Washington DC Trip

   This is a post on our trip to Washington DC. It is a little long so, if you don't have time to read the whole thing, wait until you have time to do so because it will just sound confusing if you read parts here and there and don't read the whole thing.
   The night before we left Du Quoin was a four days after we had a three day blackout and all that rain. It was raining hard that night and we were all praying that it would be sunny the next morning for driving. Grace had done her ACT earlier that week and she got an amazing 34! Sure enough the next morning, we woke up to a bright sunny day. I was hoping we would leave right after breakfast (cereal and milk), but Grace went to a two hour art appreciation class, then me and Dad cleaned the roof and raked the yard, then we went to the recycling center, then went to the post office, then went to pick up Grandma (we call her Granna), then started off. At about two hours after waking up, it became cloudy, but just as soon as we left the Du Quoin border, it became sunny again. We traveled to Grayson, KY were we stayed at a Quality Inn. The trip was highlighted by trips to gas stations and welcome centers. I got maps from almost all the states and marked the roads we traveled on in pen.
   The next morning we ate breakfast (biscuit and sausage, milk, juice, muffin, cinnamon roll, and toast), repacked, and drove off. We were amazed at the mountain scenery of the Appalachian Mountains and greatly annoyed by the on and off ear popping (increased and decreased air pressure). Again our trip was highlighted with stops at gas stations and welcome centers. We also got to see some state capitals and were so excited when we entered Virginia. There were tall buildings everywhere. One problem, we ran (drove) in circles trying to find a way to our Holiday Inn in Rosslyn, Arlington. The main problem was all the one way and closed roads. The hotel was very... decorated I think is the word. It had chandeliers and mirrors everywhere. We were on the tenth floor and I was amazed at the view of the Potomac River. I didn't know we were so close to it! The rooms were comfortable with a balcony, refrigerator, desk, and large flat screen TV (my personally favorite part). We walked around Rosslyn and got our bearings. It started to lightly rain that evening.
   The next morning it was raining. The hotel itself didn't serve a breakfast, but it contained two restaurants and one of them served breakfast. Because we were special members of the Holiday Inn Club, two adults in each room got free breakfast at this penthouse restaurant. That feeds Dad, Mom, Granna, and Grace. Fortunately for us, Holiday Inn has a policy that all kids (13 and under {I just made it!}) eat free. So that covered the other four of us. We got free breakfast at that restaurant every day that we stayed there and that was wonderful. They had a great buffet. My favorite part was a something that I think was strawberry chunks in sweetened strawberry syrup. We put it in yogurt to make a parfait, on biscuit to make strawberry shortcake, and in milk to make strawberry milk. That day we went to the Holocaust Museum, American History Smithsonian, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the Jefferson Memorial, and Union Station. In the Holocaust Museum we saw an exhibit based on a diary of a German Jewish kid named Daniel. Second we saw an exhibit on how the Nazis came to power. Later we saw the permanent exhibits, but they told the same story as the other exhibits, except with more horrifying detail. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing was a tour of the building. The tour showed us how they printed examined, inked, and cut the money. They also showed us different kinds of bills and how the hundred dollar bill has changed over the years. Every 7 years, the bureau changes the color of the bills and makes it more fraud proof. At the American History Smithsonian, we got to see a robot that played Simon Says (the follow-the-leader-color-game). I lost to it. Jonathan was the only one who won. We also saw an exhibit on Abraham Lincoln's life. We also saw an exhibit of all the wars that America was involved in. The best part probably was when we got o see the actual ruby slippers that Dorothy wore in the movie "The Wizard of OZ". It did look old. The Jefferson Memorial, we learnt, is in the shape of Jefferson's home. We only got to see the inside of Union Station the first time we went there and it didn't look like much. The only part we saw was a market place of restaurants. After we saw the American History Museum, it was very sunny and warm and we were wishing we had brought our sunglasses from the hotel.
   The next day we met with an assistant of Jerry Costello (Illinois Representative for our area), whose name was Orlando. He led us through underground halls to the capitol. We saw many rooms, but my two favorites were the center room and the old senator room which looked like something right out of a history book. We got to see the representative gallery (unfortunately, they weren't in session). We then went to the Supreme Court. We didn't actually see the court, but we did see a documentary of it. Then we saw the Library of Congress, which was very confusing to me because the only books I saw were in cases, except in the children’s room. We saw the Gutenberg Bible and Franklin Roosevelt's large book collection. We then went to the White house. We didn't actually see inside it, we just saw the outside, but that was pretty amazing in itself. We saw guards standing on top of the roof with telescopes. They were on 24/7 duty with orders to shoot down any plane within a 1-mile perimeter (no excuses) except if otherwise ordered. That was pretty alarming.
   The next day we went to the White House Visitor center, Ford's Theater, the International Spy Museum, and the Arlington Cemetery. The White House Visitor Center pretty much showed everything in the White House except weren't in the White House. It was very informative. We didn't go inside the theater at Ford's Theater, but we did see a patriotic band outside. The international Spy started out as if it was a really interactive thing, but it turned out it wasn't. I liked all their gadgets and artifacts, but there wasn't possibly enough time to see all the exhibits. The Arlington Cemetery was so peaceful, you didn't felt that it was impossible to disrespect. The changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was orderly and ceremonial and I am amazed that they continue the ceremonies 24 hours. 
  The next day we went to the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the National Air and Space Smithsonian, and the Vietnam Memorial. Mom and Dad went to get tickets for the Washington Monument at 7:00 and we went up at 11:45. The view was great and they showed pictures of how the view changed over the years. There also was an exhibit on the construction of the monument. The Lincoln Memorial was larger than I thought it would be and had engraved on the walls the Gettysburg Address and Abraham's second inauguration speech. The National Air and Space Museum had many cool exhibits and we got to see a 3D IMAX movie named Hubble 3D. It was about the launch and the fixing of the Hubble Space Telescope. We went to the Vietnam memorial at night so it probably wasn't as good as it would look in the day, but we enjoyed seeing it.
   The next day was Grace's birthday and we went to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum and the Senate Gallery. Madame Tussauds Washington DC wasn't as big as I thought it would be but there was a wax figure of every President and I think that was my highlight. There was a poster next t each figure telling a little about them. We went to the Senate Gallery because they were in session, but nothing was really going on, they were just sitting there and writing on files and stuff like that.
    The next day (my favorite day) we went to the Newseum and the Kennedy Center. The Newseum had ten floors of exhibits on major events and news stories. There was one exhibit which contained maybe thousands of newspapers which you could read every one of them. There were a lot of theaters and one of them was a 4D Theater. My favorite exhibit was an exhibit on 9-11. It was only the day after Osama bin Laden had been killed and already there were aisles of newspaper headlines showing him dead in the museum. I really think his death completed the 9-11 exhibits. They projected pictures of his death over the exhibit. That was my favorite exhibit. The Kennedy Center does a FREE show at 6:00 every night and I thought that was pretty amazing for a city like Washington DC. We saw two of their shows. Both of them were concerts and I really like instrumental music. The first one was great, but the second one was so boring, we finally had to leave in the middle.
    The whole time we were in Washington DC, we took the Metro or walked from place to place. By the last day, we were completely exhausted. We only took a free shuttle to the Kennedy Center which was very kind if them. I really liked how there were Metros all over Washington DC, so if you got out of one station at one end of WDC and ended up on the other end by the end of the day, instead of walking back, you could just go on one that might be right around the corner. The ride home (two days) was just like the ride to WDC so nothing to say there. That pretty much ends the Washington DC Trip, so I hope you enjoyed this post. If you want to see Washington DC as if you were there, just go to Google Earth, type Washington DC, put the orange icon on the map anywhere in WDC, click the 3D building box, and it pretty much looks like your there.

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Spring Animation

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Another Reunion

   Uncle Paul, who is my mom's cousin so really is my second cousin, came to visit these last two days. He was on a business trip but found an extra two days and was in America so he decided to come. When he arrived we took him to the Indian Palace which is a fancy Indan restaurant. Later we took him to the St. Louis Arch. We looked through the museum decided to go to the top of the arch. This was my first time to the top of the Arch and I have a small fear of hights so I was  almost too scared to enjoy it. The next day we basically showed him around Du Quoin and took him through the State Fairgrounds. We went to Carbondale next and later ate at the Golden Corral. Over all he enjoyed the visit and I liked it too.