Mom's Visit to DC (Part III)

Monday, 18Feb13
This was the last full day of the trip and as per usual it was jam packed even though I had to work the next day.  We were at the National Archives by 9:30 AM waiting to get in at 10:00 AM.  We were the second group in line.  While were waiting in line we talked to a family from Colorado who were in DC to vacation and be with a high schooler in the family who was competing in an event in DC.  Also while waiting to get into the National Archives, buses of middle school student poured.  So it was a good we arrived early to avoid any delays while looking at the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, or Bill of Rights.  The only words you could actually read on the Declaration of Independence were "John Hancock" because all of the other words were so faded.  I had gone to the National Archives before before when there was a long line to the National Archives and it took a long time to see the documents.  Seeing the documents made both of our faces light up.  We were looking at history.  We were looking at what our founding fathers wrote.  We were looking at the foundation of greatest country the world has ever known.

After the National Archives, we ate cupcakes and drank hot chocolate at Red Velvet.  The cupcakes were some of the best cupcakes I have ever eaten.  I would say the cupcakes were better than Georgetown cupcakes.  I got Southern Belle, which is a red velvet cake with a cream cheese frosting, and Cookies and Cream, which is a chocolate cupcake with a butter cream frosting.

The next place we visited was the National Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum.  The portrait gallery portion of the museum was more in a sense a history museum.  We were able to the face of famous people from the beginning of the country up to the present.  Some of the notable portraits were Pocahontas  John D. Rockefeller, Walt Whitman, and George Patton.  My favorite section was the portraits of the Presidents.  The section included portraits of every president from Washington to Bush 43.  The section also included the life mask of Abraham Lincoln.

Our last major stop of the trip was the Ford's Theater were Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.  The first stop on the tour was a museum in the basement of theater.  The museum chronicled Lincoln from being elected to the presidency through the Civil War and his assassination.  The museum included the actual gun that John Wilkes Booth used to kill Lincoln.  I was not aware the gun was on display until I arrived at the museum.  Next the entire tour group sat down in the reconstructed Ford's Theater (I am not going to get into the details of the building.  You can read about it on your own time).  A park range came on to the stage to give an account of the events leading up to the assassination and the night of the assassination.  After exiting the theater, we went to the Petersen House where Lincoln was taken after getting shot and died.  The building besides the bed room where Lincoln died has been turned into a museum about what happened immediately after his death (i.e. the death march from Washington DC to Springfield, IL) and Lincoln's legacy.

To end the day we went to Pi Pizzeria in Washington DC.  This way I would have lunch for the next day.  The deep dish pizza was decent.  It is not as good as Chicago deep dish pizza.  Our waiter was a law graduate from Drake University in Des Moines, IA.  She moved out to DC in October for the more plentiful opportunities in her chosen field of public policy.  Our final activity was seeing the White House lit up at night.  We wanted to go to the Lincoln Memorial, but it was too far of a walk.  While we were taking pictures, couple got engaged right next to us.  It was a nail biter as the woman did not say the magic word (i.e. "Yes") right away. haha.

Overall, it was a great trip!  I loved being able to spend quality time (my #1 love language) with my Mom.  With me being out here on my own, I now see all the work and love she gave while I lived Iowa.  I also appreciate it more because I now know it is not as easy as I thought was to work and love like my Mom.  The previous statement applies to my Dad as well.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Ford's Theater Sign

The Gun used to Kill Lincoln 

My Mom and a Lincoln Statue in the Ford's Theater Museum 

Ford's Theater 

Replica of President's Box where Lincoln was Shot

Petersen House

Sign on the Front of the Petersen House

Room where Lincoln Died

Replica of the Bed Lincoln Died

Pile of Books Written about Lincoln in the Petersen House

Magnets available at the gift shop (must have run out of the other kind haha)

My Mom Reading in the Hotel Room

Mom's Visit to DC (Part II)

Saturday, 16Feb13
This day by far was our most exciting and exhausting day of the trip.  Once again we woke up at 5:30 am to get an early start on the day.  This was needed to get to the White House on time for our tour.  We wanted to be on time to ensure we were able to get on our tour.  The White House has the tightest security out of the any places we went.  We were sniffed by dogs and we were not able to bring any bags or cameras.  On our self guided tour we went through the East Room, Green Room, Blue Room, Red Room, and State Dining Room.  It was really fun!  My Mom commented she remembered being able to see more of the White House on her last visit including the Oval Office.  This is possible since 9/11 changed how security is administered especially with the government.

Our next stop was the Library of Congress.  I had been there before and left unimpressed.  This visit ended very differently than the last one.  The difference was the docent led tour and video about the Library of Congress.  The docent was able to point features of the architecture of the building I did not realize was present.  One feature was how the artists tried instill American culture and accomplishments into the building in the ancient style.  One example is a picture in the floor of a naked baseball team.  The baseball team is from the American sport of baseball.  The baseball team being depicted naked is in the style of ancient civilizations such as the Greeks and Romans.  Another example is the use of the American crop corn in mosaics.  There was also a copy of a complete Gutenberg Bible.  The reading room looked the same as it did in National Treasure.  Unfortunately, the docent told us that there is no Book of the Presidents located in the stacks at the Library of Congress.

Next we went back to Huntington to rest up for our big night of watching a play at the Kennedy Center and dinner at Ris.

We took the Metro from Huntington to Foggy Bottom by the George Washington campus.  There was a shuttle waiting to pick us up to take us to the Kennedy Center.  We arrived at the Kennedy Center early like most places on our trip.  This gave time to explore the entire building.  During our exploration, artists were working on pieces of art a new Nordic theme for artists coming to the Kennedy Center next month.  There is a balcony that had a wonderful view of Georgetown and Virginia over the Potomac River and the Washington Monument in DC.  Eventually we were seated for our performance   We saw an interesting play with audience interaction called "Shear Madness".  Afterward we went to Ris to have a really nice dinner.  My Mom deserves so much more than a nice dinner, but this is the best I could do at the time.  She ordered sweet potato soup, braised short ribs, and chocolate cake.  I ordered a New England Clam Chowder, Salmon with red wine sauce, and Salty Turtle Sundae.  The food was delicious!


Sunday, 17Feb13
Today was an easy day.  We slept in to go to Sunday School and church at Bethany Lutheran Church.  Afterwards we went to lunch at Chez Andree with people from church and my small group Bible study.  It is a small French restaurant in Alexandria, VA near my townhouse.  We both had champagne, French onion soup, and Chesapeake egg Benedict.  The food was great and the company was fun to converse with.

Next we went to the George Washington Masonic Temple.  We went on the guided tour because we wanted to go to the observation deck to get a great view of the area.  From the observation deck, one is able to see the Washington Monument and the US Capitol dome all the way from Alexandria!  On one side of the observation deck, the wind was so ferocious it almost knocked you down.

To end the day we went to Target to buy groceries and ate dinner at 5 Guys.

Me in Front of the White House

My Mom and I at the White House

My Mom in Front of the White House 

 

The White House

 

Washington Monument from the White House

My Mom and I at the President's Desk in a gift shop

 

Me at the Presidential Podium in a gift shop

Me in Front of the Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center Shuttle

The Kennedy Center

 

JFK Statue 

Fountain at Kennedy Center

Hall in Kennedy Center 

 

Piece of art made with shirts and wires

National Mall from the Kennedy Center

Georgetown from Kennedy Center

Potomac River from Kennedy Center

Washington Monument from the Kennedy Center

Iowa and Wisconsin State Flags in State Hall in Kennedy Center

Mom's Visit to DC (Part I)

My Mom came to visit me here in DC.  It was a great and enjoyable trip for the both of us!  With the help of the "Schedule", we were able to see and do everything we set out to do and then some.  Other duos would not be able to handle of furious pace or have the desire to carry on.  Words can't adequately describe our experience.  However I will hit some of the highlights of our trip in this and the following posts.

Thursday, 14Feb13
My Mom arrived in DC from her flight from Chicago in the mid-afternoon.  Then we checked in to our hotel not far away from townhouse.  Our evening plan consisted of walking along King Street to the water of the Potomac River and eating dinner at Tiffany's Tavern.  King Street is the main drag in Old Town Alexandria.  This is where many tourists come to eat, shop, and do touristy activities such as the George Washington Masonic Temple, Gadsby's Tavern, and see the Potomac River.

Friday, 15Feb13
5:30 AM.  5:30 AM is the time we woke up to really start our adventure.  After checking out of our hotel, we drove to the Huntington Metro to get on the Metro station to head into DC.  Our first stop was the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP).  We had tickets in advanced because we heard it is tough to get tickets at the gate on the day you wanted to be on the tour.  As we found out while waiting 30 minutes for the door to open that the BEP at 8:30 AM on a Friday was not the hottest ticket as we and 1 other person waited outside to get in.  The BEP was not as impressive as Mom and I thought it would be.  Visitors were only allowed to see 1 line of production.  The machines were down in 1/2 of the areas we saw.  Overall the tour's length was short.  However we were able to determine what people were looking for when people put the $5 and $20 towards the light while checking to see if the bill is fake or authentic.

Next, we went around the Tidal Basin to look at the memorials located around the edge of the Tidal Basin.  The memorials we saw were the Jefferson Memorial, George Mason Memorial, FDR Memorial, and Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.  The water in the FDR Memorial was shut off because they wanted to preserve the piping and pumps.  The water is used visually and acoustically to to communicate what was going on in at the time the area of the memorial represented in FDR's life.  For example, at the beginning of the Great Depression era, the water was extremely loud and violent.  The water represented the crash of the stock market.  In FDR's Memorial we partook in a Ranger led tour.  The tour allowed us to appreciate things we would have never known about the memorial.

After the Tidal Basin, we ate lunch at Union Station and looked at the Georgetown Law campus before going to Senator Chuck Grassley's office in the Hart Building.  We were led on a guided tour of the US Capitol by an intern in Grassley's office.  The tour group was smaller than the tour groups of the public, walk up tours.  This allowed our group to see and do things the other groups could not see or do.  Those things included riding the senate tram/train from senate side of the capitol to the rotunda, being in the gallery in the House of Representatives, seeing the Old Supreme Court location, seeing the fictitious corner stone of the capitol, and seeing the bronze door that was supposed to be the door to the capitol.  Other points of interest we saw on our tour were Statuary Hall, the rotunda, Emancipation Hall, and seeing the crypt of George Washington.  It is called George Washington's crypt even though George Washington's bones are in Mt. Vernon.  Around the capitol are statues.  Each state is allowed to have 2 statues in the capitol at any one time except for Virginia who has 3 (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Robert E. Lee).  The two statues from Iowa are Samuel J. Kirkwood and James Harlan.  However the James Harlan statue is going to be replaced by Norman Borlaug as seen here.  After the tour we rode the Metro to home base in Huntington.  We ate dinner and finalized our plans for the next day.

Moneyball at the BEP

Jefferson Memorial at the Tidal Basin

 

Kamehameha I statue from Hawaii

Model of the Statue of Freedom, which is on top of the US Capitol Dome

Senate Dome

Old Supreme Court Room

Bronze Doors

Statuary Hall

Statuary Hall

Capitol Rotunda 

Old Senate Chamber 

Mosaic Floor

 

Ronald Reagan Statue

Senate Tram

U.S. Capitol

Super Bowl and Meal of the Week (x2)

Super Bowl
I ended up going to the house of a friend from church.  These were the same people I made the Salvation Army soup.  There was an eclectic group of people and very big spread!  I had plenty to eat.  They had a special soup and velveeta cheese and RoTel dip with brownies for desert.

Meal of the Week (x2)
This post has 2 meals of the week because I did not put the first meal in my last post.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs:  Meatballs slowly cooked in a crushed pineapple, soy sauce, brown sugar, water, and corn starch sauce.  I did not think they tasted very good.  The only way to find out was to make and taste the meatballs

Chow Mein Noodles:  First, I cooked the noodles in boiling water for 5 minutes.  Then drained and rinsed them in cold water.  While the noodles were boiling, I cooked some frozen vegetables (carrots, broccoli  and water chestnuts) in an oiled.  After the raw vegetables were cooked, I put them off to the side.  Then I added the noodle to the pan and add some flavor (soy sauce and spices).  After some time I added in the vegetables, which were put off on the side before.  Unfortunately, I did not stir the noodles soon enough and a fair number stuck to the bottom of the pan, but there were enough noodle to have dinner for 2 nights!