Travel Blog
Wandering through Washington, D.C.
By Jennifer England, Assistant Campus Life Editor
August 28, 2007 | 2:44 p.m.
Earlier this month I took a vacation to a place so rich in history that it overflows with beginnings and originality, the city that radiates honor and respect for leaders past and present and houses our nation's capital: Washington, D.C.
My mom and I decided D.C. would be the perfect destination for a quick getaway at the end of a long summer. Neither of us had ever been there before, nor have we ever been big history buffs. A lack of political knowledge certainly didn't take away from our experience there; in fact, it made it more interesting.
The drive down was long but nice since I managed not to miss every exit or end up in the wrong state. However, once we actually arrived in the D.C. area, things unraveled a little. Somehow I did manage to go the wrong direction on the highway, only to realize this as we kept getting further and further away from all the activity. Then, after getting turned around, I took the wrong exit, driving us onto the right road but at the opposite end of town. After driving around the downtown area for several minutes, getting honked at about 12 times and saying several choice words that were rather explicit, I was able (with the navigation of my mother) to find the hotel. From that point on, we decided we would just walk the rest of the trip.
Our first night we wandered up to see the White House. Since Sept. 11, people weren't allowed to take tours through it unless they called their state representative and made arrangements to do so. We hadn't done that, so I just took pictures of the outside of the building and asked some nice Russian lady to take a picture of both me and Mom. To the slight embarrassment of my mom, I also took a picture of a squirrel eating in the yard.
Before calling it a night, we walked to the Capitol, which was only a couple blocks from our hotel. To me, the Capitol building was by far the most beautiful structure we saw. I've decided that if I were ever president, which would be quite a treat for everyone I'm sure, I'd like to live there, instead.
The next day began bright and early so we could get in line for tickets to go inside the Washington Monument. Things were sufficiently boring just sitting there, until out of nowhere Thomas Jefferson walked up. Seriously, T.J. himself; and by "himself" I mean some random guy dressed up in a wig and costume. Apparently that was the day Jefferson's face was being released on the gold dollar coin, and this guy was doing promotion for it around D.C. He even had a camera crew who followed him around while he asked people questions about the presidents. Mom and I got filmed answering who the first four presidents were (Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Madison, thank you very much), but I don't think we made it on TV. That was unfortunate, because I'd actually showered that morning.
To my delight, the morning only got better once we got to the monument itself. Some idiot -- a father of two young kids -- was extremely mad at the monument workers. According to his ranting, he and his family had been the first ones waiting in line to go in, but were moved to the back of the line by a worker. I'm going to replace a word he used quite often with the word puppy in hopes of well, not getting censored.
"This is puppy bullshit; we were here first. If that puppy old man you've got running this thing would get his puppy head out of his ass, maybe this wouldn't happen."
What a pleasant fellow, right? The best part was that he was screaming and throwing his fit in front of about 50 other people, most of whom were children, including his own.
There wasn't much excitement after that. Mercifully, we were divided into a different group than the screamer's and were able to enjoy our trip to the top of the monument. The view was amazing, and on the way back down, the elevator slowed down so we could see the stones used to build the monument. Each state had its own fancy stone that they had dedicated to the monument, some being worth millions of dollars. Although they were pretty, its seems as though that money could have gone to...I don't know, maybe the homeless people in the area?
We spent the rest of the day visiting the other monuments. The Lincoln, Jefferson and Franklin D. Roosevelt memorials were all very breathtaking, but it was the war memorials that were really touching. Seeing all the names on the Vietnam War Memorial was enough to make me sick. It was hard to imagine so many lives being lost over such a senseless battle. Continuing our search of depressing places to visit, we then walked around the Holocaust Memorial Museum. Despite being so sad, this was one of the most respectful and impressive museums I've ever visited.
Unfortunately, it rained on our third and last full day in D.C., so we decided to take a trolley ride to see a few more sights. As if my constant picture-taking wasn't touristy enough, we were driven through the town in a big orange trolley bus. We went to the Supreme Court and Library of Congress, the National Museum of Natural History (where I purchased a T-rex t-shirt), the Spy Museum and Arlington Cemetery. There, we viewed both JFK's and RFK's grave, watched the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and saw a memorial stone shaped like an open book in honor of all journalists who lost their lives while corresponding at war.
As amazing as everything was, the best part of the day was still the slightly dorky, but really awesome trolley ride. Our driver, Clinton, was the most knowledgeable man in America, and he posed an interesting question to everyone: 160 years from now, what things that are considered perfectly acceptable today will people look back on and think, "Oh my God, how could anyone have ever done that?"
I pondered over that question while we visited the National Arboretum. Years from now, what will people see as horrific? Looking at all the trees, especially the Ohio Buckeye tree since it needed some serious revival, I had to wonder if it would be the environment that people would look back on and shudder. Or the fact that we watched hundreds of animals species die out before our eyes?
Even though I'll never know the answer to the trolley man's question, I do know that my trip to Washington, D.C. was one of the best learning experiences I've had in my life. If you haven't been there yet, you should; it would be well worth your time.