Fourscore and seven years...

Washinton DC - Day 1

I hit the road with Tim headed for Washington DC on Monday morning. It wasn't that early of a start to the day as we had planned on getting a room and spending the night there instead of cramming everything into one day. We drove along I95 and I'd never been in 4 states in such a short amount of time. It takes about 2-3 hours to get to Washington DC from Pennsylvania driving through Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. We stopped in Maryland for a restroom break but then we headed off and finally reached our destination. We checked in to the hotel and headed Downtown to see 'The National Mall' which is where everything is. I saw the Washington Monument ... that's the obelisk in the pictures ... so we headed in that direction and then we saw The White House so we walked over to that and then back to the monument then along the mall towards the Lincoln Memorial ... few pictures ... you know that big old statue with Abraham Lincoln sitting on the seat? Yeah that's the Lincoln memorial... its cool. There were a few more memorials in the area. One of which was the Vietnam Memorial. My first impression (to Tim) "what is that a hole in the ground?" We got closer and wow it was so touching. Basically, there's a bunch of panels with a list of names on each and the names are of all those lost during the Vietnam war. You can see it in the pictures below. Pretty incredible and very very sad :(

Anyway we headed off again back around to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) memorial... pretty cool all about his life and stuff. Then round more to the Thomas Jefferson memorial. We then kept walking reached the Holocaust Museum, but it was about to close, I got a pamphlet though. Then further back to the mall then started in the opposite direction of the Lincoln memorial, towards the Capitol Building... walked around the outside and we planned on going inside if possible the next day. We then marched over to the library of congress which was closed too (it was around 5/6pm). We planned on going there the next day too. Passed the Supreme Court, back down towards downtown DC to get some dinner in this really cool yummy restaurant which matched my budget perfectly. It was a restaurant/brewery... couldn't beat it really. Decided it was time to call it a day, we walked about 6 miles ... lol ... I was tired plus we had to get up early to make it for the tour of the capitol and to see the library of congress.

Washington - Day 2

We checked out of the hotel and made our way out to the Capitol building for our tour... it was pretty cool I'm not gonna lie ... learned a lot of American history. It was kind of like Stormont? Except much bigger? I think? I dunno ... lol ... Anyway from there we where able to 'Tunnel' to the library of congress where they have EVERYTHING. Ton's of archives of footage, books, anything. Pretty cool. Then we headed towards the 'Newseum' basically a museum of news. It was incredible. Best museum I've ever been too i couldn't believe all the information they had. front pages of news papers dating back to the 1500's. Crazy. With various screenings of news history, sports history and a 4-D movie experience, which was awesome. They had an exhibition about crime and mobsters and gangsters. It was really cool. My favourite exhibit was the Pulitzer Prize Gallery. You could see all the Pulitzer Prize winners for the past 40 years. There was also interactive videos of the photographers talking about each photo and the article which matched it. It was something else. They had an exhibit for 9/11 which was heartbreaking. They had the antenna which stood on the North Tower on display along with a step by step time line of what happened as well as a few screenings of different experiences. With a wall of front page's of newspapers from all over THE WORLD. Anyway we kept on going around... it was approaching 4:30 and we had one last thing to see which was the Terrace on the 6th floor. Its like a balcony of the newseum, with a great view of the Capitol Building. We decided it was time to leave so we started heading out then i notice the 'Fotobama' gallery which is a series of photographs of America's latest president, Barrack Obama. I'm reading the captions with my finger. 5 minutes later, I hear a voice, (which at first i thought was hades) in my ear, saying 'Please..DO NOT TOUCH'. I jump, turn around and there is this adorable old lady. I didn't think it was that big of a deal I mean it wasn't like i was touching the queens crown or anything(there were no 'Do not Touch' signs.

Anyway we're done and try to find the exit...
lets call her 'Mouthy Maggie', walks away. We head in the direction of the elevator, when all of a sudden...

Mouthy Maggie: The stairs are over there.
(At this point Scott is very tired. He doesn't want to walk. He points at the elevator and is about to speak... when..)
Mouthy Maggie: That elevator doesn't bring people DOWN. It's to bring people up to the 6th floor.
(It then goes through Scott's head as to how people get down. Maggie points out her pass... Scott clearly a little bit agitated and starts to lighten the mood and start to play along and tease Mouth Maggie... )
Scott:Oh so why can't we go down that elevator?
Holds a key card in the air which is currently wrapped around her neck.
Scott: OOH... can you buy those in the gift store?
Mouthy Maggie: I work here...
Scott: Ohh OK. I see. So there is no elevator down?
Mouthy Maggie: There is one over there but its broken.
Scott: OK, I think we'll take these stairs.

FIN.

So that is the Mouthy Maggie story. I'm can't help but chuckle a little as I type this. She was a very sweet lady and she did a great job directing us. :) Thanks 'Mouthy Maggie'

We left the Newseum and headed out of Washington and figured it would be best to just grab something to eat for dinner on the journey home.

We got back to Philly around 9:30PM. Watched 'The Hangover' before falling asleep.

I'm spending today in Philly, before heading off to New York for the day tomorrow. We're gonna try and catch a show on Broadway. I'm super excited :) Until then folks! Enjoy the pictures!

Walking the National Mall ...