Mr. and Mrs. Wilson Go To Washington

We spent a beautiful and full day in our nation’s capital a few weekends ago. We could have spent much more time in D.C., but we made the most of our visit. Special thanks to my husband for taking and letting me share his pictures. 

Thursday Night

We checked-in to the beautiful Henley Park Hotel. Taking one look at my 6-8 husband, the lady at the front desk said “Our queen rooms run smaller than a traditional queen bed, so because of your height, I’m upgrading you to a king room. Complimentary.” It’s nice having a tall husband.

That night we sat down and made a list (well an NBA game was on, so I made the list)  of what we absolutely wanted to see. 

The one thing on my list that we didn’t make it to was the Pentagon memorial, but their website has a beautiful thirty minute video tour that honestly makes you think you were there. Check it out here:  http://pentagonmemorial.org/explore/biographies/audio-tour

Friday Morning

We arose early to begin our full day of sightseeing. 

On the way we stopped by: 

The Treasury Department 

Then to our future home in 2028. 

The White House

The back of the White House.

My campaign slogan "Don't spend what you don't have..."

After mingling with the Obamas, we walked to Constitution Avenue to visit two Smithsonian museums. There are 17 Smithsonian museums in all. All of them are free admission!

The Museum of American History

This one has always been my favorite museum since I love history. Some highlights for me included:

Julia Child and her kitchen!! 

This video camera captured the only known footage of Flight 11 hitting the north tower on 9/11.
The actual footage is shown in the 9/11 museum. 

Raise your hand if you feel old???

The Museum of Air and Space

Chris’ pick was the Air and Space Museum. Some highlights included:

NASA X-15 Test Plane (as flown by Neil Armstrong)

Apollo-Soyuz Test Project

V-2 Rocket and SpaceLab

Apollo Lunar Module

With the Wright brothers

  

Flashback pic: 2007 on a trip with my UNCW Poli-Sci class

After lunch, we walked down the National Mall path to reach the Capitol building.

The first time I've been to D.C. when the Monument wasn't covered by scaffolding.

Capitol Hill

Yet another beautiful picture taken by my photographer husband. This one's my favorite.

We went on a tour of the Capitol. There was no wait line for tickets and we were put into a group of about 20 people. We saw a short 15 minute film followed by a guided tour with a Capitol docent. 

Some highlights from our visit:

The Portrait Monument was my favorite. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony & Lucrieta Mott are represented. The fourth clump of unsculpted marble is to represent unfinished work for women's rights.  It will become a portrait of the first female president, whenever that happens (2016 if you think like my husband. 2028 if you're voting for me! :)

We spent much of our time in the Capitol Rotunda.  We walked around to see the many statues. Each state is allowed to donate 2 statues and all 50 have. The person must be dead in order to have their statue made and it stays in the Capitol for 10 years.

Rosa Parks

Ronald Reagan

Library of Congress

We didn’t take any pictures because we were there as the building was closing.

The Supreme Court

We’re off the see the Wizards…

As we’re walking back to our room we passed the Verizon Center, a mere five blocks from our hotel. After my husband says the Wizards were playing that night, I jokingly say “You should look for tickets.” Note to all the wives out there: Never say go look for tickets unless you are prepared to go :) Kidding aside, it is nice to do things for each other,  make fun memories together, and be spontaneous!

Thanks to Stubhub we got tickets to see our first playoff game. And the tickets were actually cheaper than what we paid for a regular season ticket to see the Nets play several months ago.

The Wizards lost against the Pacers, but we had a good time. Basketball is a fun sport to watch live!

Saturday

I slept in while Chris woke up early to go the National Gallery of Art. He highly recommends going! 

Beautiful rotunda in the art gallery.

And back we went to our country's first capital...New York City (from 1789-1790)