Our DC adventures continue with a visit with Washington State Senator Maria Cantwell. We were in town when Senate was in session and she has office hours every Wednesday. The kids were a bit intimidated by all the official people in the room, but were more relaxed when it was our time to have our family picture taken and chat one-on-one with the Senator. She was very gracious and interested in our two year adventure - even encouraged Ava to come and work in her office as an intern someday based on her learning traveling around the country. Very cool!
After the meeting, we were taken on a special tour of the Capitol Building by one of Senator Cantwell's staff members, it was a very interesting tour, although many of the more beautiful rooms were hidden by scaffolding due to the recent renovations. After the tour, as we were walking back to the boat, we saw a demonstration on front lawn of the Capitol Building including Donald Trump, Sarah Palin, and Ted Cruz!
We also stopped at the Botanical Gardens and Museum of the American Indian on our walk back, just quick walk-throughs for previews of visits next week (hopefully!)
On September 11th, we decided it would be a great opportunity to visit the Pentagon Memorial to the lives lost in the attack on the Pentagon 14 years earlier. It was a somber visit, many flowers and tributes placed at the benches by the families and friends who were there earlier in the day for the private, closed event. The kids asked lots of questions and we ended up having a lot of good conversations about what happened that day, something they had heard about but not really understood all that went on.
We also had a fantastic private tour of the Pentagon given by our friend Blair Keithley. We were able to walk the halls in front of the office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as well as the Secretary of Defense. Although I think Ava and Reed were most impressed by the cafeteria - serving nearly 25,000 employees each day. We only saw a small portion of the building but got a great feel for the size and scope of the important work that goes on their every day.
Enjoy and thanks for following!
After the meeting, we were taken on a special tour of the Capitol Building by one of Senator Cantwell's staff members, it was a very interesting tour, although many of the more beautiful rooms were hidden by scaffolding due to the recent renovations. After the tour, as we were walking back to the boat, we saw a demonstration on front lawn of the Capitol Building including Donald Trump, Sarah Palin, and Ted Cruz!
We also stopped at the Botanical Gardens and Museum of the American Indian on our walk back, just quick walk-throughs for previews of visits next week (hopefully!)
On September 11th, we decided it would be a great opportunity to visit the Pentagon Memorial to the lives lost in the attack on the Pentagon 14 years earlier. It was a somber visit, many flowers and tributes placed at the benches by the families and friends who were there earlier in the day for the private, closed event. The kids asked lots of questions and we ended up having a lot of good conversations about what happened that day, something they had heard about but not really understood all that went on.
We also had a fantastic private tour of the Pentagon given by our friend Blair Keithley. We were able to walk the halls in front of the office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as well as the Secretary of Defense. Although I think Ava and Reed were most impressed by the cafeteria - serving nearly 25,000 employees each day. We only saw a small portion of the building but got a great feel for the size and scope of the important work that goes on their every day.
Enjoy and thanks for following!