I did not mean to take nearly a week off, but after last weekend’s whirlwind trip to Washington DC and getting back to work, it just threw me off. Now that I have had some time to decompress and think about my trip, I have all sorts of thoughts. The one thing that I wanted to do was to see the National Archives. I wanted to see the Decvlaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. (Ok, so I wanted to pretend that I was in the middle of National Treasure…lol). I got off the flight, shuttled to the Gaylord National, checked in and was in an Uber about 20 minutes after I made it to my room. I had the nicest Uber driver and we talked all the way to the Archives. I only had about four hours to do any sightseeing that I wanted to so I knew that I would barely scratch the surface. No photos were allowed at all, so this is the only one I was able to get!
What can I saw, I wanted to cry. All of my life, I have been a history junkie. I have taught Civics and I have taught my students that the way to change history and to change what they don’t like about laws is to learn about the Constitution. Standing there in front of these documents that people have fought and died for was almost overwhelming. It was also pretty powerful to stand there during this time of turmoil in our country when it feels like our rights and ideals are being eroded by the very people that swore on oath to defend them. I think every single one of our elected officials, and ESPECIALLY the current occupant of the White House needs to take a trip down to the Archives and stand in front of them and ask themselves are they in our government to protect and defend the Constitution or are they there for their own selfish reasons? IF they aren’t there for the right reasons then they need to leave. (Steps off soapbox)
After the Archives, I started walking towards Capitol Hill. Can’t be that far right? I’m not sure how far it was, maybe a mile? It was farther away than it looked, but the weather was beautiful with a nice breeze so it was a nice walk.
Random thought. I thought the Rotunda would be bigger. LOL. I don’t if it was the perspective, or what, but I always pictured this building to be somehow ‘bigger’ than what it is. Isn’t that a crazy thought? Maybe I’ve been watching too must West Wing and Designated Survivor (that might not be the best example as in the first episode, the Capitol was blown up).
After that walk, I turned around and walked down the hill, then up a hill…in the wind…towards the mall and the Smithsonian Castle. By now it was after 2 and an I hadn’t anything to eat or drink since some coffee and half a croissant at the Tampa airport. I was very surprised that there was no restaurants anywhere near where I was. Maybe they were a few streets over, but I think I would have killed for a Starbucks! Instead I found a cafe inside the Hirshhorn Modern Art Museum 
and managed to not die. After twenty minutes debating whether I should just call and Uber and go back to the hotel, I decided “nah, I’m in DC, you can walk some more.” So….off I went to the Smithsonian Castle. I new that I didn’t have any time to really visit, so I took a few photos and headed over to the Natural History Museum where I felt like I should be in Night at the Museum. (This is sad, all my reference points are from movies). I’m going to leave you for now with a few of those photos. You can click on them for the larger images. Part two tomorrow.
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