Washington DC part 2

We had gotten tickets to do a tour of the Capitol before our trip, so that was the first thing Saturday morning. The tickets are free, but you have to book them in advance. We were running a little late, because they recommend you to come early for the security check and things, so we were stressing a little and having trouble finding where we were supposed to go in at. We finally found it, went through security, then got our official tickets and they ended up moving us to an earlier time. So much for thinking we would be late! We first watched a movie that was a little bit about government and the Capitol, then we went on the tour. We had to wear these funny headphone things and the tour guide spoke in a microphone that went straight to those. That way, we would just hear her instead of all the other tour guides. It was a short tour, but it was cool to see some of the inside. And honestly, I don't remember much about each of the rooms anymore. There were a lot of statues of famous people that others have given to the US.

I don't remember who this, but this was a large round room
and I don't remember the use for it!

Inside the dome room. The middle part with the people actually tells the history of the US.
It's not an official frieze because it is painted. It just looks like its carved.

This is inside the dome. An Italian painter did the middle. The dome actually
has two layers made of different materials, the inside one, and the outside one seen from the outside

This room (and the one below) used to be where the House of Representatives would
meet and work. However, sound really carried in it and it quickly got too small with all
the representatives that were added. The locals then turned it into a Market Place, animals
and all. They finally decided that wasn't appropriate for the capitol and made it more secure.
Now it just holds statues of famous people from all the different states.

That giant Indian is a replica (exact size) of what stands on the top of the
dome of the Capitol. Her name is Freedom

There was a tunnel that went from the Capitol to the Library of Congress, so we decided to head over there (after I took a short break on a bench). The Library of Congress was beautiful! Very ornate architecture. However, the actual book part was closed to the public. So that was unfortunate. But we could look at it through windows and it was like a dream library. They did have some neat things on display (such as 2 really old, gigantic Bibles) and exhibits. We quickly looked at some of them. And we did some resting on a bench.

The ceiling in the Library of Congress. I believe it was a mosaic.

One side of the room, to give you the feel for how ornate it is

Nate and I in front of a bust of George Washington

We then headed outside and found a table to rest and take pictures.

The outside of the Library of Congress

The Capitol (see Freedom on top?)

Great view of the pregnant belly

We then took the Metro a couple of stops back to find McDonalds to eat. I was already really tired from the walk to the Metro and was so looking forward to sitting down. We got on, and there weren't any seats available, but immediately a guy saw me and got up and I was so grateful to him. It was only a couple of stops, but I needed every chance I could get to sit down. He probably has no idea what that meant to me, but it meant a lot. Blessings to him for sure for that act! After lunch, we walked to the Museums and went to the American History Museum. We had to take a lot of breaks in this Museum because I was just getting exhausted. I really had no idea that carrying an extra 20 pounds (that's probably about where I was at that point) would be this difficult.  But here are the pictures from that. The displays seemed a little random to me, but there were definitely some interesting things.

A very large dollhouse. I've always loved little things that look real, so I really liked this.

Now I can't think of this puppet's name, but he's the famous one

This part was fun for me to. It had dresses from all the first ladies as well as their dishes
 and some had special exhibits about what they did while their husband was in office.

This one is Michelle Obama's dress

Dolly Madison's dresses. She saved an original painting of George Washington when the
White House was burning. It was also there. Very small, but important to have.

This is the box where George Washington kept all the papers from the Constitutional Convention

The top hat Abraham Lincoln was wearing when he was shot.
They had displays for each president that has passed.

After this, we had planned on going to the National Archives Museum, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to handle that and walk around all the monuments. So we just went straight for the monuments.

First stop was the Washington Monument. Unfortunately, since they had that earthquake a few months ago, it has been closed and is even roped off so you can't touch it. I guess there was some structural damage. So it had to be admired from afar.

There it is

This was about as close as we got

Next stop was the WWII Memorial. On the way there, we could see the White House in the distance. But I definitely wasn't going to walk over there.

The White House

One of the Friezes along the WWII Memorial. This one is of the bomber crews.
My Grandpa was pilot in the war.

Our attempt to get a picture of us together with the WWII Memorial

2nd attempt, not much better

I think these 2 tower things on the sides represented each ocean

The fountain in the middle

All of the stars on this wall represent a certain number of soldiers killed in the war.

Next stop was the Vietnam Memorial.  They were doing construction on the reflecting pool and sidewalks around it, so we had to go on a longer path to get here. We don't know anyone who was killed in the war, so we didn't have anyone to find, but it is still amazing to see all of those names.

You can kind of see our reflections in this.

This one you definitely can

Nate's reflection

Next was the Lincoln Memorial. By this time, I was feeling very tired and sore so we had to rest on the stairs for awhile before going up them. And Nate was wonderful and rubbed my stinky, sore feet. That helped a lot to keep me going.

Lincoln Memorial. Unfortunately with the way the light is, you can't see Lincoln
in there. As you can tell, it was a very crowded day.

Nate with Honest Abe

Me with Honest Abe

During this whole day, we were also searching gift shops for a souvenir shot glass (that's what Nate collects, so I've been continuing this with him) and hadn't found any. So we saw a shop up here, well we didn't have any luck with that, but we did find an elevator so we went down that instead of going down all those stairs again.

Next we went to the Korean War Memorial. This one also had a reflecting wall, but there were faces etched in it so it was like connecting the past to the present. Very cool.

The statues at the Memorial

Our reflections with the faces etched in

I also noticed you could see the reflection of the statues on the wall

At the end I noticed that this must be the front, since the soldiers are all facing this way

After this, we rested again before taking the long trek back to the Metro stop. On this walk, we could see the Thomas Jefferson Memorial with the Cherry Blossoms. But yeah, we definitely weren't going to walk there.

Jefferson Memorial

You can see the statue inside it from here

Let me tell you, this was a difficult walk back for me. I feel like a wimp since I have seen pregnant women walk all over and my sisters have walked New York and Zion National Park while pregnant and seemed fine. I certainly have more respect for them now! I practically collapsed on the first wall we reached that was by the Washington Monument and I didn't think I could go any further. So we rested there for quite awhile, then made that last push for the Metro and I made it! And there were empty seats! Our stop was the last one, so I got to rest on there for a long time before we had to get off and walk to the car.

So despite how absolutely exhausted I was by this trip, I really did enjoy it. Especially the time we got to spend together. That was the last vacation we will have without having any kids to worry about so I'm glad we did it. And we got to see family and enjoy being reminded of some of those things that makes America great! And of course, it was nice to get 2 days off of work. That always makes me happy!

The next day was Sunday, so we found a church that was actually very close to us and went to Sacrament meeting, then we checked out of the hotel and made the drive back home. On the way home, we decided to swing by the house Nate grew up in (until he moved to Utah in 6th grade).  It was way out in the boonies, with narrow roads, large fields, and not many businesses. And the driveway to the house was a little long so we didn't get a close up view of the house, but it was really fun to see and for Nate to tell me where his friends live(d) and the store they shopped at. A brief look into his past!