I just had the opportunity to spend six days in Washington D.C. Normally I find tourist vacations boring, but this was one of the best one's I've ever been that had to do with our country's history.
1. The White House
Visiting the White House when you're in Washington D.C. is just a given. It's the President of the United States' house, and everyone wants to see it. Unfortunately, we didn't get to take a tour of the house, but we did get to take many pictures. There are now two gates, so we don't get to stand as close to the house as used to, but you still can see it just as well. We were hoping to see the President himself, but we asked Siri on our cellphones where he was at the time and she responded with "Colorado."
2. Fords Theater
Ford's Theater is a sentimental part of history because it was where our President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. It was super cool being able to be inside a building, staring across at where he used to sit to watch plays, but at the same time it was eerie knowing he died there. If you don't already know the story, John Wilkes Booth went up behind Abe during a play, shot him, and jumped off the balcony. He then recited a line to make it see like he was a part of the play to confuse the crowd, and he ran out the back door and a few days later was eventually caught. After we visited Ford's Theater, we walked across the street to the Peterson's House, which was where they rushed Lincoln to so he could die in peace, in a bed.
3. Fort McHenry
This was one of my favorite stops on the trip. This is the location where Francis Scott Key composed the Star Spangled Banner after the 1812 war--British vs. America. It was very cool walking through the fort they lived in, looking at all their bomb shelters, "magazines" (which were storage for their gun powder), and their living quarters. We also got to walk on top of the fort on brick paths, looking into Chesapeake Bay, where the boats were that were bombing the fort.
4. National Aquarium
This was one of the coolest aquariums I have ever been to. There was one big pool of water in the center of the building with sharks, turtles, fish and other ocean life, with stairs that wrapped all the way around going up the building. Each level you could look down and just see the body of water with the creatures swimming around. They also had a huge shark tank in the basement of the aquarium where they had ginormous sharks swimming around.
5. Arlington Cemetery
This was one of the saddest stops on our trip. Arlington Cemetery is where they bury people who served for our country, who died and sacrificed their lives for us. It is worth going to because you get to pay your respect to those who served for us, but it is a very emotional stop. The tomb of the unknown soldier lies at the top of the hill, and is guarded day and night by a color guard. This was very cool to look at because they just stand there all day until they switch guards. Then they have a change of the color guard ceremony where they do a little routine.
There were many other stops we made because there is so much to look at in Washington D.C. Even though I've been to all the places now, I am definitely going back to all the places again because there is always something to see. If you ever have a chance to visit this state you won't regret it because you will learn so much and have so much fun. I know I did!
