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Disneyland July 2010

I was fortunate enough to visit Washington D.C. this month for training. I decided to extend my training session a few extra days and turn it into a vacation as well. Jess flew out on the last day of my training and stayed the last 4 days with me. It was a much needed vacation for us both. Here are some highlights:

The United States Capitol (bigger than I expected)
This is one amazing building!

From Washington D.C

From Washington D.C

The White House (it looks so small! Seriously, from the front it looks tiny. Unfortunately, you have to have an appointment, which takes about 3-4 months minimum to get, in order to get around the backside to actually see how big this thing it) It is REALLY REALLY WHITE! I was amazed, I wonder how often they clean it…?

From Washington D.C

This is the reflecting pond outside the Lincoln Memorial. Yep, it’s empty. Unfortunately every year before the famed Cherry Blossom Festival they drain it and clean it. We were there 2 weeks before. Sucks, but gives us another reason to go back.

From Washington D.C

The Lincoln Memorial. This was so powerful. Lincoln was truly a great man, being in this monument was, well… monumental!

From Washington D.C

From Washington D.C

From Washington D.C

The view of the Washington Monument from the Lincoln Memorial. This is a great view of the reflecting pool and I can’t even imagine how amazing this must look when it is full. What an inspiration!

From Washington D.C

I had no idea there was an observatory at the top of the Washington Monument. I also had no idea you had to get tickets in advance. They are nice enough to hand out the extra tickets first thing in the morning for those of us who failed to do their research.

Jess and I decided it would be worth it to head up to the top (and it was!) but that meant that we had to leave our hotel at 7:30 to get there by 8:00 so we could be in line for when they start handing out tickets at 9:00. Normally this would not have been a problem, but on this particular day… it rained. Then snowed. Then rained. Then rained some more. Did you ever see Winne the Pooh and the Blustery day? Ya, I expected to see Piglet and Pooh floating by in ‘hunny’ pots and on chairs. Also, it was REALLY cold.

From Washington D.C

A Great view of the Lincoln Memorial

From Washington D.C

The White House

From Washington D.C

The Capitol and National Mall (American History Museum is on the bottom left and the Natural History Museum is right next to it… they are MASSIVE)

From Washington D.C

The view as straight down as I can get it. The building shown is where we got out tickets.

From Washington D.C

Inside the American History Museum we saw so many things! I didn’t get pictures of a whole lot, but Jess has a ton. I will upload them as soon as possible.
The Hope Diamond

From Washington D.C

From Washington D.C

Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond (there is a hole in the center, I dubbed this the doughnut diamond)

From Washington D.C

From Washington D.C

We also saw the Ruby Slippers, Kermit the Frog, and Julia Child Kitchen (Yep, her REAL kitchen. They moved it piece by piece and used Polaroid photos to make sure everything was in the EXACT same place.

The most amazing thing we saw was original the Star Spangled Banner. It brought tears to my eyes and made me so proud to be an American, and even more proud of my dear husband who fought to make sure that flag never loses it’s meaning. The song was posted behind the flag and I couldn’t even bring myself to read the lyrics for fear of sobbing loud enough to bother other visitors. The flag is enormous. 30 feet tall by 32 feet long, and that is the tattered and torn version. The flag when it was new it was 30×42. This was by far the most amazing thing I saw (outside of Arlington). No pictures were allowed, so I do not have anything to show you, however click here and visit the Smithsonian Website.

There is a giant section on the Military History in the U.S. Jess has all those photo, so it will get it’s own post (hopefully in a few days)

The Natural History Museum:

The Elephant (as made famous in Night at the Museum)

From Washington D.C

For Ryan:

From Washington D.C

From Washington D.C

There is so much more to tell and so much more to show, but this blog is getting really long! I will make a part two with more from the American History Museum, my AMAZING birthday dinner and Jess riding a mechanical bull (yep, that makes you want to come back doesn’t it!)
TTFN!