DC - Part 1

Whew, we did so much in DC it was ridiculous. I was always the trip planner for the family vacations we took growing up and my family would probably say that I am a schedule Nazi but Craig has me beat. And being a military brat, most of our family vacations were visiting friends/family while we were moving and we knew a lot of people in DC, so I had already visited at least 3 times that I remember but we still found lots of new and interesting places to explore so I won't complain about the grueling pace of our trip and the sore muscles it left me with.

I'll tell you up front, this will be a long post or two. I will just talk about each place we went to, show a few (okay, it will probably be a lot of) pictures, and give our recommendations but we did so much, it's gonna be long. Our ratings are on a 1-5 scale, with 5 being the best.

Capitol = 3 (Craig = 3 MacKenzie = 3)

It was a little disappointing because we signed up for the VIP tour through our Congressman and had heard from others that his pages take you around, but we just ended up on the general public tour. Craig said it made him reject the thought of ever voting for that guy as the public tour was really crowded and hard to hear. And I think the pre-tour video you sit through made Craig want to spew with all its "legislative branch is the best thing in the world" propaganda, but I tuned it out. Even with those negatives, I did enjoy seeing the rotunda and the statue gallery plus we did snag a cool picture of this guy from North Dakota. And anytime you get to see something North Dakota-related on a non-North Dakota trip, it's pretty cool.
Then, due to a miscommunication, we had to leave the Capitol to go to Mr. Congressman's
office to pick up our House and Senate passes then head back to the Capitol to sit in the House gallery (the Senate ended its day while we were in line so we missed that). It was pretty neat just to be sitting there but as it was Friday afternoon, there were only about 7-8 Congressman there and they were only discussing when they should take vacation - boring!

Botanical Gardens = 3.5 ( Craig = 3 MacKenzie = 4)

I hadn' t heard of this until I read someone's blog post with DC recommendations. It was on it, was something new, and was near the Capitol so we said - "why not?" Turns out, there isn't a good reason not to go here. It didn't take too long but it was a very nice break from all the crowded historical sites and I really enjoyed just walking around looking at tons of plants I had never seen. It was also one of my favorite places to take pictures. I'll probably be posting pictures later to get your recommendations on which to have printed. I think Craig got a little bored and wished he had something about Lincoln to read but that probably because he didn't have a camera like all those little kids did.

Ford's Theatre = 4.25 (Craig = 5 MacKenzie = 3.5)
Just reopened (we actually went before the grand reopening but still got to see all the new parts) and fairly nifty. We bought our tickets online instead of waiting early in the morning for the free ones but even if you don't, I think it would be worth waiting for, just to see the place where the whole thing went down.
(I know you don't really need to see two pictures of us waiting to enter, but I love this one of Craig because it illustrates the fact that this particular tourist spot is heavily weighted toward the older visitor).

The museum downstairs is pretty thorough, covering Lincoln's presidency, Booth's history, and the events of the day. While I didn't know much before the trip, I had learned quite a bit earlier that weekend from other museums and thought I might be bored, but I still found new information to keep me interested. My only negative with it was the timing, you go through the museum for a specific amount of time before heading to the real theatre for the presentation and it was longer than I needed in the museum (but not longer than Craig needed :-) Once upstairs, you see one of two small plays or a talk by a park ranger. You don't really know which one you will get. We got the park ranger talk and he pretty much went over what we had just read. It was a little long and while Craig enjoyed it and I probably would have too if I hadn't spent the day sightseeing, but since I had, I found it really hard to stay awake. I managed, but the lady next to me did not...and no, she was not a silent sleeper.

I might have enjoyed the plays more but that would have seemed weird, to be sitting there, seeing his seats, seeing the stage Booth leaped onto, breaking his leg, seeing the aisle they carried Lincoln out on...and being entertained, instead of seeing it as the more serious, historical site that it is. The ranger said that he considered Lincoln's assassination to be the worst act of terrorism in the U.S to this day. I would never have thought about it in those terms, but after reading all about it, I think Craig and I decided it did fit the definition of a terrorist act but was not necessarily the worst.

That's about it for now. We'll pick up our trip again soon (and hopefully on a happier note :-)