Touring Our Nation's Capital

We played tourist on Friday, seeing things we didn't see last October when we were last in DC. (And that was a plane trip, so no blog post, but just to keep track, on that trip we visited, or revisted, Arlington Cemetery, the 911 memorial at the Pentagon, the Library of Congress, the Museum of the American Indian, Museum of American History to see Julia Child's kitchen, and then we participated in a march for equality down Pennsylvania Avenue, past the White House, and on to the Capitol.)

This visit had us going to:

Supreme Court
There was a very nice exhibit on Sandra Day O'Connor, who is one of my favorite Justices of all time. She was not only really, really smart and tenacious, but also quite funny:

View from the Court to the Capitol:

National Archives (no photos allowed)
We got to see the original parchment versions of the Declaration of Independence, the 4-page (!) Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Very moving. And the only photos we could take with the iPhone were outside. Love the compact flourescents ;-)



International Spy Museum (no photos allowed)
A very hands-on, interactive private museum that we were, I'm afraid, a bit too full-up from reading exhibit signs to appreciate this last place fully. But if you have kids, this would surely be a must-visit. Lots of spy devices to play with.

We had lunch at the place I used to hang out in when I was but a lowly Congressional intern back in the day: the Tune Inn on Capitol Hill. Little did we know that Guy Fieri had just been here (look for his review on DDD this fall). I just had to have what he had. Oh my, it was tasty. And the sweet potato fries were substituted for "health." Yeah, that's the ticket.....


Next time, we're thinking we should plan ahead far enough and get tickets for the White House and perhaps an oral arguments session at the Supreme Court. (I did both of those things back in 1982, but I'd sure go again, and Lisa would like to see 'em for the first time.)