D.C. Day 2

From here on out, every post of my vacation will be merely a recollection.  With three weeks of travel, the days are bound to blur together.  I had really hoped to keep up every evening, but we kept getting back so late and I was entirely too exhausted to type even the briefest of notes.  Hopefully the pictures Amber & I took will jog my memory.

D.C. is the land of business professional attire.
I could not figure out why this guy was wearing athletic socks
to work.  As a friend pointed out, maybe it was laundry day?

Our second day in Washington D.C. was Emily's last.  The three of us started our morning by heading to Union Station (which became our go-to spot for the rest of the trip + Emily's final D.C. destination).

Union Station

Union Station

We arrived before most of the stores had even opened.  Why were we out and about so early?  Well, we only had one car in Maryland...so we had to take trips going to the metro (two loads).  Kinley is obviously a baby, and since she was not getting her normal scheduled naps, we tried to make sure that she got a full night's rest every day.  That means not waking her up.  Since she is a baby, that also means she needs to be with her mommy and daddy.  So our two groups were pretty much established without any deep thinking.  Emily, Amber, & I got up and out the door so that mom could drive back and pick up the second crew.  And so, we always got to D.C. 45 minutes to an hour before the second group.  Which also means we had some great sisterly bonding time.

How did we spend our time in Union Station?  Well, you know...the shops eventually opened.  Which means we did some browsing.  And then what better thing to do in a place with lots of people than sit at a café and people-watch?  Just kidding.  We made mad libs on Amber's phone, ate delicious food, and talked about life; in other words: we had a really great time.

The Corner Bakery

I was about to say "oh my goodness, what on earth did we do on that second day?!" but luckily this picture was next in line:

To which my response was "what is that thing above my head?" and then "wait, what were we listening to?"  And then I thought through the various museums and attractions we went to.  I knew which things we did not do that day, so I was left confused.  And then I remembered!  We went on a tour of the Capitol!  It was actually pretty cool.  The video they play before you begin the tour was quite excellent and our tour guide was awesome.  It's not the typical audio tour where there is a pre-recorded message when you arrive at different spots in the building.  We actually had headsets that went along with our tour guide's microphone - which was great, especially when people asked questions.

Jasmin & Emily

Amber & Jasmin

I don't remember the name of this statue, but we thought she was pretty cool.  There were lots of rules about how many statues a state could have in the Capitol but those are different from gifts to the Capitol...and states can change out their statue every X number of years...very fascinating...but it kind of makes me sick.  On the one hand, I'm glad we honor people (MLK, Rosa Parks, etc.) through statues displayed in our Capitol, but on the other hand, couldn't that money be put towards feeding people?  Regardless, I loved the little history lessons that came along with the tour; the only thing I would change is that we would have contacted our congressmen early and secured tickets to do whatever the "other" stuff was.  Apparently you have to do that 6+ months in advance, and we only planned our trip weeks ahead of time.  Same thing goes for the White House.  However, back in 2007, I had two friends who worked for Senators and they took us behind the scenes to see some pretty cool areas...I just wish I could have had the history lessons behind them. :)

The U.S. Capitol

The U.S. Capitol

We ate a late lunch in the cafeteria at the Capitol.  I thought it was pretty hilarious that the Global Cuisine theme was "Celebrate America".  I don't get it.

Global Cuisine = America?

I think after the Capitol we headed over to the National Museum of Natural History.  Yeah, that sounds right.  We don't have any pictures...but I'm pretty sure that happened.  If I remember correctly, Emily & Amber disappeared together...and that could only have happened if Emily was in town still...therefore, it was Day 2.  Very logical, right?  It was really cool to be there but my legs were already really tired from all the walking we did.  I did get very excited when I thought about Kyle & I coming there again some day with our kiddos.  They'd find everything really cool (just like we do) and they'd ask lots of questions and Kyle would get to explain to them how wood becomes petrified, etc.  It's going to be so wonderful!

Confirmation that we went to the Museum of Natural History next:

Card made from panda poop.  Literally.

Day 2 was pretty much a two-site adventure for the group.  Of course, Amber & I got some good ones in on the train home: