Part 2 (in the two week visit series)

While my mom and sister were out here we spent 4 days seeing the tourist sites of Washington D.C. We saw the Smithsonians: American History, Natural History, and Air and Space. We had a personal tour of the Capitol building; courtesy of my friend Kate who works in Senator Hatch's office. We were able to ride the train system that goes back and forth beneath the capitol building. It's so senators and congressmen can get from place to place quickly and without going outside in the weather. It was awesome, we even walked past Senator Hatch himself.

We also saw all the memorials: Vietnam war, Korean war, the Jefferson, the Lincoln, of course the Washington. We drove into the city at night so we could see them all lit up.

The Jefferson Memorial


At the Jefferson, looking across the water to the Washington monument.

The Lincoln Memorial. This is the shot that's on pennies.

Apollo Ohno's winning skates

Dorthy's ruby slippers

How I was able to see ANYTHING= Ipod classic + nemo

Walking on the mall in front of the Old Smithsonian building

Mary Lincoln's dress

George Washington's suit! Did you know he was 6' 3"?

Abe Lincoln's top hat

Seinfeld's puffy shirt and THE Oscar the grouch

Kermit

Lunar landing module- a replica, the real one's still up there.

The part that brings the astronauts back from the moon. We were marveling at the charred heat shields from re-entry. We touched something that was in space, got burned in the atmosphere, and made it safely home; how cool is that? This experience reaffirmed our nerdiness.

The Spirit of St. Louis. This made the first trans-atlantic flight

Here we are in the center of the capitol building which is also the very center of the city of D.C. L'effant (the guy that designed the city) planned it this way.

Kami and Brigham Young in the capitol. Each state has 2 statues. Utah has: Philo T. Farnsworth (yes he's Seth's relative), and Brigham.

We saw the D.C. temple: it's the second largest, second only to Salt Lake.


Seth and my mom and sister also went out to Mt. Vernon (George Washington's house and plantation). I had been before, and I didn't want to take my toddler. They loved it, in fact George Washington is buried at Mt. Vernon. The house is made of wood, but the wood is carved to look like it is made of brick.

The tomb.


*Cool fact I learned on the capitol tour: The original plans for the Washington monument were just like Napolean's tomb in Paris. I've been there, and it's a big circular building with his elaborate coffin in the center. It's set up so that you are standing above his coffin so that when you look to see it you are actually bowing. George Washington was humble though, and didn't want to be worshipped, so he is buried next to his wife on their plantation.