Washington DC

Sunday, March 11
(pictures will be added soon)

We thought we had found a place to pay and park in DC, but do to the St. Patrick's Day Marathon, a random protest, and the St. Patrick's Day Parade we were drove in circles looking for parking.  God is so good! We found parking right next to most of the sights for FREE! First we headed over to the National Archives where there was no line to get in.  We saw letters to the president, early bills that referenced the Bible, and Mark Twain in the old records.  Hannah then found out that her great great great great great great....gr...t... grandfather and uncle came over on the Mayflower. She found out that her uncle actually fell out of the Mayflower, and they had to pull him back on.  She has now been dubbed "Miss Mayflower" or "Martha Washington". Then we went into the Rotunda and saw the original Bill of Rights, Constitution, and Declaration of Independence.  We had fun discussing the theories, conspiracies, and mysteries behind National Treasure.

Next we went to the National American History Museum.  The First Lady exhibit with all of the inaugural dresses was definitely a favorite among most of us.  We also saw the original Star Spangled Banner.  We had no clue it was as big as it is, 30 by 42 feet!  In the pop culture section where they had different movies across time, Wizard of Oz was a big hit.  Hannah was dissapointed that Dorothy's slippers were on tour.

As we walked outside there was a parade! The St. Patrick's Day parade was going on.  There was green everywhere across the city.  It was so cool to see all of the Irish dancers and some HOT men in skirts/kilts made a debut.   Lauren was able to talk to this trumpet playing guy on the side of the street who played some Louis Armstrong upon request .  We passed a guy playing the drums on buckets, shopping cart, and trash cans. Then walked back to the car to grab our sandwiches for lunch and ate a picnic lunch in some grass by the car. I think we all found it very relaxing, especially after walking all around earlier.

Then we traveled on to Capitol Hill, the White House, and the mall (the area where most of the memorials and the Capitol are). Unfortunately, there was still a lot of construction going on from the earthquake awhile ago, but it was still great to see! We took pictures, met some great people (including a man from the Dominican Republic who gave Lauren some advice for her internship this summer!), and felt very cultured. The White House was definitely a lot smaller than we expected, but we were extremely interested in the sniper actions. There was a goat that was involved in radioactive testing or something that was hanging out by the White House "protesting." We were a little confused, but it was funny at least! There was also a woman in a tent across from the White House who had been there since 1981. She was basically protesting against nuclear weapons by sitting there with all these signs and crazy stuff. It was great to talk to her! Taylor and Lauren got to talk to her for a few minutes before we made reservations and headed back to the mall to see the Lincoln Memorial, Korean Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Washington Monument, and the World War II Memorial. I could talk about these for a very, very long time, but suffice to say each memorial has its own unique personality and feel that gives a specific feel. World War II presents an extrememly united front, mostly optimistic, but provides a cool picture of the culture of the US during that time whereas the Korean Memorial is haunting with the empty, hurting facial expressions of soldiers set up to be wandering in the jungles. The Vietnam Memorial makes me (Lauren) cry every time I visit it. A volunteer told us all about the symbolism and history of its creation, which was extremely interesting and helped us appreciate it more. We saw a Vietnam veteran visiting the names of his friends who had fallen with his daughter and recounting how he knew them and their stories. It reminded me to be extremely grateful for what we have been given. It was and is not free. What a cool picture of Christ's sacrifice for us! For the undeserving, paid for with the highest price, but given freely. Wow. Thank you, veterans. Another one of my favorite memories was just laying in the grass in the front of the Washington Monument for a little bit and relaxing/people watching (a group favorite). It was lovely. Then we realized we had spent way too long at the memorials (no regrets!) and had to basically speed walk/sprint to make our reservations at Old Ebbits Grill. FANTASTIC! Such a great experience and SUCH good food! Ohmyword. We then met up with Hannah's cousin and her husband to go to a free concert at the Kennedy Center. That also was so fun! But after such a long day it was honestly a little hard to keep our eyes open... But the music was wonderful! It was tribute to Austrian music and was more dark and dissonant than I was used to, but was still a delightfully "eye-opening" experience haha. The music itself (and the playbill some..) told stories of Austrian history and past pain. Now we're back in the hotel room and about to crash, but realized we hadn't updated the blog in a couple days, so here it is! Kind of jumbled, but its been a WONDERFUL day overall, glory to God! :) Night!

Love, us!