A Visit with Family and a Capitol Tour

The OHR gang had a pair of great treats today.  After spending the morning at the campground catching up on grocery shopping, cleaning and laundry, we headed to the Metro station to catch the Green line downtown around lunch time.  We met Shirley's Aunt Ellen and her husband Rich for a picnic lunch.  After meeting up with them at Ellen's office, we walked over to Lafayette Park, which is across the street from the White House, and spread a blanket to enjoy sandwiches that Rich had made.  Very tasty!  Here's a shot of Ellen with the girls.

 

After we bid farewell to Ellen and Rich, we headed back underground to take the Metro to the Capitol for an afternoon tour.  Even though we see pictures of the Capitol all the time on TV, it is still quite impressive as you walk up the hill toward the building.

 

All visitors to the Capitol must now enter through the new underground Visitors Center.  The new center cost $600 million and took 8 years to build, but it does provide a convenient, secure way for visitors to enter the building.  The new Visitors Center also contains a nice exhibit on the history of the Capitol building.

Our tour began with a movie titled "Out of Many, One".  We then were assigned a group with a tour guide to show us the Rotunda, Statuary Room and Crypt.  We didn't obtain gallery passes so could not access the House or Senate Chambers, but I did visit my favorite Speaker's office.

My eyes are closed because I was afraid she would show up and that vision would be burned into my retinas for eternity. 

Below is a photo of our tour guide.  He was a pain in the ass.

Even though the tour guide stunk, the building is beautiful.  This is the rotunda ceiling.

Wouldn't be a Holiday Road post without a cute pic of Stella...

After the tour, it was already 4:00 and time for us to head back to the Metro for our ride home.  Gwen snapped this shot of the L' Enfant Plaza station, which is pretty typical of most of the Metro stations.  Thought I'd include it in case you haven't ridden the DC metro system before.  It's an awesome transit system...clean, safe and convenient. 

 

Tomorrow is our last day in DC before we head for the final leg of our journey in Williamsburg.  We plan on spending the day at the National Zoo.  Hopefully I'll have Panda pictures to share tomorrow night!