America's Capitol

We are home from our 9 day trip to Washington DC!  My oh my, did we see a lot and learn a lot!  A story.. we passed through security at the Portland International Airport and met up with my 2 sisters and 2 brothers-in-law and I looked in my purse for something and pulled out my camera bag and..... and..... it was empty.  The new Lumix camera I got with a super fab zoom lens JUST FOR THIS TRIP.. was at home on the charger in the kitchen.  I was more than crushed.  After arriving in DC, getting checked in to the hotel, and we were having dinner I thought, hmmm.. I wonder if we could have it mailed to us overnight? I called my son Travis and told him the story and he and his wife Kristi leapt into action and drove out here to the farm, found the camera and it's box, went to the post office and mailed it to me!!  It arrived on Wednesday.  So, all the photos from the first 2 days were taken with my iPhone 4S.  :-)  This photo is a favorite of mine of the capitol building.  They are working on *everything* in DC, and as you can see they have some covered scaffolding at the base of the dome.  Kinda ruins the photos but what can you do?

We stayed in a hotel 30 minutes from downtown DC and used Metro to get downtown.  It's a train that goes above ground and then goes underground like a subway.  That was an experience in itself!  

We got into town that first day and walked out onto the Washington Mall grassy area between the capitol building and the Washington Monument to look around.  I snapped this photo of the Washington Monument.  We were treated to wonderfully cool and shady weather, which suited us Oregonians to a T!

First museum on our schedule was the one below.  Kudos goes to my sister Denise and her husband Steve who had been to DC several times and coordinated our touring.  

I looked around the main level and then went up to the First Ladies display area where they have all the dresses from all the First Ladies over the years that they wore during their Inaugurations.  This one was beautiful. 

I was very excited to see the dress worn by Michelle Obama as I remember so well watching her wear this at the inauguration of our president Barack Obama not that long ago. 

They also had china from many of the Presidencies - I was thrilled to be this close to dishes used by Abraham Lincoln! 

In another area they had a whole section with fun items from movies, these are Dorothy's "Ruby Slippers" that Judy Garland wore in the movie the "Wizard of Oz"!  

We were thrilled to see the famous flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the "Star Spangled Banner" - our National Anthem!  Find out more by clicking HERE.  The flag was flown during the War of 1812.  There was also a dollhouse there that was amazing with many rooms and amazing vintage pieces - but I don't want to "over post" with too many photos so I won't show those.  We then headed to the US Capitol Building for a tour set up by my sister and BIL.  Below is the ceiling inside the dome... isn't it gorgeous!?  More info HERE.

The dome room was absolutely wonderful, with paintings all around the circle of important events of American history by artists such as John Trumbull, and others. 

It was such an honor to be able to visit this building which is so important to the American people, and it was full of beautiful art, statues and architecture. 

This painting is "The Surrender of General Burgoyne" by John Trumbull.  You can see it better and all the other paintings HERE. 

Below is just one of the many statues in the rotunda - this one is Alexander Hamilton. 

Another vantage point of the US Capitol Building.   

This trip involves a LOT of walking.  After all the touring we made our way back to the Metro station, boarded the train, rode it back to where we had parked our rented van, drove through traffic to the hotel and rested a bit then went out to a nice dinner at Macaroni Grill.  Our tour leader Steve gave us our "marching orders" for the next morning - up at 6 am, breakfast in the lobby, departure at 7:15 and head back to DC.  I hope you've enjoyed going along with us on our visit to DC.  I will share more in my next installment. :-)  Now, I'm off to volunteer at Multnomah Falls!  Oh my!  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)