Does it do nothing but friggin rain in D.C.? It sure seemed that way on the 2nd day of our vacation. We started off by heading towards the Vietnam memorial, which really had impressed me when I visited D.C. about 6 years ago. I thought it was something that the kids really needed to look at and appreciate. So naturally, we get there and discover that the memorial is (get ready to hear these words a few more times): "UNDER CONSTRUCTION". They have roped off like 2/3 of the memorial, which needless to say throws a bit of a damper on the whole point of the exhibit. Next we went next door to the Lincoln Memorial, which was one of the spots that Kim had really wanted to see, and she was impressed by the relative simplicity of the whole thing. The whole "gift shop in a memorial" thing is starting to get a bit cheesy though. Next we hit the Korean Memorial, which is very nice and headed over to the Washington Monument which....guess what?....was "UNDER CONSTRUCTION". They were also not offering any more tours that day (it was only like 10:30am) although some guy walked up and offered to "give" his passes to the memorial to us for only $12 a pop. The passes are free if you get there at like 7am. Hey, he's a con artist, but he shows the initiative to get up early at least. We respectively decline his offer. Our next stop of the day is the National Aquarium (and who knew that the U.S. had a national aquarium? Show of hands? One, two, three.....oh you did not know that! Put your hands down!) Anyway, its kind of a fun place to visit, especially if you have kids, as they pretty much had everything you could think of there and I think it cost us like $5 to get in. Then, we followed the suggestion of a friend and went and checked out Ford's Theatre, which has been maintained fairly pristine since the night that Lincoln was shot there by....who remembers? Anyone?
John Wilkes Booth for all of you history majors in college.
Anyway, this was another place that you wouldn't ordinarily think of to go on a tour of Washington, but its really pretty interesting and has a lot of historical facts on the crime and its aftermath. I got a pretty good laugh though at the storyline that the museum presented that the gravely wounded president was taken across the street to a "boarding house". Yeah, that was a boarding house alrighty. Except, their boarders rented the rooms by the hour....if ya know what I mean and I think ya do. We then headed to Union Station, which is a complete madhouse, to get a bit to eat. I made the mistake of going for my old mall favorite, the bourbon chicken over rice, and the one they served here was lousy. Next we attempted (key phrase) to walk over to the Capitol Building, which was (stop me if you've heard this one before) "UNDER CONSTRUCTION". So, needless to say...we didn't get to see it. Then we went over to the Library of Congress, which may have been the biggest disappointment of the vacation. I'm totally stoked, being a bit of a book whore, at the possibility of looking at all these old books that have been around for hundreds of years...all the works of the great literary masters--Steinbeck, Hemmingway, Updike...and figured if I was REALLY, really lucky....they might have had a couple of the original Clerk's Chronicles in there, featuring my witty material!! Ahem....well, not only did they not have those, slightly more famous writers than myself, but the whole thing is a huge ripoff! I asked one of the tour guides, "I just want to see where all the books are", and she laughs and points me up a small flight of stairs, and I go up and find myself encased in sort of a glass booth that overlooks all the books.
From a 2nd story balcony!! Nope, can't get near them. Terrorists might want to get hold of them and burn them! Damn you Al Qaida! We ended our going to Johnny Rockets and having a really lousy grilled cheese sandwich. I mean, really....how can you make a lousy grilled cheese sandwich?? Ask the folks at Johnny Rockets.
End of Day # 2
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