We had been looking forward to our visit to Washington for a long time.
Both of us had been there before, but it had been a long time and things have changed quite a bit.
We camped at Cherry Hill RV Park, the closest park to D.C. and the only one that had a metro bus stop right in the park. We had no need to use our car at all. We took the bus to the train which took us right into D.C. They even allowed bicycles on both the bus and train, so we used our bikes to get around also. The bike trails around the D.C. area are great!
One of the highlights of our sightseeing adventures was a visit to the Capital where we had a private guided tour with an intern from Michael Burgess’s office. Michael Burgess is our congressman from Texas.
We stopped by his office and were told we could have a staff tour through the Capital building. We were disappointed that congress was not in session and that Congressman Burgess was back in his Texas office, but we still enjoyed every minute of our tour. Steven Gonzales (pictured with us in front of Michael Burgress's office) was our guide. He is in graduate school at Texas Tech in Lubbock and took an internship for a semester in Washington. Can you guess what sport he played? He played basketball at Tech, and is 6'8". Delton look so short next to him! Steven wanted to intern in the White House, but that didn’t come through for him, so he was assigned to Congressman Burgess.
We walked from the Congressman’s office to the Capital Building through a tunnel which connected the buildings. It is the same tunnel the congressman and senators use to travel from building to building.
We were disappointed that we were not able to see inside the White House. Security has gotten very strict since 911. You must apply 2-3 months ahead of time to visit the White House. It takes a week just to get a security check. All the streets around the White House are blocked off, even to walkers, so you can’t get very close at all.
Arlington Cemetery was impressive.
We saw John and Jackie Kennedy’s graves with the eternal flame on their plot. Beside John and Jackie's stones were the grave sites of two of their children which were miscarried.
We were able to see the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
It was a very moving ceremony. We also got to visit the grave site of Joni’s Uncle Joe. We have written a separate story about Uncle Joe.
The monuments and memorials were all over the area. We decided that would be a good day to ride our bikes around town. We added 26 miles to our odometers that day.
Were rode our bikes to Supreme Court Building, but were not allowed to go inside. That's Joni sitting on the steps.
We were allowed to go inside the OLD Supreme Court though. It hasn't been used for a few years.
We went to the Vietnam War Memorial Wall where Delton thought he might find the name of an old college football team mate, Charlie Warren. But his name wasn't on the wall.
While riding our bikes we also went to the Washington Monument, Reflecting Pool where Forrest Gump found his Jenny running through the water during his war speech
The Smithsonian is a group of museums, so we decided to visit only the ones we thought were most interesting. We went to the American History Museum, the Natural History Museum, and the Air and Space Museum (both downtown and at Dulles Airport). Delton enjoyed the airplanes the most, where we were able to see the Concord and Space Shuttles.
Joni enjoyed the American History museum best where we were able to view the First Ladies Gowns (shown is Laura Bush’s gown from the inaugural)
and the Hope Diamond among many other interesting things.
Tom and Connie Marich were our camping neighbors, who are also full timing in their motor home. They have about every gadget a motorhomer can have. Delton was very impressed with the pressure washer that Tom used to wash his motor home. It was fast and easy, so Delton had to have one. Our motor home should be a lot cleaner now that we have a pressure washer. Tom had a career in law enforcement and now is a republican party delegate and political consultant. He had some interesting stories to tell. We enjoyed getting to know them and spending time together.
We packed a lot of sightseeing into 2 weeks and have learned a lot about our history and our government. We are proud to be Americans.
