Washington D.C. - Day One

Matt's sitting in the chair in our hotel room right now trying to map out a plan for tomorrow. We were here in D.C. many moons ago with Sue and Jeffrey, but you forget just how far things are away from each other. Walking around in the heat here for miles gets tiring...

This morning we started out by finding the Metro Station which is about three blocks downhill from our hotel. Downhill is good right? Nope, not at the end of the day when you are just plum tired and have to walk back up that big hill! After finally figuring out how to buy tickets, we get on the Metro and head into D.C. It's about 9am at this time and the Metro is full - I can't imagine it during rush hour. We get off at a stop downtown about a block away from the International Spy Museum. We are not allowed to take pictures inside the Spy Museum as everything is of course Top Secret.

After the Spy Museum we have lunch and head off to see the rowhouse that Abe Lincoln died in. We enjoy a quick walk-thru and then decide to show the kids the big ole FBI building. The building has taken down almost all their signs and have boarded and gated up all their entrances. After 9/11 they closed the building to the public and have not reopened it yet.

We head down the hill a few more blocks and arrive at the National Archives Building. The line doesn't seem so long, but it takes about 45 minutes to get inside. We get to see the Actual Authentic Declaration of Independance, The Constitution of the United States, the Bill of Rights, and the Magna Carta. The kids are less enthused than we are. We encounter a rather tightly wound security guard in this area. No flash photography allowed. Matt turns off the flash, but the auto focus light still goes on. The security guard tells Matt that he's lost his camera priveleges and must put it away - spoil sport.

After a long day downtown in D.C. we find a Metro Station four blocks away - did I mention that the blocks are VERY long? We head back to our hotel to rest for a while before having dinner.

The boys are laying in bed - not sleeping as you can see from the photos below. Matt's enjoying some cookies right now, so I'm sure he's worked out our plan for Day two. That's all for now.