Day 13 – A Wonderful Day In Our Nation’s Capital

The White House Tour

 

Several months ago,  we contacted Doug LaMalfa (our representative) about taking a White House and Capitol Building tour while we were on our vacation.

Two weeks ago., we received word that both tours had been scheduled for the morning of Oct 9th.

So at 5:30 a.m. this morning, we all piled into the truck and drove to the College Park Metro Station.  Did you know it’s still dark out at that time in the morning?

Being a night person, it was very odd for me to be up doing anything that early.  Thank goodness Dick was up at 4:30 and had coffee ready…..my hero!

The ride into DC was easy, but it was still dark when we got off and started walking towards the White House. We were told to be there early (another thing that is hard for me to do) but we were in-line by 7:10 a.m.

It took some time to get through all of the security measures, but before long,  we found ourselves inside the White House….it was quite a feeling to be strolling through such an iconic landmark….talk about living history!

You’re pretty much on your own as you look at the various rooms, but Dick spoke to several of the Secret Service agents stationed throughout area and they were all knowledgeable and seemed happy to chat.

One of the best things about the tour was picture taking!  As long as you took still photos only, you could take as many pictures as you wanted to.

Since we were in the first group of the day, there was plenty of room to move around or just stand still and take pictures.  One of my favorite rooms was the East room….it’s so easily recognizable because it is often the room the President uses when talking to the press.

As we were leaving, I took a picture of Dick standing underneath the Presidential Seal and a picture of Ken, Dick and Steve going down the steps as we left the White House.

The Capitol Building

After leaving the White House, we caught an Uber ride over to The Canon Building to meet with Doug LaMalfa’s staff for a tour of the Capitol at 10:00 a.m.

We got there a little early (that’s a record for me…..being early twice in one day), so we went on a mission to find the employees cafeteria to grab a cup of coffee.

We had been told by Barbara (the lady at the RV park who gave us all the site seeing tips yesterday) that anyone can eat at the employee’s cafeteria….we just had to find it.

We wandered the corridors of The Canon House for awhile (and what impressive corridors they are) until we stopped a young lady (a staffer of some kind), and she pointed us in the right direction….which turned out to be a completely different building – the Langford Building next door.

The staffer sent us to the basement level, where we walked and walked, and eventually found our way to the cafeteria.  After all that walking, I had some breakfast with my coffee, and was flagged over to pay for my breakfast in the “staffers only” line….proving once again that Barbara knew what she was talking about.

At 9:45 a.m. we were in front of  Doug La Malfa’s office, waiting for our tour guide. A nice couple from Shingle Springs arrived, followed shortly by Katie who works in the office. Katie let us wait inside for our tour guide, giving me an opportunity to take a few pictures of Mr. LaMalfa’s office.

Our tour guide, Emma, arrived and we set off on a three hour tour of the Capitol.  There were only six of us, so we had a great opportunity to ask questions.

Below are some of my favorite pictures of our tour:

The grand finale (at least for me) was getting to sit in the gallery of the House of Representatives.  It took a long wait in line to get inside, and we weren’t allowed to take pictures,  but it was really amazing to sit in the gallery and look down on the floor where Presidents have given State Of The Union speeches.

As you can tell, we had a busy and fulfilling day here in Washington DC.  Tomorrow, we are planning a trip to Fredericksburg, VA.

Thanks for checking in…..sure do miss everyone!