Washington DC Trip - Day 3

Our friend Mary Beth set us up with a tour of the Pentagon on our 3rd morning in DC.  Robby Sudder is an army officer and gave us a 2 hour tour.  Just getting past the security was impressive--but we were also impressed at how the place is a city in itself with grocery store, drug store, restaurants, flower shop, barbers, book stores, etc.  I guess the people who work there spend so much time there that they need to not have to go into the real world for goods and services.  

From there, we took the metro to the Old Post Office Building and ate lunch at the food court there--nearly every kind of ethnic food you can imagine.  We went up in the clock tower for a great view of DC.  Then on to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum where we saw the original Wright brothers' 1903 flyer, Lindbergh's "Spirit of St. Luis," and the Apollo 11 Command Module.  

We met Mary Beth for supper at a restaurant called "Ted's Bulletin"--another well-known DC eatery.  

We finished the evening with the Friday night parade at the Old Marine Barracks.  You can see a video of the silent drill team here

Posted via email from Somewhere in the Middle

Washington DC Trip - Day 2

On the second day of our trip to DC, we took the metro to the Smithsonian Museum of American History--way too much to see but we tried valiantly to see as much as we could in about 3 hours: Judy Garland's ruby slippers from Wizard of Oz, Archie Bunker's chair from All in the Family,c the presidents and their wives, old cars, trains,--even Julia Child's kitchen!  We weren't able to see it all, but we had fun trying.  

After grabbing a quick lunch, we met our friend Mary Beth Brednich at the visitors' center of Congress.  She works as an aid in the Senate and gave us a fabulous tour--walked the halls, stood in the House gallery, and saw more statues and paintings than we can remember!  One of the fun things about being with Mary Beth is all the insider tidbits and history that she knows and shared with us as we walked the halls of the Capitol.  Her job puts her in regular contact with all 100 senators--a wealth of knowledge--and a beautiful person!

Then...we went to "Ben's Chili Bowl"-- a famous Washington dive for hot dogs and chili cheese fries.  

We finished the evening off with a tour of Washington Monument--went all the way to the top for a beautiful view of the city.  There was a jazz concert nearby as we left. 

 

See the full gallery on Posterous

Posted via email from Somewhere in the Middle

Washington DC Trip - Day 1

We just flew in today from an 8 day trip to Washington DC--a kind of family graduation/senior trip for Natali and Morgan before they go off to college.  Lots of sights, fun and memories.  

For the next few days I'm going to record what we did on each of the days there with a few of the photos--so we won't forget.  

The first morning, after buying subway passes for the week, we spent a few hours at the U.S. Botanical Gardens which are located to one side of the capitol building.  I think they have most every plant from every place in the world--have recreated different environments: desert, southwest, jungle, rain forest, etc.  

Afterwards, we had tickets to a Washington Nationals-Atlanta Braves baseball game at Nationals Park.  It was our first MLB game ever.  We had peanuts and hotdogs.  The game was rain delayed in the 6th--but we had a blast.

We ended the day with a visit of Lincoln Memorial--very impressive!

 

See the full gallery on Posterous

Posted via email from Somewhere in the Middle