July 10th: US Capitol

It's December craziness--are you as swamped as I am??? Aye, aye, aye...I've fallen way behind on so many things. One BIG item was crossed off my list last night thankfully...so to celebrate, I'll continue with my summer trip before returning to my to-do list.

So from now on, I'm going to title these by the date they happened...much simpler. : )

On the morning of July 10th, we arose bright & early & loaded up our things into our van & drove back into DC, where we found parking (have I mentioned the totally AWESOME parking app I used on this trip??? It's simply called "BestParking" and it was everything it said it was...now if only it was available for every city...in DC, it was such a blessing!) and walked right up to the Visitor Center at the US Capitol.

*Sidenote here...I really was a bit surprised by all the new buildings and construction which had popped up in my (17 yrs?!) absence--including this massive visitor center at the Capitol. The only building I remember being built in DC during all my years living out there was the Holocaust Museum. I'm sure there were others...I was too young to really pay attention. But it does seem a little astonishing how much DC is growing & renovating while the rest of the country is facing so much economic hardship...I really hope this is not all coming out of the taxpayers' pockets, as lovely as it all is. And meanwhile the Washington Monument looked virtually untouched by any kind of repair work from an earthquake that happened over a year ago, grr.*

We got there so early in fact that we were first in line waiting outside to go in for tickets! Finally they opened the Visitor Center doors & we walked into a new line there for our tickets for a tour of the Capitol. Then we waited in another line to actually depart on our tour.

We spotted one of UT's 2 statues as we waited--here's Philo T. Farnsworth, the inventor of the television!

Finally we were off on our tour after viewing a short film. We each received a headset which tuned us in to our tourguide (who was there with us, but it's so noisy & echo-y in there with all the simultaneous tours that the headset was a really great idea.)

I don't remember what this particular chamber was called, but the ceiling was pretty wild to look at with all those arches every which way.

Then we went into the Rotunda. I wish we had had a little more time to hang out there & view all the artwork & architecture because there was so much to see:

I like this shot George snuck of all of us gazing up.

Another shot of the very top...do you see George Washington seated there? Here's more info about the artist & the painting.

Moving down from there, is a fabulous frieze of 19 scenes from American history, beginning with Columbus & ending at Wright's first flight (both are in this shot). Believe it or not, this is all painted! It really does look like a relief sculpture, especially from down below. 3 different artists worked on this...more here if you're interested.

And then there were the giant paintings around the room... This is "The Embarkation of the Pilgrims".

And John Trumbull's "Declaration of Independence". I remember reading about this in the biography of John Adams--if memory is correct, he wasn't really all that thrilled with it because the artist took some liberties in his portrayal of the event.

(There were SO many people in there...amazing how quickly everything filled up from the time we first arrived at the Capitol and stood in line.) 

And then there were little reliefs like this in between the humongous paintings...not sure what this one is depicting.

And then, as you may or may not know, within the US Capitol, each state has displayed 2 statues of important historic figures...more on that below...but there in the Rotunda was one of my favorites, Ronald Reagan (representing one of CA's 2 statues):

 So from the Rotunda, we proceeded into what is now Statuary Hall (formerly the House Chamber before the expansion of the Capitol Building). Here's one little corner of the room:

Due to limited space in the room, only 1 statue from each of the 50 states is located in Statuary Hall--the rest are placed throughout the Capitol whether in the Rotunda, Visitor Center, or elsewhere...

I found one of our OR statues--this is Jason Lee, who was instrumental in establishing the Oregon Territory:

Next few are just some shots from the around the room...

Next was one of the most interesting parts of the tour. Our guide had us all remove our headsets and then she demonstrated one of the strange acoustic effects of a half-dome chamber. We all stood at the spot where this plaque denotes the desk of John Quincy Adams, and then she walked to a spot across the room. Using a normal speaking voice she then started talking to us while walking toward us. From the point where she started, you could hear her voice amplified loud & clear but as she came toward us, the volume dropped off until we could barely hear her before she got within a few feet of us & we could hear her again. It was pretty cool! But it perfectly demonstrated why the Representatives were not disappointed to leave that chamber when the new House Chamber was built--the acoustics were so strange and you had to be careful even whispering in someone's ear because depending whether someone sat in just the right spot across the room, you'd be overheard! 

And that was the end of the tour. It seemed a bit short...I would have loved to have seen more (and I'm pretty sure I have seen more in the past--I know on multiple field trips I got to see the House & Senate Galleries.)

As we walked out the Visitor Center, we caught a glimpse of the Supreme Court. I shook my fist at it. I'm still angry about Chief Justice John Roberts' double crossing on the Obamacare mandate ruling. Boo, hiss!

 We found a beautiful little spot to get a sip of water and rest for a moment before continuing on... 

I love Bub & Zac's thumbs-ups.

Such a pretty day... That warm sunshine looks so temptingly yummy right now as I sit here bundled up with a rainy view out my window...

And off we went for our next exciting visit for the day...

Part 8/July 9th...Air & Space and VA Relatives

East Coast, Part 8: Air & Space & VA Relatives

Hmm, I'm thinking about changing the way I title these things...we're already up to "part 8" and I'm still on the 2nd day. 

Anyway, when last I posted, we were just leaving the Natural History Museum.

We had just a small window of time before we had to head out of DC so we went in the Air & Space Museum for a quick visit.

George took the boys into a plane while I waited:

In fact, I believe that photo was taken in the cockpit of the plane at the bottom of this photo--and the following cockpit photo was in the plane sticking it's nose into the right side of this photo:

Or I could be wrong. This looks like a military plane to me, but what do I know?

At that point it was time to get back to the car and head into VA for dinner at my Aunt Kathy's house.

I plotted out a route that would take us past a few meaningful places but I guess I didn't realize how maze-like the roads were and how busy they are in rush hour traffic because it was so frustratingly difficult. Pretty much the only place I recognized and checked off my list was this little old Methodist church, which is where my Nana was a member & my mom grew up attending here until she joined the LDS church. Other family members belonged to this church too, but I know for a fact that Nana has a special stained glass window dedicated to her with her name on it there at the church, which was placed there after she died. We always used to come here in October for hayrides over to Aunt Fennie's house where there would be a big corn maze in her neighbor's lot leading to a great big pumpkin patch where we would pick our pumpkins...sweet, sweet memories!

I was really sad that I missed Grammy's house, Grampy's, Aunt Fennie's and the Wrenns...I really wanted to see them all but time & traffic were not cooperative. 

Just getting to Aunt Kathy's house was crazy in itself. I truly didn't recognize the place until I spotted the little church playground across the street from her house where I used to always play. Every house, and I mean EVERY house on her street except for hers has been torn down and rebuilt. It was truly crazy and I'm a little disappointed in myself for not taking a photo of the street. Her beautiful little house was the only one that hadn't changed and was hard to see in between all the new "McMansions" surrounding it.

It was so great to be in Aunt Kathy's house. That place has stayed mostly the same for as long as I can remember. Of course there have been lots of improvements to it over the years but the essential parts of the house are the same and there's something so comforting about that!

Zac loved Aunt Kathy's dog Brutus (actually I guess he belongs to my cousin Sarah but he's been there for years.) And I didn't get a photo of my cousin Pat's dog Soma (not sure how they spelled it--pronounced "soh-mah") who was also there but was a big ball of energy & kept the boys laughing. 

 We had a lovely time visiting there and the dinner was so yummy. We had pulled pork sandwiches and cole slaw and baked beans...mmm! And dessert too. 

Lucky for us, my cousin Katie ("Big Katie" as we used to call her to differentiate from my sister "Little Katie") was in town. She lives in Louisiana and I finally got to meet her son Jack, named for her dad, my uncle Jack who passed away a few years ago. And this is Aunt Lane, her mom, with me & Katie.

(Ugh, I look pretty bedraggled in all these pics after our long day walking around DC...oh well.)

Aunt Lane is my great-grandmother's sister's daughter. (Follow that?) So I guess that makes her a cousin rather than an aunt, but she's always been Aunt Lane to me. And I have so many memories of her all my life--some of my earliest memories include her taking us to the National Zoo.

And then this is Lane & Jack's son John (and brother to Katie above). He is squeezing me rather tightly as you can see. As kids my bros & sis & I used to have a lot of fun with John--he always had the most interesting pets: various birds and turtles...I remember a snapping turtle in particular. He also played guitar & we would perform for Aunt Fennie's birthday every September. (Fennie was his grandmother and she's my great-grandmother's sister.)

Just before we were ready to leave, my cousin Pat came home from work. I haven't seen him in FOREVER. He's 10-11 years younger than me. And there is Aunt Kathy, his mom. She was married to my uncle, my mom's brother, once upon a time, but I won't go into the history there. Aunt Kathy is such a great lady. I always enjoy seeing her & have made a point to visit anytime we are out that way.

I wish I could have seen my other 2 cousins Kristy & Sarah too, who weren't able to make it that night. It's a little sad to visit now too as I realize how much the family there have dwindled...so many of the aunts & uncles I knew & loved there have passed away--there used to be SO many there, so many it was hard to count. It'll be a happy reunion someday on the other side. : )

Part 7

East Coast, Part 7: BEP & Natural History Museum

After peeking at the Washington Monument, we had just enough time for a quick picnic lunch before heading down to the Bureau of Engraving & Printing for our tour.

There's a little museum space where you first enter. There were some interesting things to see there.

I am really sad this photo did not turn out--it took quite a bit of fiddling in Lightroom to even get the photo to look this "good". This is Aaron, Benno & I posing with $1 million. Probably the closest I will EVER get to $1 million.

All photos of the tour end here. No photography allowed on the tour. It was a quick tour and pretty fun to see the money being printed. One man had giant stacks which he would flip through in all different directions to make sure the sheets were not sticking together. He had massive muscles.

You may or may not have noticed that most of the boys managed to choose to wear their BYU shirts that day. George didn't like that...he doesn't like feeling like a walking advertisement and having so many of the boys in the shirts makes it all the more noticeable. But anyway, it turned out to be a good thing. We found a fellow BYU fan on the tour! It was one of the guys working at the press. He spotted the boys in their shirts and got our attention before gesturing toward the shirts with 2 thumbs up! : )

The tour ends at the gift shop (of course) and there were plenty of fun things to see there too. This height chart along the wall in the shop was a hit with the boys:

We made it out of there with only a couple very small souvenirs thankfully.

From there we walked over to the American Museum of Natural History. 

We saw dinosaurs:

Paleontologists at work:

We walked next to the Mammal Exhibit, which has been completely renovated since last I was here. Zac was immediately in love as the first thing you see as you walk in is this tiger pouncing directly over the entrance.

Then we went upstairs to see the fabulous Hope Diamond.

It was completely surrounded by tourists (mostly foreign, interestingly) so when we were finally able to squeeze through the crowd to get a glimpse, it was a bit of a let down. Really, that's it? I guess I just don't appreciate precious gems.

This was a little more interesting.

And this.

I don't even remember what the significance of this stone was... I think Benno really just wanted a photo with it.

That part of the museum was annoyingly FULL of people though so we skedaddled out of there pretty quickly and headed down the hall to another exhibit.

Bones and skeletons of sea life...

 Now this was really fascinating but sadly it was just a teeny tiny exhibit so this is about all there was to it. (We're planning to see King Tut up in Seattle really soon, excited!) I am so fascinated by mummies. 

From the other end. Seems to be missing one foot.

 And the coffin (or is this a sarcophagus? I don't remember the distinction.)

It was getting pretty steamy out by the time we emerged from the museum... With a little water on his head and some shades, Zac was looking good. : )

Part 6