DC Day Trip

National Museum of American History

Tuesday we decided to take a day trip down to DC. Why not right? I still had the whole week off from school so nothing else was going on. Last time we were down in DC we went to the National Museum of American History but it was right before closing time so we only got to see a small portion of it. So this time we decided to go and see the rest.

First Ladies' Gowns

Greenough's Statue of George Washington

Greenough was commissioned to make this statue in 1832 to celebrate the centennial of Washington's birth. He modeled it after the classical Greek statue of Zeus. I think I like this statue so much just because of the controversy it created--it's kind of like the Indian statue on BYU's campus, many found it offensive that Washington was half naked. Soon jokes emerged that he was searching for his clothing so this statue that was to have its home at the Capitol's Rotunda was later confined to the Smithsonian Castle and now is in the Museum of American History. I don't see why it was such a big deal, dude's ripped and if I was that ripped I would sit on a throne without a shirt on too.

EPA

We parked outside of the Environmental Protection Agency and it was a cool looking building so it deserved a picture.

U.S. Capitol

Next we thought we would go to the Capitol. Megan and I have both read Dan Brown's latest which starts out in the Capitol so we both wanted to look around at the symbols that were referred to in the book. When we pulled up to the building we soon found that we couldn't park anywhere near it. So we parked several blocks away and decided to brave the cold. We wrapped the girls up in blankets and started off at a quick walk that soon turned into a light jog once we realized just how cold it was--we were also reminded frequently by Hallee's little voice emerging from under the coat, beanie, scarf, and blanket, saying, "I'm freezing!" We finally made it to the Capitol and I asked one of the security officers where the visitors can enter. "It's closed for the day. Closes at 4:30." What a lazy bunch of representatives getting off of work at 4:30 in the p.m. No wonder they don't have time to read the bills that they are passing.

At this point I can't feel my fingers and Hallee is still "Freezing!" Maddie can't tell us if she is freezing so we just assume that she is in the same boat as the rest of us. We rushed off to find the nearest building that would let us in to warm up. Luckily for us there was a building just across the street. Unluckily for us it was only open to US senators and none of us fit that description--yet (is he possibly putting in his bid for the 2012 elections?) We finally found our way to Union Station, which we parked right behind, so it wasn't that far from the actual car.

Union Station

I'm glad the cold brought us to Union Station because it is tight. It has a bunch of shops and food places and it's architecture is really cool. We ended up eating there before we braved the cold for another block and got in the car and returned home. By the way I don't recommend the kabab.

I also blogged about Maddie's one year pictures on my photography blog so go check it out by clicking here. And here is another preview of what you will see there.