July 6, 2021

Washington DC

14  comments

In between our touring in Virginia & Maryland (two weeks ago) we had three days off and spend them in Washington DC.
We had been there three years ago so even though we went to some of the same places again 
(I could go to the Museum of American History every year and not get bored!) 
we also enjoyed visiting some new museums and taking in new sights.
Things there are just like one big history program and it was so fascinating to learn and drink everything in!
As a family, we went to the
 -Museum of American History 
-Russell Sate Senate Building
-Arlington Cemetery
One day we split up and Dad & Mom & the younger ones went to the
-Museum of Natural History
-Air & Space Museum
-IMAX “To Fly”
and us older ones went to the 
-Crime Museum
(FYI: I wouldn’t recommend the Crime Museum; there’s a lot of unnecessary and graphic details about all sorts of crimes and overall we didn’t feel like it what we learned was helpful or worth our time)
All the other places we visited were fantastic!
The one downside was the hassle of getting our big bus and all of us around the city!
 Tuesday morning/afternoon we spent at the Museum of American History.
The guys spent most of their time in the above section. I loved it too-so fascinating to read and learn more about all the different wars our country has fought in. 
The only frustrating thing was that the Civil War exhibits were extremely bias and wrote everything from the North’s point of view, which was aggravating-some of us older ones have studied the Civil War quite a bit and they left out lots of pretty amazing details about the Confederates. 
(btw,we may leave in a northern state but that does NOT make us yankees. just saying. =))
Our musical side was interested in this violin played by a soldier 
A favorite exhibit for the ladies in our family was Julia Child’s kitchen/cooking shows area. 
A quote from one of her old cooking shows that we watched 
“Some people think its wrong to use butter, because they think it is so fattening. In those cases I say, ‘just use cream’!” =)
love it. =)
Allison, Liz, & Rebecca in front of a replica of Julia’s kitchen
The “First Ladies” area was a favorite for Liz. 
Allison & I loved that one when we were at the museum three years ago and we knew we wanted to see it again this time. 
Above, Liz is in front of two dresses worn by first ladies at the inagural ball. The one on the right was worn by Laura Bush.
NOT impressed with the shoe fashion of “back then”. “
There was a wall in the museum dedicated to old political captions/cartoon drawings. 
This one was great….just wish it was still true today, but unfortunately the current goverement doesn’t view the constitiution as binding as our forefathers did.
Tuesday afternoon we had a meeting scheduled with our Iowa senator, Senator Grassley, at 4pm. 
Dad dropped us all off around 3:20pm several blocks from the senate building and then we walked while he went to try to find a place nearby to park the bus. 
It took him a long time and after he finally found a place he was out of time to walk back and had to catch a taxi. He came flying in at 3:58pm. We were glad he made it!
Above, the younger ones passed the waiting time by studying the list of all the different state senators.
We met with Senator Grassley last time we were in DC so he remembered our rather large tribe and the first question he asked us was if there were any additions since last time. =)
We had a great meeting with him-we are so thankful that our state has a senator that is willing to go against the flow and stand up for conservative values!
Following our meeting w/ Senator Grassley, we traveled a maze of elevators and underground hallways to get to Senator Rand Paul’s office.
We didn’t have a meeting scheduled with him but Dad wanted to go over and give our thanks for the way he spoke out with his fiery filibuster speech the prior week.
The guys outside of Rand Pauls office
We took some pictures outside of the Russell Senate Office Building
Getting back to the bus was an adventure in itself. 
Thankfully people were very helpful and happy to assist us when we got lost. =)
Finally!
headed toward the bus… “home” in sight!
there are so many amazing buildings in DC!!
We toured the Arlington Cemetery and watched the changing of the guards’ ceremony.
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
The changing of the guards-the order and respect observed-was so amazing!!
It is incredible how many times our founding fathers and various army generals quoted God in their speeches and various written documents!
This is a great one to end with-I saw this on the side of a building one day as we were driving toward the capitol. You can partially see how large it is-over twice as hight as the street post.

Tags

family, politics, Tour


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Leave a Reply
  1. It looks like you all had a memorable time in Washington DC! Our family was able to go there a few years ago. =) Thanks for sharing and many blessings!!

  2. I've been following your blog for a few months now and am really enjoying it! I especially enjoy these pics of Washington. And I have to say I defintely agree with you on the Civil War. I love studying the different wars this country has been apart of, mostly the Civil War and WWII, so I insanely studied the Civil War for about two years or so. Many, many things on that War were defintely biased…it drove me crazy!
    And then there's the fact that I'm a born-and-bred Virginia gal so being a southener at heart might be a reason it drives me crazy! 🙂
    But speaking of Washinton DC, have you ever been to the Holocaust Musuem…….I always wanted to go there…even though it's depressing…….. :'(
    ~Hannah Price

  3. Wow, how neat!The violin is interesting. What a treasure to leave behind. While we were in VA we got to hear Davy Crockett's violin being played. That left us with a lasting memory! What a great opportunity to visit leaders. Keep praying for our leaders!

  4. Wow, I'm amazed! I've always dreamed of going to DC, it looks amazing.
    How neat that your senator remembered y'all- and did you all end up getting to talk to Rand Paul?
    I totally agree on the north/south thing! I think, anymore, people tend to view it as a war just about slavery. love American History 🙂

  5. Thank you for sharing the pics. I hope to visit there some time. Thankfully, you got back to your bus!
    I can't find the words to describe the pictures of your excursion here. I enjoyed them, I can say that.

    Rebecca

  6. Next time you should park your bus outside the city and take public transportation – that's an experience in itself and then you don't have to worry about parking!!! 🙂

    We have gone to Chicago on Amtrak twice now, used public transportation the entire time and loved it.

  7. Omg…..i live a hour or less away from Washington DC. I've been to the Captial and all the muesums that u all went to. We take the metro whenever we are going to DC becuase there are just so many different streets and its very hard driving. I love u and ur family and someday i pray i can meet u all in person!!!!
    Love Lexi B.

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