First Trip to DC (1/10)

The next dream we helped Sally with was to tour the Capital. I didn't take as many pictures here, mainly because I took a ton last time I came out. We were there the day after Congress initially voted against the bailout bill. It's always interesting to stand in some of these places. I am constantly amazed at the amount and quality of work done in them, especially considering the technology available at the time. I look at what we have available now and truly don't know if we could do as well now.

While we were waiting for our tour time, and because it has the closest bathroom, we toured the Botanical Gardens. However, because I took a ton of pictures of flowers all over the place, I'm just going to put them all in in one entry.I don't remember seeing this in the Rotunda last time I was there. It could be new. It could also just be moved from another area of the building. It's the Portrait Monument to Lecretia Mott, Elizabeth Cay Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony (Pioneers for Women's Suffrage).

The tour guide's tone of voice was not necessarily nice while we walked past her office. It surely had more to do with the timing of our trip than anything else.

Every state was asked to provide tour statues representing great people in their history. They are placed throughout the Capital. One of Virginia's was Jefferson Davis. I would assume their other was George Washington, but don't know for sure. Each statue had to be made out of either bronze or marble.

One of Utah's contributions, Brigham Young. The other contribution was the guy who invented the television. I don't know his name, nor did I realize he was from Utah.

This was my first time going into the Old Supreme Court Chamber. I loved the colors. I don't know if this is actually a magnolia, but it looks close enough to one for me to say it is. I'm sure there are people out there who could correct me.

Justice, by Carlo Franzoni. Recognize the scales of justice? She actually faces the bench in the court room.

The Chamber. I know it seems pretty dark, but I really do like the colors.

This was our one bad day of weather. We caught a little bit of rain. Lots of wind which was really what got to us. The sky makes it look much worse than it actually was.

The urn of James Smithsonian. We stopped into the Castle to warm up for just a bit (and use the bathroom after lunch) before we took our journey down to the Lincoln Memorial.

Washington Monument. This shape is pretty popular for major grave sites. It can be seen throughout DC which is pretty incredible.

Part of the World War II Memorial. The saying in front says "Here We Mark the Price of Freedom." There are 4000 stars on this wall. Each star represent the death of about 100 Americans in this war. The amount of symbolism in this memorial is incredible.

The fountain with some of the states' pillars behind it. There's one for each state, territory, and the District of Columbia (at the time of the War, Hawaii and Alaska were still territories and did not become states until 1959).

The sight of an American flag, particularly in front of the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial, is awe-inspiring to me. I love it.

I loved how the flowers reflected in the Memorial. It was a little bit different seeing this Memorial with an actual Vietnam vet who knew someone on the wall. It was a very emotional thing for John.

Inside the Lincoln Memorial. I learned a couple new things on this trip. I learned that Lincoln and his vice president, Andrew Johnson, were actually from differing political parties. (If I remember right, Lincoln was a Republican and Johnson was a Democrat). I didn't know you could do that. I also didn't realize that Lincoln was assassinate only five days after the Civil War "officially" ended. Again, in my mind, it was a longer time period. Don't know why, just was. When Johnson took over, he was not at all liked, in fact he came within one vote of being thrown out of office.

The result of our storm. It was a huge and glorious rainbow. It was beautiful to see. It looked like you could actually find the end of the rainbow. Maybe we would have found the leprechaun and his gold, but we were too tired to look and Jen needed to get back for Young Women's.

The Korean Memorial. In my mind, this is a lesser known one, but I think it's stunning.

"Freedom is not free." I don't think there are any truer words.

This is the World War I Memorial. We had never heard or seen this one, although we had obviously walked past it before. I don't know anything about it. I had to go in closer to find out what it was. It's not as well taken care of, which is very sad to me, and it's right by the gardeners' station.

Websites: http://www.usbg.gov/ (Botanic Garden)

http://www.nps.gov/ (NPS National Capital Region Public Affairs and Tourism Office)