple of nights. The Nussels are good friends from here in Colorado. Part of the family had been living in the DC area for over a year and the rest of the family moved to join them a few months ago. They generously offered us their basement for all five nights and we took them up on it for 2 nights, saving us over $500. It was also a great time to see them and spend time with them. Their oldest son, Scott, is like my second son and I've missed our chats.

I also mentioned the Metro. It is the rapid transit system (bus and rail) for the DC area plus Maryland and Virginia. We took the Metro rail everywhere as it was fast and convenient. I had never taken any kind of subway or rail system - not even our light rail here in Denver, so this was an experience in itself. More than once we'd have to get off one line and get on another in order to get to our destination. You would think that I'd get it after a day or so, but I was still confused as I stood there on day 5, studying the map once again.


Funniest moment: At the National Archives as we were viewing the Constitution under close scrutiny of big burly armed guards. A woman walks up and briefly looks at the documents under thick glass and then asks one of the guards, "are these originals or just copies?" The guard answers, "originals" without cracking a smile. She looks down again at one of the most important documents in our history and walks off. I couldn't help myself. I had to ask the guard, "do you get that question a lot? Because it would seem pretty obvious to me." He then did let out a chuckle and said he gets that question all the time. We had a good laugh because, really, why would they be under thick glass under armed guard in a climate controlled room with no flash photography allowed if they were just copies?

Noteworthy:

What our hair looked like on Saturday after riding around on the top of a double-decker bus. The wind and humidity gave us an unrecognizable look.

Walking everywhere is great exercise but makes you exhausted by the time the sun goes down.


We ended up looking like typical tourists when we broke down and bought sweatshirts emblazoned with WASHINGTON DC. It was Sunday and it was very cold, windy, with a slight drizzle when we came out of the Holocaust museum. We weren't sure what we were going to do and we were starving. We ended up quickly eating a hot dog from a street vendor and buying the sweatshirts from a souvenir truck. I don't mind wearing mine around here, but felt kinda silly wearing it there in DC.

Eating at the Hardrock Cafe. We have now eaten at a Hardrock in Maui, Orlando, Las Vegas, Denver, and Washington DC.

Getting lost in an underground mall. We thought by going through it that it would be a short cut to our hotel. We thought we knew where we were going, but after walking for 15-20 minutes and finally finding a map, we ended up blocks away from our hotel.

Sleep comfort beds and room service, laughter and time spent with my daughter.