First of all- Boo on the White House for not allowing you to bring ANYTHING other than your phone on a tour. How are you expected to look and act like a tourist all day if you can't bring your camera. I felt naked. I got over it though. I figured we're going to be in the same area for the next 2 days so I can snap some photo's then.
We were REALLY lucky a couple of weeks ago and scored some tickets to tour the White House (along with the Capitol and Supreme Court). We only asked about 2 weeks in advance but one of Senator Hatch's many minions answering emails recognized "Lafeen" and figured out she knew Justin. The next day we had tickets to the White House. (One of the benefits of having a unique last name I suppose).
We showed up early (better safe than sorry) and figured we'd be waiting awhile before they let us go through. A couple of minutes later someone from the Secret Service told us that she would be making our day. The President was scheduled to leave the White House for the memorial at Fort Hood and we could go out to the lawn area to watch him take off on Marine One (the helicopter that takes him to Air Force One). AWESOME! We were so excited. About 30 of us, along with Press, waited outside while Marine One landed and got to see President and Michelle Obama come out and get on the helicopter. It was seriously cool and such an unexpected experience.After that, things just kept going our way. We visited the Washington Monument -got right on the elevator (showed up early again), when we came out there was a huge line. From there we walked up The Mall towards the Capitol. We stopped at two of the Smithsonian museums and the Conservatory on the way.
The only time where our timing wasn't great was at the Capitol. Since we were there early they got us in at an earlier time and we just happened to draw the short straw when it comes to tour guides. Man, she was ORNERY! I'm not sure why she was under the impression that we were a bunch of high school students (could have been the fact that Justin and I were the only 2 people in our group that were not from high school) but we were treated as such. She all but called our group a bunch of idiots because we weren't aware that in the year 1800 our nation was trying to decide if the capitol should be in Pennsylvania or D.C. Granted, the kids were from PA and still didn't know it, but it got a little uncomfortable when no one could produce an adequate answer. So, when the next quiz question came up and none of the kids said anything Justin spoke up and just about got asked to go sit in the corner. Apparently, she wanted the KIDS to answer the questions. Like we didn't pay good money and fly across the country to be on this tour, instead of get on a bus this afternoon and miss the rest of our classes like the rest of the snotty teenagers.
At this point in the day we were starting to lose steam, but managed to take the tunnel to the Library of Congress before getting on the Metro to come back to our hotel. We've had dinner and are desperately trying to stay awake until at least 9.
It sounds like the Little Man is enjoying his time at Grandma and Grandpa Hardcastles and they're keeping up with him too.
I am so mad at you both. I have been to D.C. at least 6 times and do you think I've ever been in the White House? We follow all the rules, we talk to every Utah congressman's/senator's offices, we are as polite as possible, etc. No go!! Grrrr. Last time I even took, ahem, a VETERAN with me. Do you think they'd let us in? NO! I'm mad.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, though, it sounds like you're having a great trip!