Day 28 - 7/18

We had an extremely busy day today! We began the day taking a tour of the Capitol Building. This tour was a congressional tour and they take you to places where normal tourists aren't allowed to go. We had to schedule this tour through our senator Patty Murray about six months in advance. Our two guides were interns who were really nice. We saw several places such as the Rotunda, the old Supreme Court, the underground walkway and a room that had a star on the ground. The star designates the center of Washington D.C. and supposedly brings luck to all who step on it.  The Rotunda had many statues and was where the original House met. The underground walkway is where interns, staff and politicians walk to get from building to building. The star room is where the president will walk through to their inauguration. I especially enjoyed this tour because I know a lot about how government works and who the people on the different statues were.

We also saw the Senate in action. They didn't allow cameras and other items, but it was worth spending time seeing them in action. What surprised me was how empty the floor was. Only one or two senators were actually present. Every speech though was recorded and sent to the missing senators. We got to see John McCain give a speech. Later we found out that his speech had made the news on TV and in the newspapers.

While Dad went to do some patent work at the Patent Office in Alexandria, we went to the Smithsonian Museums of Natural History and American History. Both of these places were swamped with people, but we were fortunate enough to see some cool artifacts. Some of these included a mummy, skeleton of an angler fish, the Hope Diamond, the flag that inspired the Star Spangled Banner and an original car from Disneyland's Dumbo.  Emily liked looking at the Dumbo car because she liked the ride at Disneyland.

We enjoyed touring the Library of Congress and learning more about it. Our tour guide was an older man who was really funny and made the tour interesting. He talked a lot about the art and murals in the different rooms. I didn't ask him where The Book of Secrets was located, which Benjamin Gates (Nicholas Cage) found in National Treasure 2, but I'm sure if I had looked hard enough I might have found it.

To end our day, we got into the van and toured about to see some of the monuments we missed. We primarily spent our time at the Lincoln Memorial and getting horribly lost on the road trying to go to the Jefferson Memorial.  The Lincoln Memorial is much bigger than what I expected. I enjoyed playing with Julia as she ran around the Doric columns. Meanwhile, Emily kept begging for as many pictures as she could. We all enjoyed seeing the Washington Monument in the Reflection Pool.