Washington DC

This past weekend I was woken up to a surprise invitation to go to DC with my dad. At first I replied with, "No, go away! Let me sleep." It made me realize that, if somebody woke me up and asked me if I wanted a million dollars, the first thing I would say would probably be, "Do I have to get up?" Of course, I ended up going. I don't think I could refuse an all expense paid trip, especially to someplace like DC! We ended up taking off out of Salt Lake International Airport just four hours after I woke up. It was pretty crazy, waking up without any plans, then going to sleep on the other side of the country.

We went mainly to visit Elizabeth and Cody, who just moved out there for a semester, though seeing some of the sights was definitely part of the agenda. The first couple of days we were there, I mainly stayed with them at Cody's dad's house. There was a large gathering on the national mall and it was packed quite full, so I was kind of avoiding that. Monday was the first day we ended up going into the city. We walked along the mall and saw the Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Memorial, World War II Memorial, the Washington Monument, and the Capitol Building from the outside. That was a fun day, but it was really hot and muggy so we were all exhausted by the end of the day. I even think I may have gotten heat exhaustion.

The next day we were a little smarter and planned it out, and more importantly, planned out to be inside most of the day. We started off going to the Capitol Building again, but going inside and we took a tour. That was pretty interesting, we got to see a lot of statues and the old Supreme Court chamber. It wasn't exactly what I was hoping it was though, to go into the parts that are in use on a tour it sounds like you need to talk to your congressperson beforehand. After we finished the tour, we ate in the Capitol Visitors Center restaurant/cafeteria. The food there was pretty good, and not excessively pricey. Following a delicious meal we took a tunnel (yay for staying out of the heat!) over to the Library of Congress. I really, really enjoyed the library. We couldn't actually go into any of the reading rooms, but just the Grand Hall alone was breathtaking. I can't really do it justice, so I won't try, but I will say that it was probably the highlight of my entire trip.

Once we finished at the Library of Congress we walked down to the National Archives. Sadly, we were out in the heat for that wasn't so fun. It didn't take too long to get there though and when we got in we got to see a copy of the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights! That was pretty cool too. There was quite a bit more in there but it was getting late so we went home for the night.

The next day was a little more scatterbrained, we didn't end up heading out til around noon. We started out at the Capitol Building eating lunch there again. Afterward we, having learned our lesson the day before with the archives, got back on the metro to go to the National Museum of Natural History. That was really fun, I ran around looking at the exhibits. I got to see the mammals, most of the gems, and a bit of the human section. I also got to see a film on the IMAX screen they have there. It was about a gathering of sardine schools and a large variety of predators near the wild coast off south east Africa. It was pretty fascinating, and reminded me of when I was little and wanted to be a marine biologist. The whole experience there at the museum reminded me how much I love science. (Specifically the physical sciences, I haven't forgotten my love of the social sciences.) As we were leaving my dad offered to buy me a souvenir, so I picked up a stuffed animal white tiger cub which is just adorable, I love it.

Then this morning I woke up at five AM there, (3 AM here) got driven an hour and a half to the airport then took a four hour flight home, came to my second (technically the third day) of class, which wasn't that great but you can't always have the great classes. Anyway, it was an awesome trip and I had loads of fun, but I'm definitely glad to be home now.