1st Part of Washington DC

Zak and I had the opportunity to go to Washington DC with Farm Bureau. It was just one of those great opportunities that we couldn't turn down. We went with 25 other couples from around the state of Utah, trying to represent each county. We left early Friday morning, the flight was an interesting one, coming into DC the wind was around 60 MPH, it made for a very rough, rough landing, it was quite scary, once we landed, everbody on the plane let out a huge cheer- we were all so happy to be on land!!! The flight attendents going to DC and going back to SLC said that it was the loudest they had ever heard on a flight. Once we got to our hotel, Zak and I decided to go grab something to eat, I thought we should go to Union Station, the hotel lady said it was just about 15 minutes away, so we started out on that adventure, 3 other couples went with us. At one point in time, of trying to find Union Station, another guy asked Zak, "are we looking at the same map?" It definatley took longer than 15 minutes, but we found some good food at Union Station, it is really neat- it is a Train Station. As we headed back to the hotel, once again we got lost(but we had lots of good laughs)- but made it right on time to board our bus for the Illuminating Night Tour. It was very cold in DC that night and winds around 30mph.

Inside Union Station

Outside of Union Station

That night we took a tour of the city-

This is the back of the White House- but this is how you enter

Front of White House- the winds were so strong!!! On Saturday morning we took a tour of the White House- of course we couldn't take any picutres!!! I could not believe the security around the White House! It was really neat in the inside, very fancy. In order to get into the White House, we had to have a background check done on us 6 months ago. We went through several security checks before we could even get in. As we were walking out of the White House a group of missionaries were going in for a tour, I think we scared them, all of calling them Elders, we had fun visiting with them- A lady in one of their wards was going to take them on a tour, she wakes up Michelle Obama every morning.

World War 2 Monument

A quote I liked from World War 2 monument

Washington Memorial

In front of another part of the World War 2 monument- behind me is a wall of stars- each star represents 1,000 men who were killed- over 400,000 men were killed.

Monument of the Korea War- there is a huge long wall like above-remembering those who died in this war.

This is also part of the Korea Monument- a field of statues, but what it is must of looked like when they were in war. It was very powerful scene.

Part of the Vietnam Wall Memorial

Abraham Lincoln Memorial

Thomas Jefferson Memorial

Iwo Jima Memorial- the war with Japan

Day 2- After visiting the White House we went to Mount Vernon, which was George Washington's farm. He had inheritied it from another guy- it was such a beautiful place!

George Washington's Home, no pictures were allowed inside. It was very intersting. Out all around this house were other buildings- the slaves bunks, a little hospital, lots of barns, for carriages to be stored and for visitors horses to be stored, a masonary, a storage shed for all the paint it took to paint these places- they had to paint the roofs are painted!!! So it was one of the slave jobs to keep everything painted.

This was George Washington's first tomb, they have since built a much fancier one- but no pictures were allowed.

Part of the Washington Farm- look at all the trees in the background- I would love to see it during the summer. George was a very smart man, he left alot of his property wooded, instead of clearing it for fields, he wanted to ensure they would have enough wood for the wood burning stoves, for fences, and for building! He put alot of work and thought into his plantation. He had awesome farming skills, way ahead of his time.

16 sided barn, this was also another of his innovative ideas!

The view from the Washington's house was amazing, just below it is the Potamac River, it was so pretty!

Another view of the river

After this we headed to the Holocaust Museum, no photography was allowed. I just can't even put to words what I saw and the feelings I had. I can't believe that people could be so evil, but it also gave me another perspective, I had a feeling that some of the people who worked for Hitler, may have went along with it and not rebelled to protect their families- what would you do to save your family's life and your own? I had a lot of thoughts, but I still can't get over the cruel things that happened to these people.

After the Museum, we decided to go see Georgetown, it was our first time experiencing the Metro system, Georgtown was fun to see and we found a good restraunt- we looked and looked for one, all the restraunts around here were very expensive, but finally we found one that wasn't too bad! We had a fun time with the group of people we were with.

I felt so dumb as I started seeing all these sights, I felt like I didn't know anything- doing this trip was such a learning experience, to see the history of our nation, to learn, to connect, to make it real.