Here is how we spent the day.

Today we were in a storm watch from the residue of Hurricane Nicole. Rain poured like we seldom see it. The forcast was for 6"-10". TV programming was taken over by the weather broadcasts of tornado watches, wind, flooding, and freeway closures.

So many people told me that we had to see Monticello, the estate of Thomas Jefferson. They were right. Thanks for the tip. The 5000 acre estate is beautiful. The garden was huge, but then he had to feed 200 people. We toured the home and realized his real love was science, gardening and learning, more than being a statesman and president.

You have all seen this house before. It's on the tails side of a nickel.

We heard this was a must try. Michie Tavern (A Virginia Historic Landmark). All the people working here were in Period dress. All the food was what Jefferson would have eaten. Ralph informed us that some of the Edwards relatives, the Ewell's lived right here and could have eaten here. They were actually neighbors to Jefferson, and friends who visited with each other. The food here was delicious. Chicken, potatoes and gravy, stewed tomatoes, beans, biscuits, cornbread, and peach cobbler. YUM!

Remember the movie National Treasure? This was the target. The National Archives is where the origional Declaration of Independence and Constitution are on display. (They really are still there. No one has stolen them.)From there we went across the street to the National Museum in the Mall. This is our final day in DC. We came, we saw, we conquered!

The great thinkers. There were so many famous sculptures and paintings.


This reminded us of Ryann and MaKell. Sweet sisters and friends.


There are so many great places to eat-but not in the museums and galleries. The food there is horrible. I had a chicken cheese-basil panini here that was out of this world.

This is the Library of Congress. An underground tunnel connects it to the Capital. Thomas Jefferson's library is housed here. He was quoted as saying, "I cannot live without books". If he read all the books he owned I think he would still be alive today....reading! After touring the library, we attended a session of the Senate. We listened to Harry Reid give a speech on the economy and clean energy. We also got special tickets and toured the House. What a great day!


We spent most of the day touring the Capital Building.The rotunda was breathtaking! The painting on the ceiling is symbolic of Washington's birth, being nurtured and sustained by the 13 states (represented as women). Interesting. There is a statue from every state, that can be replaced every 10 years if the state desires. Utah is now represented by this statue of Brigham Young. The state of Utah had 4th graders vote on who they thought should represent the state. They voted on the man who invented tv. So before long Brig will get the boot.
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When we were in the office of our Utah legislators getting tickets to visit the House and Senate in the Capital Building, we asked the clerk where we should eat. He directed us to a place called the "Good Stuff Eatery" The Chef is famous for being a winning chef on the Food Network ("Top Chef").His name is chef Spike. He has gourmet burgers with flavored Mayo dressings that were delicious.I liked the Mango Mayo myself. It is listed as one of the top places to eat in DC.

We got off the Metro near the Ford Theatre so we could see inside the presidential box where Linclon was assinated. They had closed it off when we were here yesterday. There were very few people there today, so the Park Ranger could tell us more in depth about it. There were 9 other people who were in on the plot, and it had been premeditated for years. We went inside the booth where he was shot and learned all about how Booth escaped jumping from the box to the stage and out a back door where his horse was being held for him.

We haven't decided for sure which of the pictures is the front of the capital building. Can you tell? The side Dale is in the picture faces the Mall. But the other picture faces the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court. What do you think?


We toured 2 Smithsonian Museums today. The National Museum of the American Indian and the National Air and Space Museum. Both were very good.

The Spirit of St. Louis is the airplane Charles Lindbergh piloted for the first flight across the Atlantic Ocean. We saw rockets,space capsules, and so many early to modern aircrafts. Dale successfully landed an aircraft on an aircraft carrier. (aren't simulators fun?-I failed to mention he crashed it 3 times,also.)

Amelia Earhart was one of the heroines of Grandma K, when she was a girl. She inspired women to start wearing pants and do whatever they set their minds to doing.

The Apollo space module.


This litle plane went to the Artic. Can you see the snow skids?

We all know that Lincoln was shot at the Ford Theatre by John Wilkes Booth. But he didn't die there. He was taken across the street to a boarding house, where he died at 7:22 the following morning. This is the room where he died.

Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait gallery.The museum itself is magnificent.

We were so lucky to be here during a special collection exhibit of Norman Rockwell's work. Steven Speilberg and George Lucas both collect Rockwell's work. We saw about a hundred paintings from their collections, but couldn't take pictures fo them. This is a Rockwell the museum owned so I could take a picture of this one. WE LOVED this museum!

There were portraits of Presidents and all sort of famous people, including the prophet Joseph Smith (there was a small one of Brigham Young,too).

The art was fabulous. This was one of our favorites by Moran, a huge floor to ceiling painting.

Did you know that Robert E. Lee owned the property where the Arlington Cemetery now stands? After his surrender, the government decided they needed more land to bury casualties from the Civil War, so they took posssession of it. (It was owned by his wife's family first.)Later his son sued the government for unlawfully taking it and won the lawsuit. The US then paid him dearly for the property. This picture is taken from the back porch of the home.

Art museum

Arlington National Cemetery. President Kennedy's grave. Jackie and 2 infant children are buried with him.

The view from President Kennedy's grave with the historic quote that has always been my favorite.

Bobby Kennedy's grave is a simple marker, not far from his 2 brothers.

Changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a ceremony that takes place every 1/2 hr during the day and every hour all night long. It is never without a guard marching in front of it.

We have all seen pictures of the Marine Memorial Iwo Jima, but did you know it was located in the Arlington Cemetery?

On Friday Sept. 24th we went up in the elevator to the top of the Washington Memorial.(I think it was almost 60 stories up.) We took pictures from the top in every direction. The picture to the North, shows some tiny spires near the horizon on the far lft side. Guess what that is? Today set a record for the hottest day ever here on this date...99 degrees. So HOT with the humidity!



We toured only one museum again today, they are so huge! It was the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. We saw bones, rocks, butterflies, birds, dinosaurs,fish,jewels, etc.....

The Hope diamond is too big to ever be worn on your finger. I thought this crown was amazing too. There was a diamond that was a gift from Egypt, to a Civil war hero. It must have been bigger than this one because he had it cut up and divided into 5 (still very large) stones as gifts to his 5 daughters.Only a father would do that.

We stayed in town late friday night, because we heard that these sites were a MUST see. At sunset Dale got this picture of the fountain at the WWII Memorial. Nice huh!

Dale on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial with a reflection of the
Washington Momument on the pool. The second picture is looking the other direction toward Lincoln, with the sun setting. Wow, was that ever breathtaking to watch.


The Lincoln Memorial is really outstanding at night.