Day 39: United States Capitol, Supreme Court, Twilight Tatoo

 Washington D.C.  To me, there is something magical and amazing about our capital city.  Knowing you are walking where so much history has taken place, and where our free society was formed, is impressive.  The buildings are stunning, and I appreciate the layout, which is not overrun by skyscrapers but allows the historic buildings to stand out.  We headed in for a capitol building tour through our congressmen, Lou Correa's, office.  It was a bit of a walk from where we parked but it wasn't raining yet, so I had the kids stop for a photo as rain was scheduled to be on its way.  I don't feel like the grandeur can be adequately captured.

 We arrived at our representative's office and they had us mark where we lived on their map.  Then, since the congressman was out of office, the kids were able to sit at his desk for pictures.

 An intern took us around for a tour.  This statue was a model for the gold statue on top of the dome.  It was massive!

 The original supreme courtroom was very dark, but partly because some of the windows were blocked by an addition to the building.

 This area was originally supposed to be called the crypt, and George Washington was going to be buried there.  However, his will stipulated that he wanted to be buried at Mt. Vernon, so now it's just a pretty room with statues.

 Words really can't describe how massive the capitol rotunda is.  Of all the capitol buildings we've been to, this one far outshines them with its awe-inspiring feeling.

 I loved seeing this painting, especially since we had been there two days before.

 Each state donated two statues to the capitol building.  One of California's donations was a statue of Ronald Reagan.  Part of the pedestal is crushed pieces of the Berlin Wall.

 The original house chamber.  There are markers on the ground where significant members had their desks.  They've also marked where John Quincy Adams died.

 The original Senate chamber.  After our tour, we had tickets to sit in the House of Representatives.  We watched bill discussions for about thirty minutes with the kids.  Unfortunately, cameras were restricted.  It was SO interesting though to truly see our government in action!  We watched discussion and I think voting on bills regarding trade schools and involvement in Nicaragua.

 When we went back to pick up our stuff we ran into our congressmen.  He chatted with the kids for a while.  Since Disneyland is in our district, they gave the kids rice Krispy treats from Disneyland! (although they actually said Florida on them).  The kids were super excited as they were super hungry by this time.

 Food! It took us forever to figure out lunch, but we finally found a super yummy place called Burrito Brothers.

 A quick picture at the Library of Congress.  I'm bummed we didn't have time to go inside.

 We then headed into the Supreme Court.  We missed the last lecture, so we couldn't actually go in to the room, but we got to peek inside.

 This was an amazing spiral stair case.

 Rain was imminent, but if we hadn't stopped to take a few pictures, we would have been caught in a down pour.  A poor sports team that was also taking pictures was!  Right after the last picture at the capitol, the sky opened up.  We thankfully made it under shelter and were able to wait till it mostly diminished before walking back to the car.

 Twilight Tatoo.  This was an amazing experience.  Watching the military pageantry was breathtaking.  I loved the veterans sitting watching.  They were primarily veterans of the Korean War.  The whole experience reminded me of my grandpa and made me thankful for this trip in honor of him.