Trip began January 30th at 5:30 in the morning! My mom and dad were at my house to pick me up and head to the airport. I hadn't slept the night before because it felt like Christmas Eve.
We had a stop in Chicago! I love seeing how cities look way up in the sky. This is Chicago by the way.
Flight to Chicago was like 3 1/2 hours or so. I hadn't slept at all yet.
Amazing clouds above the world!!!
My mother and I at the Washington Dulles Airport. It was in the afternoon sometime and I still hadn't slept. We snagged our bags and went to find a shuttle or taxi of some sorts!!
As we were walking down the walk way I notice a rather LONG line forming towards the way we were heading. My mom had to sneak off for a moment and as I waited I thought hmmm I better stand in this line. I had no idea why but I had a feeling. My mom came back and asked why I was standing here and I said "No idea, but people are going down there and coming right back." So she snuck down to check out what was going on.
HAHA well the giant snow storm that decided to come through DC that day put a damper on all transportation. All these people were waiting for a taxi... We ended up waiting in this line for well over an hour or so. FINALLY as we got close to the front of the line the guys in charge of putting people in taxi's were doubling up taxis for people going to the same place. Good idea right? We thought so..
In our taxi was a dude from Sudan, the taxi driver and a British guy from London. After 45 min of driving in SCARY blizzard conditions we arrived to our lovely hotel. The so called nice taxi driver proceeded to tell us we owed him $62!!!! WHAT???? Are you kidding me? The British dude said no I owe something. The taxi driver said it was going to cost him 62 plus whatever it cost to get to his hotel. The taxi freak was totally ripping us off. He made well over 125 dollars in one hour. Can you believe that? We were peeved. Oh well we were really glad to just be done with that day.
The next morning was amazing. The snow had stopped and the sun was out. My mom went to a meeting and I went out on the town. A lady from the conference had brought her daughter and we went out together.
She knew the Metro system down pretty well. Here we are heading to the Subway. This freaked me out!!! It was a long way down and I hate heights.
The was looking back up.
The buildings in DC were absolutely amazing.
The streets with rows of awesome buildings
Me in front of the Washington Monument for the very first time.
Our first stop was on to the Natural History Museum
Marty Melman and Gloria!! :)
Super tiny picture of a bat
Yea that's nasty, but cool
Sweet hammerhead shark!!!
These were just a few pictures I took from the Natural History Museum. I find myself taking pictures that my kids would love.
Next we hopped next door to the American History Museum
I didn't take as many pictures just because I didn't wanted to bore people with them, but I took a picture from each exhibit to remind myself what I saw.
This was at the Orchestra exhibit.
Abraham Lincoln's Top Hat
A space suit
Miniature presidents. This was for Vance.
Old school Ambulance I thought this was neat.
There was an exhibit of all the First Ladies. They had all kinds of things displayed from the First Ladies. Here is a dress from one of them. I forget who.
This lady was crazy!! She couldn't believe I took her picture, but she was up there yelling. It was funny.
Behind this is the exhibit of the first American Flag. No pictures were allowed.
We left and took a walk across the "Mall"
This is the Capitol not the White House. I was confused hehe oops
The Smithsonian Castle.
Me in front of the Smithsonian Castle
A picture of the Natural History Museum
We went over to the Air and Space Museum
A lot of cool displays. Here is a Space machine of some sort.
Planes hanging from all over
That is pretty darn big
Cool looking jet
I got my souvenirs from the Air and Space Museum. Than we left and decided we were done for the day.
This was the view from our Hotel room.
The next day I got to spend all day on the town with just my mom and I. We had soo much fun.
Like I said before I loved the buildings
This tree was really cool and really big!!
We made our way to the Union Station
Here we are arriving at the Union Station.
We grabbed some breakfast and did some shopping. I found a scarf, sunglasses and new boots
This is the front of the Union Station.
In front of the Union Station
There are a lot of cool statues
Me in front of the cool statues
We than took the Metro System to the other side of town and found the White House.
That's me in front of the White House
Pretty amazing standing in front of the White House
A picture of a bum laying in front of the White House
My mom and I in front of the White House
We took a walk around to the South end of the White House
Here's the backside of the White House. In movies this is what you usually see.
Getting closer to the Washington Monument
Trying to fit us both in
The was day amazing. A little chilly, but beautiful
The bottom of the Washington Monument
We made it too the Washington Monument
It was a little windy there
You can see the Capitol one way
And the Lincoln Memorial the other way
The view looking directly up the Monument from the bottom
We left the Monument and now going to the Lincoln Memorial
My mom and I in front of the Reflection pool
My mom wouldn't go walk on the water. Wussy
So we have squirrels in Washington all over, but they NEVER come up to you. These dudes came right up to you and stared like um I'm waiting. They freaked me out.
This guy was begging for food. They were pretty fat.
Lincoln Memorial
Looking at the Monument from the Lincoln Memorial
Hi mom!!
I really liked coming to the Lincoln Memorial. It was pretty sweet.
Me in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
In front of a statue of soldiers
The Vietnam Memorial.
After the Vietnam Memorial we decided to head back and get some dinner. There was a lot of authentic places to eat. We ate at a Thai restaurant, Mexican, and Italian while in DC.
The next day was quite busy for my mom so we got up and headed to the Holocaust Museum
The entrance of the Museum
This wall was really cool. As I was taking it a security dude yelled at me. I didn't realize you couldn't take pictures. Oops. I snuck one. :)
The Museum was really sad, but I'm glad I went. After the Museum we had to head to the Capitol for some meetings.
Cool statues
The Supreme Court Building. I had lunch in the cafeteria.
My mom running ahead of me.
The Library of Congress
We had to go some meetings. I had been asked to take pictures of the people at the meetings. We went to Senator Cantwell and Senator Murray's office. As they sat and discussed stuff I walked around the room and took pictures.
We got tickets to go see the Senate and The House of Representatives
In front of the Capitol before going in
My mom and I in front of the Capitol Building. We went inside of the Capitol. We made our way to the Senate Gallery where the Senators make and vote on bills. We had to go through 3 different securities. When we got in Gallery there wasn't any Senators there. If you put your arm on the hand rail the dude yelled at you. If you put your piece of paper on the ledge you got in trouble. If you took more than 10 breathes in one minute you got in trouble!!! Oh my Hell, most boring place I've ever been!!! We ran out of there pretty fast.
We took a tunnel over to the Library of Congress
The artwork on the ceiling and walls was breathtaking in the Library of Congress
The lobby of the Library of Congress
My mom heading upstairs. In the library of Congress
The detail on the stair railings. It's amazing!!
That night the snow starting falling. My mom's friend gave us a ride to a different hotel that was closer to the airport. It was a blizzard!!! The next morning we got on the flight just fine.
The view from the sky. We are actually flying over Billings MT right here. I waved to you Teri, but you weren't looking.
We got home on Tuesday January 5th. It was SOO much fun to go and see so many sights. The History was amazing. I'm so glad I got this opportunity to go!! It totally makes me want to travel more and see all the many sights out there in the world. Thanks mom for letting me hitch a ride. Thanks Vance for letting me ditch you and the boys to spend a weekend with my mom. Love you all!!!
