Our nation's capitol

It has been a while since I wrote and I wanted to fill you in with how my recent trip to Washington D.C. went. God has blessed my family in many ways and I have been able to go on several wonderful vacations in my life. This trip has to be one of the best. Since last December, I had only taken one day of vacation so I was more than ready for an escape. We flew out last Saturday morning to Ronald Reagan International Airport and we stayed at the J.W. Marriott in downtown D.C. This hotel was one of the most elegant hotels I have ever seen. In addition, because my Mom is a platinum member of Marriott, we were upgraded to a suite with a view of the monuments and the White House. It was an absolutely spectacular room. Being a newspaper junkie, I loved that I could get free USA TODAY, NY Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post every day. I had never read the Post before but I was extremely impressed with it. The address of the hotel was 1390 Pennsylvania Avenue so that gives you an indication of how close it was to the White House. As you know, there are several cities in America that I love including Chicago, San Francisco, Minneapolis, and San Diego but I think Washington D.C. is my new favorite. First off, it is much bigger than I thought. Second, it has an amazing amount of things to do and see. Third, it is visually very beautiful. The architecture is stunning and full of such history. In addition, the diversity was amazing. Not just skin color, but you had on the one hand the most powerful, wealthy people in the country to hippie protesters, to homeless people. That is one thing I really did not like. I have never been to a city with as many homeless people as D.C. There were also a lot of college students around. I didn’t realize so many colleges were within a twenty minute drive of downtown including George Washington University, Georgetown, the Naval Academy, Univ. of Maryland, Howard, and others.

When we arrived on Saturday, we spent the afternoon and night walking around downtown. We walked by Ford Theater where President Lincoln was killed and eventually meandered over to Chinatown. That was quite an experience. I loved all of the shops and restaurants. We ate a tapas restaurant called La Casta. It was really good but in general I feel that tapas restaurants are frustrating and can be spendy. This was no exception. Sunday morning we met cousin Mike Taylor. After just graduating with his master’s degree from Univ. of Maryland, he got this great job with the U.S. Department of Justice. We spent the day going to the two Air and Space Museums. Like most of the Smithsonian museums, admission was free; which I liked. We saw about everything from the Enola Gay that bombed Japan, to a Blackbird spy plane, to cold war missiles. But after two museums of aircraft, we were all ready to go home. Mike recommended we eat at this pizza place called Matchbook. His recommendation was right on and the food was fantastic.

On Monday, my parents had a bit of a surprise for us. We spent the morning on these things called Segways. Which are like motorized scooters you stand on. I thought it was going to be really dorky but it was really really fun. They actually can go pretty fast. Anyway, we got a tour of some of the D.C. Landmarks on a Segway. After the tour, we ate at the legendary Ol Ebbit’s Grill. My Dad wasn’t feeling well so he actually went to the hospital with my Mom and my sister and I hung out at the hotel for the rest of the day. He just had a mild fever, maybe he was dehydrated, but he is fine now. I also went on the Metro. The Metro is just like Chicago’s train/subway system except it is much newer and cleaner. I was very impressed. We ended up using the Metro every day for the rest of the trip.

Tuesday was a jam packed day. We woke up early and went to the Museum of Natural History, then we went to the National Archives to see the original Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence, next up was the American Indian museum, after that we walked to the Lincoln Memorial, World War II Memorial, Korean War Memorial, and Vietnam Wall. Whew. I am tired just writing about it. I could write pages about each thing I saw. It was so moving to go the various war memorials. I didn’t realize so many Americans lost their lives in the Korean War. About 54,000 soldiers died in the Korean War – only about three thousand less than the Vietnam War. We also walked around George Washington University’s campus in an area called Foggy Bottom. This area is kind of like Minneapolis’ Uptown or Chicago’s Wrigleyville. It is a great area for a college. After a delicious dinner at Legal Seafood, we all were asleep by about 9:00.

Wednesday was another busy day. We started by going to the Spy Museum. I loved it! It had all kinds of cool artifacts and history of the KGB, CIA, and other spy agencies. I highly recommend it. After that we went to Washington’s newest museum, the Newsseum. This is a museum that focuses on the history of the press, and media. This was also very cool. I could go into great detail about these places as well. At the Newsseum, Colin Powell walked by which was really cool. My favorite exhibit was the Pulitzer Prize exhibit. They had a picture of every single winning Pulitzer Prize and a caption explaining it. That was just awesome. My favorite picture was of this girl who was dying of Starvation in Africa and there was a vulture right by her. I know it is morose but also incredibly beautiful. The photojournalist was instructed by the U.N. not to help the starving child or get close because there were so many diseases. Many of the Pulitzer Prize winners were macabre. I spent a great deal of time in that exhibit just alone with my thoughts on the often lurid nature of humans while looking at pictures from Vietnam, Tienanmen Square, and Africa.

Thursday was yet another busy day. My Mom had another surprise for us. Apparently a friend of a friend knows Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar. Imagine my surprise when we go to the capitol for a tour, but we instead go to a side door and we meet Senator Klobuchar and her staff. Senator Klobuchar was very nice, humble, and to me, meeting a senator and actually having a conversation is so much cooler then meeting a celebrity. I know that puts me in the minority but I’m okay with that. Later, one of her interns gave us a great tour of the U.S. Capitol. After that, we took a tour of the White House and Jefferson Memorial.

We did not slow down on Friday either. My Dad and sister went to the Zoo while my Mom and I went to the Holocaust Museum. I was deeply moved by this museum. What I found most interesting was how Hitler became Germany’s Chancellor. Quite a story! This is a beautiful museum. Later that day, my family and I met up and we walked around Georgetown University’s campus and the Washington Harbor. Georgetown has a really interesting college town. It is not in downtown and kind of secluded in D.C.

We left back for Minneapolis on Saturday. All in all I give the trip an A+. I know this is long already but I really feel I could have gone into much more detail about certain exhibits and museums. And there was so much that we didn't get to see because there were only so many hours in a day. I would love to go back soon and see the American History museum, one of the four major art museums, maybe a Washington Nationals baseball game, the zoo so I could see the pandas, and more. But no complaints; what a great trip!