FAMILY FUNNNN - Day 5

So we walked out of the hotel this morning and after we took about 10 steps, I was like, "Uhhh...does it not feel like we've already been walking for a full day?!" (Man...no more walking trips immediately after a marathon...). 

Haley had to work today, so Ross, Melissa and I started the day out with a stroll by the Capitol Building...

on our way to the Library of Congress, which turned out less than magical. 

We had these grand ideas of going to the "coffee shop" in the library, finding a cool reading room, and just chilling and reading for a while. It turns out the "coffee shop" was actually just an underground cafeteria and you weren't allowed in any of the reading rooms unless you had a special pass. So we basically ended up wandering hallways for about an hour. Still cool to be in the Library of Congress and at least imagine what the rooms looked like. haha. We did get to see The Supreme Court building as we left though...very cool.

We then had a somewhat horrific time trying to transport ourselves down to the Museum of Natural History. We took the wrong bus which ended up taking us farther away from the museum, then decided to go on the Metro-rail which ended up shutting down for a period of time for maintenance issues. But we finally got to the museum for a quick hour run-through. Very cool stuff in there...

The Hope Diamond

Dinosaur fossils

A super sweet African exhibit (which SO made me want to go there even more...it's gonna happen...soon)

and I made a friend of my own at the "Evolution" film. Apparently this guy is my ancestor :) 

 It's interesting how everything in the museum totally points toward evolution. 

There's never even a mention of any other possibility (such as a God creating the universe!) Anyway, the museum was super cool then we headed back to the Capitol. We got to see the office where Haley works, which was very exciting. She is interning for Texas Congressman Sam Johnson. This is where she goes to work every day!

One of Haley's jobs as an intern will be to give periodic tours of the Capitol to people. So Ross, Melissa and I got to be her practice run-through today. She did fantastically. The Capitol building is just so cool. A few of my favorite places we visited inside...

This is the geographic center of D.C. The room is called the crypt...it was originally intended to be the room where Washington would be buried. And it's supposedly good luck to rub your foot on the star. :) 

Then there was the inside of the rotunda...amazing! You can fit the Statue of Liberty in this room with like 50 feet to spare! 

Then there was the Old Senate Chamber where the Senate met for 50 years...until the recent one was built.

And then we got to actually go sit in the Senate floor, which was awesome! I actually sat in one of the seats where the First Family sits when they are in there...so cool. But you're not allowed to take pictures in there :( Then we went outside for a few more pics...

Such an awesome building! By the time we were done with the tour, we had about an hour to hit up the last museum we wanted to see while we were there - the Air and Space Museum (which apparently is the most visited museum in D.C.). By the time we got there, we only had like half an hour before it closed. But we still got to see some cool stuff, like The Spirit of St. Louis...

part of Apollo 11...

and the ACTUAL plane that the Wright Brothers flew! so cool!

By this time, we were starving and wanted to find a cool restaurant for our last night in D.C. So we went to Chinatown and just started walking around. We found this super cool spot called "Matchbox". It was delish! We had some fun beverages and amazing pizza out on this little patio. It was perfect. 

Then we HAD to have ice cream to complete our meal, so we paid a little visit to Haagen-Dazs. Little known fact: Haagen-Dazs doesn't actually mean anything in German! Just ask Cha-Cha! Our final stop of the evening was one we had been planning and practicing for all week. I've been trying to upload it here, but Blogger isn't liking my file. 

Just think "Star Spangled Banner", four-part harmony, minor key, Capitol steps...

I don't think anyone has ever done it before...and I don't know if anyone will ever do it again...a truly fitting finish for the trip.

Then it back to the hotel and off to bed...lonnnng day tomorrow.