Monday, July 9, 2012

Second Day in DC

After a good night's sleep, we got up bright and early on Tuesday morning to head to downtown DC for more sightseeing.
Our first stop was the National Air and Space Museum.

Harrison was excited to go here, but Caitlin not so much. 

We saw lots and lots of airplanes. 

And they had a big space exhibit which Caitlin found extremely boring since she has been to our Space & Rocket Center so many times! 

Harrison loved all the airplanes especially the Spirit of St. Louis. 

The Wright Brothers exhibit was very interesting. 

Caitlin did enjoy the Amelia Earhart display. 

One of Harrison's favorites: the Hindenburg.

After walking through the Museum, we had to stop for a little snack. We found some shade and enjoyed pretzels and water that we bought from one of the many street vendors. 

When we were walking to our next stop, we passed by the American Indian Museum.
We didn't go in, but Harrison loved looking at the different Indian houses scattered around the outside of the museum. 

Our next stop was the Capitol. 

Caitlin and I were very excited to tour the Capitol.
(This picture somehow got out of order.)
One of our first views of the magnificent building.
Funny Story: When we asked the dad of another family to take our picture, he told Randy, "Roll Tide" because of Randy's Alabama cap. Randy said it back, then asked where he was from. The dad said, "Athens, Alabama." What a small world!
On our guided tour of the Capitol, we got to walk under the enormous rotunda. Our tour guide gave us lots of fun facts about the painting up in the ceiling.
We were amazed at the beauty!
I got to see the statue of my favorite president, Ronald Reagan.
I knew, according to research, that each state puts two statues in the Capitol Building.
Alabama is represented by Joe Wheeler and

Helen Keller. Caitlin was pretty amazed by this statue of her.

After we left the Capitol, we made our way to our next stop: 

 the National Archives

They were getting the outside ready for the Fourth of July parade to be held the following day, so it looked very patriotic.
Unfortunately for us, there is no photography allowed in the Archives building.
It has something to do with the flashes destroying the documents.
But just know, we got to see the original Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and Constitution. It was very interesting!

We then went back to our hotel for another afternoon swim.
After getting cleaned up, we got back in the car and headed to Baltimore. 

Where Randy got to enjoy one of his favorite foods--blue crabs.
We all ended up eating some sort of crab dish which were all delicious!
My crazy family!!

After a long, fun day, we all went to bed pretty quickly ready to start our first Fourth of July celebration in our nation's capital the next day.

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