As you can imagine, we were running out of steam by Day Eight. We started the morning with a tour of the U.S. Capitol, which, thankfully, ended up being one of our very favorite tours on the entire trip. We had an EXCELLENT tour guide and they have worked out a great system for giving tours to lots of people simultaneously by dividing us in group and equipping us with headphones attuned to just our guide. Takes care of the echoing issues.
Every state gets to send two statues to be displayed in the Capitol. Here we are with Brother Brigham
The Rotunda is quite striking
The other Utah statue is of Martha Hughes Cannon.
Ha ha ha... it was a beautiful bright day
So if you make your way to Washington D.C. in the near future, I highly recommend a tour of the Capitol.
I also highly recommend the newly reopened Air and Space Museum. The updates weren't quite finished yet and a couple of exhibits were still in the works, but what we saw was impressive.
I mean, that's just cool! The Bell X-1 -- 1st plane to break the Sound Barrier!
THE
Spirit of St. Louis--the plane Charles Lindbergh made the first non-stop trip across the Atlantic.
And THE original 1903 Wright Flyer is there.
A WWI flyer
It was less than inspiring, but we did get to see a little protest in DC-- Poor Persons' Army. I looked them up and still couldn't figure out exactly what they are protesting.
We drove by the White House multiple times during our time in D.C. View from the North (Front door)
View driving by from the South side.
Next stop was Ford's Theater, where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. This was also very interesting. It is actually a functioning theater and they have several productions a year. And its a National Historical Park.
In the basement there is a really good (small, but good) museum about Lincoln. And this is THE ACTUAL pistol John Wilkes Booth used. It was so small.
The strange thing-- although somehow it still worked-- was the National Park ranger gave a half hour monologue, telling/acting the story of the events of that evening. But it was part entertainment, part educational, part stand-up routine, part theatrical experience, part reverencing the solemnity of the event. Like I said, strange. Strangely enjoyable?
Lincoln's box
Then we went across the street to the boarding house where they took him to try and save his life. This is not the actual bed where he died, but it is room. It was smaller than I expected.
They had a display of a draper coffin in a train car to look like how they transported his body back to Illinois
The huge spiral tower of books all about Abraham Lincoln.
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