Washington D.C. 2009: Day 8

Well, this is the last day in D.C.! We head out tomorrow. Very weird. I like this place. I intend to come back again. 

I'll try to put the last day in bullet form, using way too many bullet points (a reference to the video, How NOT to Use Powerpoint , the bullet point part starts at 55 seconds): 

• Had Ollie's for breakfast (pancakes for me). Very good.
  
• Walked to the White House Visitors Center-even though we couldn't get a White House tour, we could go in the visitors. Interesting. 
  
• Next, we went to the Old Post Office again. I got a T-shirt, though I'm still not sure I got the right one. This is why I hate shopping, I'm so indecisive, it takes a long time, and it's just not good. Though with traveling it's somewhat okay. Yeah, I'm weird.
  
• Had lunch at Au Bon Pain. Not bad.
  
• We split up; Dad stayed with Kevin, Sean and Ryan, chilled in the hotel and later went to the National Aquarium. Mom and I took the Metro to see the Washington National Cathedral. Even with taking the Metro, the hike was long and hot. But it was worth it, the cathedral was beautiful. It was really great. Gift shop and bishop's garden was cool, too.
  
• We headed out a different way than we came it. Yep, we were lost. I love my mother, but she has no sense of direction. Seriously, she'll admit it. So she asked some locals and we got back to the Metro eventually. 
  
• For dinner, we went to dinner at Ollie's again-very good, as usual. Then Ryan and Dad went to view the Supreme Court; the rest of us were sick of walking for now. Ryan and Dad took my camera because, long story short, my Mom's camera broke half-way through the trip, so my camera was the only functioning one.
  
• And now we're packing. We head on the road again tomorrow. So crazy.

I'll miss this city. No doubt that I'll come back again....

Ashley

Washington D.C. 2009: Day 7

We went to Cosi's for breakfast, which was fine. I had a Garden Pesto Omelette Sandwich. Most of it was good, but the egg part wasn't, I'm not a huge egg fan (why did I order it, then? Long story that's not really important or blog worthy). Then we sent off for the Holocaust Memorial Museum to see what we could (very cool), and we miraculously got tickets for me, Dad and Ryan for the Permanent Exhibit section (every time we tried to get tickets online, they were sold out). Also, Mom got everyone tickets to a tour of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (when we contacted our Senator, we couldn't get tickets. He also didn't get us White House tour tickets. But he did provide our tickets for the Capitol Tour, so I'm grateful for that). 

Anyway, went to the cafeteria in the Department of Agriculture, it was fine but not fabulous (at least we won't get any food-borne illnesses!). Took the Bureau tour, it was really cool! The gift shop was great too, Kevin got $150 in shredded bills... for only 2 dollars. Those are bad bills, in case you're wondering.

Next, half of us returned to the Holocaust Museum for the permanent exhibition. It was intense but great. In addition to reading stories and seeing props, each person got a "passport" of a real-life Holocaust victim. The person I had was Juliana Nemeth from Hodmezovasarhely (we got to keep the passports, otherwise can't spell it), Hungary. She was married, had three children and she and her husband ran a hardware and grocery store, which was eventually closed down by Nazis. Unfortunately, Juliana and her family were shot by SS soldiers. I don't know much about Ryan or Dad's people, but I think Ryan was from Czechoslovakia, and Dad was from Massachusetts, I believe. Anyway, very powerful.

Later, we all walked to the International Spy Museum, only to discover that tickets into the Museum was $18 a person. So we took a pass on that one. Went to Cosi's again for dinner (cause it wasn't too far, and dinner is better, in my opinion). Had a Pesto Chicken Melt that was VERY good. The dinner was fairly early, since it closed at 6pm. 

Not much afterwards, mostly re-read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Got to love it. I only took 40 pix today because both the places we went to prohibited photography. Hoping to see some final stuff tomorrow.

Ashley 

Washington D.C. 2009: Day 6

I'll try to jam as much as I can, I need to go to bed earlier than I normally do because the rest of my family are early-birds (how am I related to them again??? ;).

Anyway, chilled for most of the morning, then went to the Old Post Office for lunch. Very nice place, in my opinion. I had a gyro from the Greek Tavern, if I remember the place correctly (Post Office had a food court). 

Afterwards, Dad stayed in the hotel with Kevin and Sean, while me, Ryan and Mom headed off to the National Archives. They allowed photography, but the flash HAS to be off. So I took many very blurry pix. It was cool, though, to see the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence. The shop was great too, but very expensive. 

Next we stopped by the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden (if I remember the name correctly), that was a nice area! Then we went to the Smithsonian Museum of American History, which was great. The exhibitions I went to were The First Ladies at the Smithsonian, I Do Solemnly Swear (2009 Inauguration), Thanks for the Memories, Musical Instruments, Abraham Lincoln: An Accomplished Life (I think that's the name), and The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden. Oh, and a little of The Star-Spangled Flag (again, name is fuzzy) and one about war, I think it's called The Price of Freedom. Some highlights were Laura Bush's inaugural gown (First Ladies), Kermit the Frog, Oscar the Grouch and Dorothy's ruby slippers (all in Memories), a HUGE flag in the Star-Spangled one (the name of the flag escapes me), pretty much all of Lincoln exhibit, and the Podium in American Presidency. What's the Podium, you ask? Well, it's where you can step up, choose from 3 famous Presidential Speeches, and the words will appear on the screen while you can give the speech. I need to attach a picture or something someday, cause it's way cooler than I'm making it sound. 

After that, we went to the Museum of Natural History, that was neat. I have a few interesting stories on that. I was walking through the fossil section, made it upstairs and ended up in an exhibit that was unknown at first. I took a picture of a rock, then saw a large group of people crowding around this display case. Eventually, I wised up and realized that it was the Hope Diamond. Naturally, I took a few pictures, but it was hard-those tourists were vultures! Also, I got to see the live Butterflies, but I couldn't actually go into the butterfly place cause you needed tickets. So I went to the Insect Zoo. Enjoyable, and surprisingly took several pics of tarantulas, despite the fact that I'm terrified of them (those they were behind glass and kind of small, so that made it easier). There were staff members who had insects that people could touch/hold-I made a pass on that one. The reactions of others were predictable; either people saying "That's so freaking awesome!" (usually males) or squeals of "Ohmigosh, ewwwwww!" (usually females). I was pretty good at showing no outward emotion. As I was walking out, I looked at my watch and saw that I had only five minutes to meet up with Mom and Ryan! I ran through the next exhibit, which I think had to do with bones, then the next, which seemed to take forever. I found out later that the was Origins of Western Civilization, only I ended with Cavemen, so I went through the entire origins backwards. : ) I walked through, annoyed by the slowness of others, snapped a picture of the Korea Gallery (small, but looked cool, wish I had more time to look. Then I bolted downstairs, went through the Ocean section, and made it to my destination on time. : ) So that was a fun afternoon.

We walked back to the hotel, rested, then walked to Cosi's for dinner, only to discover that it closed at 6pm (it was 6:15 when we walked over). So we went to Qdoba's across the street. I had Tortilla Soup, very good and spicy. I personally liked it. 

Then we hung out in the hotel most of the time, by 9:30 we read off lists of weird phobias (don't ask why). I have a new daily record: 462 pictures in one day! I didn't take as many yesterday, only 210, but that's probably because I went to places that didn't allow many, if any, pics. Then I complained at how freakishly early my family goes to bed.

So now I must go to bed. If anyone actually read this novel, that'll be amazing. To anyone who reads this and is a friend of mine on Facebook, I will try to weed through my pictures and post albums soon. To those who aren't on Facebook, I'll try to pick some of the best pictures and post them on here. But that might take a little while, we'll see.

Anyway, must go to bed now. ¡Buenas noches!

Ashley 

Washington D.C. 2009: Day 5

Let's see what I can remember....

Today we took a tour of the U.S. Capitol. Very interesting. Then me, Dad and Ryan went to the Senate Gallery and got to sit in (briefly) on a Senate meeting. Interesting. Then we went to the Library of Congress for a little bit, then went to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. All interesting, but I was VERY TIRED. A lot of walking. I am definitely out of shape. Also, we went to a restaurant called Ollie's Trolley which was VERY good. I had a burger, seasoned fries and a vanilla shake. All great. 

Anyway, we'll see what we do tomorrow. I need to sleep....

Ashley

Washington D.C. 2009: Day 4

Today was mainly Zoo Day. Yep, the only major thing we went to was the National Zoo, but we still got a TON of walking. Not just around the zoo, but TO the zoo and the Metro that gets us to the zoo. Definitely had sore ankles today. But I digress. 

The Zoo was very cool. Very nice and it was FREE. I took 348 pictures today. Many of them were of the Lions and Tigers (who often posed for the camera ; ) and of course, the Giant Panda. The Panda was cool. There was only the male out, because the zoo staff think the female might be pregnant, so she stayed inside. Kevin and Sean both bought a stuffed panda. The one thing that wasn't great was the food court. The iced tea was fine, the fries were fine, but the cheeseburger was terrible. Normally, I can eat almost any hamburger, but this one was so gross I could only eat half. But everything else about the zoo was great.

Mostly chilled for the rest of the day. Had pizza from Ella's (pepperoni was great, the cheese pizza was weird), watched Mythbusters. I am exhausted once again, and apparently I got too much sun outside-my scalp, nose, forehead and cheeks are all pink. I'll have to remember to put sunscreen on tomorrow.

Well, I better go to bed. We're taking a tour of the Capitol tomorrow! 

Ashley 

Washington D.C. 2009: Day 3

We saw SO MUCH today. Let's see if I can remember it all before I fall asleep from exhaustion. 

One of the first places we went to was the food court in the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center (at least, I think that's the name). After getting past security, we saw a section of the Berlin Wall. Pretty cool. : ) Me, Dad and Kevin had Subway in the food court, and Mom, Sean, and Ryan had hot dogs and hamburgers from somewhere else that I can't remember. Next, we walked to the Washington Monument and tried to get tickets to go to the top, but they were sold out for today. We next went to the World War II Memorial, which had a ton of really cool stuff. Afterwards we went to the Vietnam Memorial, which was simpler yet still cool, then the Korean War Memorial, which was pretty great, and finally the Lincoln Memorial, which was great. It really didn't take long to hit all these areas, maybe an hour or hour and a half. Cool.

We walked back to hotel and rested. Ryan made a mini-treasure hunt in the room for Sean to entertain him. This included many clues that rhyme, I think it happened all the time (sorry, couldn't resist). We also had Potbelly's for dinner.

Afterwards, we walked around some, saw another view of the White House, plus the Department of the Treasury, if I remember correctly (only saw exterior of both). Then came home, exhausted. My ankles are very sore, especially my right one. Oh well. We are now watching a bit of My Big Fat Greek Wedding before bed. I'm tired, but in a good way. Good night.

Ashley

Washington D.C. 2009: Day 2

Arrived in D.C. around 4:30 or so (3:30 Illinois time). Stopped at a food court in Pennsylvania for lunch-I had Quizno's, which isn't quite as good as Potbelly's, in my opinion. Our hotel is nice and quaint and not too far from the White House. At least, I think so. I am aware that I am not posting in chronological order. 

Anyway, had dinner at Harriet's Family Restaurant. Walked around the city a bit, it was nice. There were a ton of mosquitos in some areas, though, as a result I am quite itchy right now. So far I've taken 197 pictures on this trip. We'll see what we do/see tomorrow.

In other news, I found out I got an A in my Politics class! That was one of my hardest classes, and I honestly think I only got the A because of some extra credit points.... But who cares? It's cool. 

Need to go to bed now.

Ashley