Trip to Washington D.C.

          Hey everyone, this is a new experience for me. I hope I can relate to you the events of our week so that you can all understand. You may not realize the last time I wrote an essay was when I was in high school. I can't even remember what it was about. I didn't get an A I know that. So, this may be just as much an adventure for you as the whole trip was for me.

          So,  "there we were", Just leaving Preston at three o'clock when we told Kris and Travis we were going to leave at noon. Oh well, being late for things just comes naturally for us. We made pretty good time and arrived at about 10:30. We had a short visit before going to bed.  This is the first time I had been to the Klingler's new house so I had to have the tour. Travis asked if I could help him hook up the drinking fountain in the basement. I thought if we got up early enough we could do it before we had to leave for Denver and catch the plane. So Travis and I got up early to grab a water stop and a p-trap at the lumber yard and jetted back to install the fountain. It only took us about an hour. So off for the airport we went. We had a fun visit on the way and talked about all of you. It was good I will have to admit. Well, nice too is what I meant. We were all a little nervous about parking and going through security. Finally we were able to get through  the gate and the tension subsided. Travis and Kris's tickets allowed them to get on before us, so they saved us seats. It was good for Travis and I  because we were right behind the girls ( our girls ) watching a movie off  the laptop. We ended up falling asleep. When we woke up Jenn and Kris  were still talking to the guy next to the window who was glad to have their undivided attention from Denver until they said their goodbye's at  the Dulles airport. We both got the bulging eye rolls after he walked out of sight then we just busted up laughing. They were exhausted from being so nice listening to his adventures. Here is a picture of the Washington monument. There was an earthquake a few years ago. The scaffolding is set up to access and fix any damage that may have been done to the structure.

          Travis and I were ready to paint the town. We grabbed a taxi. The driver's name was Galena from Ethiopia. He was nice and had a good sense of humor. We made it to the Hotel and freshened up a little. Just a few blocks from where we stayed was a great selection of eating places. As we walked  we chose a little Italian place that had incredible  manicotti. We just sat and visited for a couple of hours.  It was nice to relax and not have to worry about getting the kids to bed or trying to get a science project finished late into the night before it was due the next morning. On our way back to the Hotel we stopped at a Safeway and grabbed some cereal and milk for breakfast. It didn't take long after getting a shower to lay down and fall asleep.
          The next morning we were on a tight schedule.  Before we got on the plane in Denver I had scheduled a tour for the four of us at the nation's capital. I went to school with Scott Flake who married my little sister Sara. His little brother Jeff is a  senator of Arizona and she told us to call his office to get a personal tour with his secretary.  It was great. We learned so much about congress and the way things work. I was impressed with our forefathers and all they went through to give us the freedoms we have now. The tour was a little over two hours. We went back to senator Flake's office and his secretary told us he was in a meeting but if we waited about a half hour we could see him. She directed us to a cafeteria just down the hall and we grabbed a bite to eat. When we came back we waited just a few minutes and met him. He was very nice. We talked a little about our families and then let him get back to work after taking a picture with him of course. In this picture the capital is here on the right. We took this picture from the site of J.F.K.'s grave in Arlington cemetery.

          After we left there was a lot going on outside. Apparently, the King of Jordan was visiting so the capital was all roped off. It didn't seem to effect our tour from the inside of the Capital. So we walked around the grounds. Had an interesting discussion with a police officer. We watched nervously as some kook from a middle east country kept taking pictures of himself and his flag in front of the capital and clapping his hands. Then we walked over to the aerospace museum where Travis and I stayed for a couple of hours. The girls went to see the american history museum. We met them there later after we had seen every plane ever created. Then we watched the space Hubble telescope in the Imax theater. Travis and I really enjoyed that. We touched the moon rock and I noticed something interesting. When I first touched it in 1976,  it was about 1/4 of an inch above the surface it was mounted in. This time, it was all worn down and was actually indented. I wonder how many people have touched it since then.
          We caught up with the girls and sat in the park for a while to wait for Shawn and Tori  and Kanyin.
They had some trouble parking. I guess Shawn felt guilty for parking in the handicap spot so he sent Tori on. It was fun to visit with them and watch Kanyin call the birds and the joggers and dogs and ducks. She gets so excited about everything especially birds and food. She's a lot like her uncle Troy. She really took a liking to Kristin on this trip. So we found a Ruby Tuesdays and grabbed some food. We had a great visit for a few hours. As we walked out of the restaurant there was a hockey game going on across the street
Some of our shaded neighbors had about a seven piece brass band that was blaring this great rock beat none of us could resist. Kanyin was rocking back and forth in her stroller. I just loved the way she ate that up. We spent a few minutes there-- it was crazy fun!.  We ducked into the subway and started back for the hotel. Shawn and Tori went back to stay with one of Tori's friends from her mission. We were all pretty tired. We hit the  sack and  got up the next morning to do it all over again. We were trying to cram as much in as we possibly could. I kept telling everyone, " We are on Carolyn's scheduling system while we are here." You plan in one day what it takes to do in a week. That way you don't miss anything and no time is wasted.

At Mt. Vernon near the tomb

          So today, it was friday. We got up and met Shawn and Tori at Mt. Vernon where George
Washington's home is. It' a beautiful place overlooking the Potomac  river. I probably spelled that wrong. It was a nice tour and they were in the middle of restoring one of the larger rooms in the house. We walked out through the cooking building and the smokehouse and barns. They were all restored real nice. We walked around and took some pictures. Travis and I talked about how we would run things when one of us was elected president. We waited until Shawn was busy with Kanyin. We didn't want him to feel bad or anything. I wonder if there has ever been a president that was a good pluber, plummer, plumber, Ha,! There we go!!  We went to see Washington's grave where he and Martha were placed in a tomb.

George and Martha Washington's tombs

There were nice sheds and barns and gardens that we walked through. It was fun watching Kanyi.n walk around on unsteady ground until she fell. But she just loved seeing new things. We just took our time and enjoyed everything we could soak in.  

Jennifer and Troy's garden in Cub River  

This really isn't our garden. We would like to have one like it some day though. We toured the museum while we were there.  Jen  got lost and there were some tense moments but we finally found her and  boarded the bus that took us to Arlington cemetery.

Mt. Vernon overlooking the Potomac River

     

At Arlington we walked and walked until we made it up to the J.F.K Memorial. Then we headed over to the tomb of the unknown soldier where we met up again with Shawn and Tori.

J.F.K. memorial

This was an interesting ampatheatre. Around the other side was where the tomb of the unknown soldier is.

J.F.K. memorial

The tomb where the changing of the guard takes place every thirty minutes

We watched the changing of the guard. It was very quiet. There were signs everywhere reminding people to stay quiet and reverent. However, there was a group of people that forgot and  were making a little too much noise. The soldier turned and warned us all to either be quiet or be removed. That did it.  You couldn't hear a pin drop. We took more pictures as we were leaving. Here are some I just wanted to share.

On a hill above the tomb

                                        

there were so many  beautiful scenes in this cemetery

We only walked around a small portion of the grounds. It is humbling to think of all the sacrifices  made to keep this country  free.

I'm not sure which uncle this was.

It was  a beautiful day. We had a nice walk and made plans to meet Shawn and Tori for dinner. However they were caring for a tired little girl and decided to take off for home. 

        We took these just coming out of Arlington. There were beautiful flowers everywhere. Kris and Travis and Jenn and I tried to walk over to the Iwo Jima memorial. It looked pretty close on the map, but it took us right into some highways and a river that we did not want to ford.  We just got back on the subway and tried to find a good place to eat and relax for the evening. P.F. Chang's was really cool. So we met up with Shawn and Tori just outside of the restaurant.  Kanyin just waved and blew kisses while we all laughed.  We had fun visiting and wished Tori and Shawn could have stayed with us. We enjoyed our first lettuce wraps and the rest of the meal was great too!

Arlington

     

Arlington

        The trip back to our hotel was ok. We were getting used to the way the transit system worked. When we got back to the room every night we were so tired we would just crash. Our next morning we got up and took off for a walking tour of the rest of the memorials next to the mall where all the museums were. We started out by walking  to the National Archives but there was a huge line so we moved on to the Holocaust museum.  All the passes were taken so we walked on as close as we could to the Washington Memorial and made our way to the Jefferson Memorial. I really enjoyed it.  His quotes were chiseled inside on the walls all around the room. I wish all the presidents after him were required to  read and study all the things he had written.

Kris and Jen in front of the Jefferson Memorial

Trav and Troy same place

          

Thomas Jefferson Memorial

Korean war memorial 

Korean war memorial

As we walked around the lake we ate ice cream bars and saw  the Franklin D. Roosevelt memorial. Next was the Martin Luther King memorial, the Korean War memorial, and the Lincoln memorial. Here are pictures of those.

A war vet with a navel person

Martin Luther King Memorial

Korean war Memorial

Vietnam memorial 

These memorials had a lot of visitors.  We walked through and read some of the quotes and about the events. We were glad to be there and gained much appreciation for these great people. We made our way over to the Lincoln memorial and the W.W.II memorial and took pictures there.  One of the funniest moments of the trip was when we sat on the front steps of the Lincoln memorial.  Kristin wanted to find the loser that left their gum on the step she chose to sit down on.
After the Lincoln,  we walked over to the Vietnam memorial and looked at the great wall with all the names of those who served there.

Travis helping Kristen with her gum

Standing in front of  the Vietnam war memorial

I thought this was a neat effect. There were a lot of people touring that day. It was difficult to get a break where people weren't walking between us. We moved on to see the World War II Memorial and take some pictures there.

WWII memorial--the fountain is empty.  The size of a football feild

another picture at the Lincoln

Inside the WWII memorial looking out to the Washington memorial.  MISS IDAHO!!!

After we toured the monuments that day we were pretty tired of walking. We wanted to see the White house so we walked up toward the park and they had just begun to close it. We took a few pictures of the guys up on top of the white house with rifles. I guess they needed extra security that day. So we went to Five Guys Burgers and relaxed for an hour or so. We celebrated Travis' birthday with cupcakes and shakes and dragged ourselves back to the hotel for a relaxing evening.  It was for everyone but Jen who watched "Skeleton Key " at Kristin's suggestion and couldn't sleep the rest of the night!!

Tight security

Abe Lincoln's cabin

We wouldn't want to deceive anyone,  soooo-- this really isn't his cabin--hee, hee! It's just a random one from this area but it probably looks like it?!?  Anyway, to finish up, we had an early morning taxi ride (Oh yeah!) to the airport and slept most of the way home.  It was a WONDERFUL trip and we will never forget it.  Thank you Travis and Kris for inviting us.  We love you!! Troy and Jen