Washington D.C...Part 1

Because we got to D.C. a day before everyone else, and since Chad is the only one who hadn't been before, while everyone was travelling we spent the entire day walking the mall to see the monuments. We originally planned to start at Union Station but went the wrong way. As we are walking up the road I decide to look at the map to make sure we are still going the right way. I got all confused because I see what 'looks' like the Capitol Building. I was so confused because we turned the complete other direction so I couldn't figure out what building this could possibly be. We get closer and closer and I am still convinced that although it look EXACTLY like I remembered the Capitol Building looking like, it's the other way. So what is the logical thing to do...call dad. "Hi um dad, we just walked out of the hotel and we are walking toward Union Station, and there is this huge building that looks like the Capitol but I know it's not, but for the life of me I can't figure it out." Dad, "Are you SURE that's not what it is?...tell me more about what it looks like and where you went when you came out of the hotel." Me, "I'm POSITIVE it's not the Capitol, we turned the complete opposite direction." Finally, he gave up and told me he wasn't sure what I was talking about....Meanwhile we keep walking, and we get to the parking lot and I said to Chad, "I don't know what building this is, but it's beautiful and we need pictures of it." We go take pictures and as we are walking away I decide I am just going to go ask the guards...luckily, on my way I ran into a sign that said something like "Capitol Building stairs closed". Wow!!!! I'm awesome! Finally, I was convinced that we turned the wrong way, and it was in fact the Capitol! :-)

**Please Note: Although I admit I'm not great with maps, this map was HORRIBLE...not as bad as I thought however once I figured it out. It didn't even have the Lincoln Memorial on it...YEAH...see what I mean? Retarted!!!

The one and only, yet somehow mistakable...National Capitol Building.

One thing that I have learned having travelled so much with my mom is that when things don't go according to plan you laugh and make the best of it. Our original plan was to take the metro to the other side of the mall and walk back...This is where the detour began and we started at the other end! :-) Later we were lost inside a building...in places i'm sure tourists are not supposed to be... and while Chad was frustrated as ever I just laughed and found myself saying, "It's part of the experience, enjoy it!" and then thinking about the MANY MANY times I've heard those words from my mom when we were lost on our butts!

While we were lost in this building...I can't even remember what it was, I saw these awesome stairs, and while Chad was like, we shouldn't be here we need to go...I started taking pictures of the stairwell. :-) Once we finally made it out we went to the Supreme Court, and listened to their speil which was really cool. Then, the Library of Congress, and then to the National Botanical Gardens.

I had never actually been inside but it was way cool. There was sections of like jungle, desert, forest, tropics...it was awesome, and everything was beautiful.

These little wooden sculptures are nestled among all of the plants and flowers. They are made out of little tiny pieces of what looks like parts of pinecones. They are incredible!!

The Smithsonian...which we actually didn't have time to go in...but here it is!

The beautiful Washington Monument.

The further we got down the mall the gloomier it got. Between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial it started to rain a little bit, but mostly cleared up while we were inside luckily.

The Lincoln Memorial

I loved being able to see Chad's face when he saw this. He just lit up, and he was so excited. It was SO cute! He told me how cool it was to have seen pictures and pictures of this and now being able to be there in person.

This memorial always touchs me and everytime I see it I get teary. What an incredible country we live in. We are so blessed!

The World War II Memorial (which also was not on the map...when we passed it the first time, we didn't know what it was). We could see the Jefferson Memorial across the river, but just didn't have the motivation to get over there so we decided to head for the White house. We wanted to see the Vietnam Memorial but, yet again, not on the map!!! I knew we were close, but we never saw it.

On our way to the White House we saw them setting up the National Christmas tree. Unfortunately they didn't light it until the day we left...go figure, and the state trees weren't setup yet.

Final destination of the day...kind of...The White House. We actually saw a helicopter land and President Bush was inside. As close as I will ever get to the president of the President...hey, i'll take it! :-) By this time everything was closed...although we kept going up to doors of museums to see it they were unlocked. No such luck, so we headed back to the hotel and got there just before everyone showed up and we went to Outback for dinner!!! Quite an eventful first day!