My Journal of Everything DC (Continued) ;)

 Here's yet another post about my great time in DC. I know, I know- a lot of you may be thinking I'm excessive or crazy for posting this much about my vacation, but I'm really not ashamed. I'm gonna remember every bit of this vacation whether you like it, or not. :) Without further ado, let me tell you about the rest of my adventures in the land of Washington DC.

Thursday, June 28th, 2012

Breakfast/Transfer to Williamsburg: Of course, Ashley and I stayed up late talking again, and of course, it was EXTREMELY difficult to wake up. Moving like rushed zombies, we got ready for the day, stuffed our belongings into our suitcases and headed down to breakfast in the Hooker's and Early's Rooms, served for 45 minutes. Or so our itinerary told us. But don't worry! I'm pretty darn tootin sure that the Hooker Dining Hall was named after Thomas Hooker, a Confederate General during the Civil War (and yeah, if my memory serves me right, he is part of the namesake for the not-very-polite name given to not-very-polite-people as well) ;) But that's besides the point, right? haha Anyways, after breakfast, we were given Colonial Williamsburg brochures and packed onto the bus to get on our way. I was amazed at how big Colonial Williamsburg looks even on a map! And boy, are there things to do there (well, more like there are things to learn and observe and buy there).  As Ashley and I looked over the list of shops, naturally, the free rental costumes caught our eye. We laughed and laughed at the thought of us gallivanting like hooligans through the streets in colonial attire! Can you imagine? Wowza. We figured out upon further inspection however that these costumes were only for children... what a shame... With the heat advisory and humidity, not to mention how dorky the idea, I admit that I wasn't too disapointed.

Colonial Williamsburg: The first item on our list was a preliminary tour of the grounds led by a guide with corny jokes. Man, this place is HUGE! If it weren't for the occasional car, street clothes, and air conditioning I witnessed, I would've believed I had time traveled. If you've ever been to This Is the Place Heritage Park in SLC, you'd have a glimpse of what I'm talking about. Imagine This is the Place, but bigger, colonial, and even more intense. People that work here live her year round. They get to live in the homes that they work in! Don't worry, the homes have been equipped with electricity, so they can watch T.V. They have cars on the property that they can use on their days off to go wherever. And don't think for one minute that these people just sit around giving tours all day. Many of them legitimately create what their colonial counterparts would have. Three of them build carriages with nothing but man power and wood and sell them for thousands of dollars to other historical institutions. One man and his apprentice shape wood cut down trees grown on the property into exact replicas of furniture from the era. We saw them making one of George Washington's candelabras. Women sat in the dress shop sewing intricate dresses. The man at the gun shop made rifles and shotguns exactly as they would have in the time period. He told us that there was a 20 year waiting list to get one of his guns- they're sold for millions of dollars. Every day, they reenact the reading of the Declaration of Independence with "Huzzah"'s and music by two snare drummers and two piccolo players. Minutemen fire celebratory shots and ready the cannons blasts to proclaim independence.

It was a long, hot day, but I learned a ton! We got to get down and dirty making bricks too! We rolled up our pants and stuck our tired, sweaty feet into the cool clay. By the end of the day, we were all exhausted. It was 90 degree weather! We started staying inside the shops and playing with the hand made soaps just to escape the heat. It helped, even though every shop sold the same merchandise... We still had plenty of time to explore though! I learned a lot about everyday colonial living during the Revolution. And did you know that they filmed part of John Adams here?!? I love that movie! My Grandma let me borrow it from her before my trip so that I could be sure to learn as much as I could. I would definitely recommend anything David McCullough. Sometimes, a picture can say a thousand words- here are some to help me describe the adventure of Williamsburg:

This is the church where MANY of our Founding Father's worshiped.  
John Marshall, James Monroe, General George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry were among the names I observed. Can you believe it!? 

My heart swelled to think that he sat and worshiped here!

And I got to sit where they sat! I'd always heard my grandma tell me about the
box seats that colonials sat in at their churches with their families to conserve heat!

We got to see how they made bricks!
 Our feet were FILTHY from softening the clay.
After this, the workers placed the bricks in molds and sat them in the sun to bake.

Best part of this lunch: AIR CONDITIONING.
(And it was DELICIOUS, of course.)

We got a taste of what travelers would have gotten at this inn-
Salad, Chicken Pop Pie, and Vanilla Ice Cream and HOMEMADE ROLLS
Who knows how accurate that was, but it was VERY refreshing!
They had to refill my lemonade 6 times

The lady in this shop was HILARIOUS!
She was SO in character. She asked us: "Are you ready to part with your hair and make a purchase?"
She was offering to cut off our hair and give us a wig... just like the rich ladies of Colonial W.
UM- nope.
There was a funny picture on the wall of the wind blowing a woman's wig off her head- it was titled:
"The Lady's Demise", poor colonial women... (and men for that matter)
But the wigs were beautiful

We hung out and tried on hats in shops like these for hours. Why?
You guessed it, air conditioning!

Cool staircase in the "Magazine and Guardhouse"
The man in here could talk about colonial weaponry for hours.

We couldn't resist!!! (I wish I was doing something less awkward with my leg...)

They fired shots to "herald the revolution"

I was SO excited when I started to hear the drum and piccolo players!
I practically ran, dragging my friends with me to the City Hall where
actors read the Declaration of Independence and celebrated together.

Man, I knew these things were loud, but they were ridiculously louder than I had expected.
I can imagine how horrifying they would be to those on the battle front and those
in the surrounding cities during war.  

The workers here kept the gardens beautifully!

These two were "engaged" and absolutely refused to break character
when we asked them if that was in real life too.
"Whatever do you mean?" He replied.
"I say, are you feeling ill? It is quite hot today." She added.

These lovely ladies sew EVERYTHING that the workers wear by hand.
This entire park is COMPLETELY authentic! I was impressed!
This is the job I would love (I think) if I were a colonial girl.

I have many more pictures, but I would ramble on for hours if I attempted to describe every one! And besides, I think you get the gist of it. You should visit sometime! It was fun, and I could barely move my legs by the end of it. The people who lived here year round without modern conveniences must have been VERY hardy people. I mean, you think those people who stayed inside were wimps? Go live there for a day! If you could, you'd stay inside too.

One more picture of the day: I SERIOUSLY wanted to buy this lemonade,
 just because it was so vintage and cute, but I was craving sarsaparilla root beer,
good thing that was delicious too eh?

  We ate gourmet sandwiches and gathered around a shaded table to finish off our wonderful day at Williamsburg. I bought my brothers some toys at a gift shop, took a few last minute pictures, and got on the bus to head back to Washington, DC. It felt like we were heading back home after an overnight trip- strange sentiment eh? Ashley and I talked that night, again, but only until 11 because we fell promptly asleep after our eventful, adventurous, exhausting day. 

Adventures in DC Continued #2

Wednesday, June 27, 2012 Continued

It's taken me a long time to get the old journal back out to continue writing this all down, but here I am- chuggin along and working at it bit by bit. So here we go! Starting after the Library of Congress-

Jello With Senator Mike Lee: How cool is this!!?!? Now I can say I've met a Senator too! We rushed into the hallway of the Senate Office Building and sat, exhausted and sweaty, on the floor to await el senator. When he arrived, we were served red and blue Jello with white whipped cream on top. After devouring the little cups, I naturally wished it was like the pot luck dinners at home with jello to spare, but this was no time for food! It was picture time! We gathered round Senator Lee and cheesily grinned, inviting his family to get in the shot as well- what a hoot! Once the picture was taken, everyone jumped in for a chance to meet Mr. Lee. It was hilarious (and kinda embarrassing) when kids would jump up and say: "Do you remember me? I was the kid who jumped out of a blue Honda to get your autograph in Magna!" or "I remember when you gave us this one speech- man, that was great" or "You're just the best, I love you!" or "You know my dad!" and of course the list goes on. I shook his hand and thanked him for his time, but honestly, I had no idea what else to say!  Surely, if I'd had some experience about Senator Lee before, I'd be doing the same thing. :) I ashamedly didn't even know who this guy was until I looked at my schedule- what a despicable American I was, but am no longer! Cause after this experience, I can probably tell you WAY more then you'd ever want to know about this or that in the world of politics. Not that I'm a genius in any way, but now I am more aware and better able to understand things that previously would have left me baffled. The Senator and his family and crew were very kind and we had fun!

Senator Orrin Hatch: Although we didn't actually get to meet Senator Hatch, we got to meet all of his crew and interns and see inside his offices! He was scheduled to return from campaigning the night we got here, but he must have gotten held up. But that in no way means that we didn't learn a ton and still have the opportunity of a lifetime! One of his head crew members got to talk to us and we asked him questions. He was extremely smart and I felt that he did a great job at answering even the toughest of questions! He better explained to us the processes that Congress uses to examine bills and other federal cases. He taught us in a well planned, educational, interesting way the differences between most liberal and conservative ways to examine these bills. I was really grateful to be able to learn in this setting, where learning was brought by discussion, instead of by debate. I also don't think, and even my liberal friends would agree with this, that he was biased in any of the things that he said. He did a good job of giving us straight up facts. :) THAT, was greatly appreciated.  We got to walk around Senator Hatch's office- sit in his chairs, look at his pictures. I loved the bits of personality he brought into the room and the way he displayed things that are important to him. I could tell that he is the kind of person that wants everyone to be sure of his beliefs on different topics. He had model air planes from Hill Air Force Base (he supports and seeks funding for it), he has books and model rockets from NASA, he has a statue of Lincoln, a Yamakah (Jewish head covering- I have no idea how to spell it) from Israel and a bit of the bible in his doorway (this, I learned, is also a Jewish tradition. He holds the Jewish people close to his heart and quite the celebrity in Israel.), he had pictures of his family, and art from around the USA. My favorite, was the riffle above his doorway- he is a believer in gun rights and definitely supports those who, like my family, have permits to have weapons. His secretary pointed out his favorite chair, and the seat where famous people like Bono from U2 sit when they come to visit him. Because he's one of the Senators with more seniority in the Senate, many people from all around the world know who he is. We sat and took pictures in his chairs and learned a lot more about him as a person and as a Senator. What a neat day!

Dinner at Union Station: Holy crowdedness. There were SO many people! It took me a while to make it through the food court with Katelyn, and we couldn't find the smoothies we wanted, but I settled for some delicious Chineese. After, Katelyn and I walked around through some shops! I still hadn't spent the 50$ my grandpa had given me (along with the instructions: "This is NOT for cheeseburgers"). So, we went into Ann Taylor, a store that is usually (and is) WAY out of my price range, but, brought in by the huge 50% off SALE sign in the front, I ended up finding an adorable shirt for the amazing low price of $40 dollars (and yes, that WAS sarcasm people). But it was half off! And my grandpa had given me money- so, I bought it! It's pretty darn fancy, so I've decided to reserve it only for fancy dates, interviews, or other classy things. I have to admit, it did feel pretty good to splurge on something nice for myself- which I hardly ever do. I'm  pretty money savvy and tend to be a penny pincher- which is good! I'm not perfect at it, and it's a roller coaster, but anyway, you get the point it was fun, okay? We barely made it onto the bus on time- but it was fun 'cause then everyone had to see the shirt that had almost caused us all to be late- and they ooed and awed and we all joked that I would spend so much on a stupid shirt. It was great. :)

Le Bus Transfer to Williamsburg: Okay, for a bus transfer, this one was worth writing about! Ever sense Georgetown, our leaders have had us in the "Budy System". We had, of course, heard of this system before, but we had no idea there was an inside joke about it! We were finally enlightened. There's a 90's Disney movie out there called "Heavyweights", ever heard of it? Me neither. Turns out, it's a HILARIOUS movie about a kid that gets sent to "fat camp" by his parents! Isn't that terrible!?! haha! But wait, there's more! This camp is  supposed to be all about having fun and accepting yourself and maybe loosing a few pounds on the way. But when he gets to camp, he, and everyone else, are shocked to find that the previous, kind owners have become bankrupt, and there's a new warden in town- Ben Stiller. That's right, you heard me. Already made the movie that much better right? Well, Stiller's character is a work-out-aholic and is determined to make these kids lose every ounce of fat on their body. He hires a German body builder/model to take them to their activities. Here's where the "Budy" joke comes in. The German guy is flirting with a girl when he should be watching the kids swimming in the lake. When she asks him about this, he repies in his ever German accent: "I have them on the Body System" (He says body but means buddy) she's like "What?" he's like "the BODY SYSTEM"  and she's like "What?" and on for a few more times until finally he calls out "BODY!!!!!" and the kids hold up their hands together and yell back "BUDDY!!!!!!" "BODY!!!" BUDDY!!!!" "BODY!!!" "BUDDY!!!" It's hilarious!!!! THAT, is where we got our "Body System" from, and isn't it hilarious? haha, we now embrace the Body System full heartedly and shout BUDDY at the top of our lungs whenever we hear the call. After, we were all like: "So is this a fat joke?" haha and man what fun we've had ever sence!
After a 3 hr bus ride, we finally arrived in Williamsburg, Virginia. :) We stayed with our same rooms, and were delighted to discover that some of our rooms connected! THAT was a TON of fun for a while, untill the lady who does the room checks told us it wasn't allowed. It was okay by that point though, cause we had just finished watching our episodes of Big Bang Theory and Connan. What a fun day!

My Adventures in DC CONTINUED

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

US MARINE CORPS MEMORIAL STUDY VISIT: I loved this so much! It's also known as the Iwo Jima Memorial. It was beautiful. The flag hoisted here is the only one in the US (besides on the moon) that will never be at half mast to honor our Marines. When we were here, there was a Brass Marine Band marching and practicing the song "American Salute"- I was ecstatic!!! I got to play that song with the Utah Youth Symphony when we had our concert with the Rampart Winds from the Air Force, so I knew every note. I love the sound of marching bands, and this one was all brass and percussion- needless to say, and already noted, I loved it. I loved seeing this beautiful monument with such great music- I learned a lot.

NATIONAL ARCHIVES: I was extremely bummed that we couldn't take pictures here, but I got a few of the outside on my cell phone. :) This place REALLY made me feel patriotic and feel the spirit because of our Heavenly Father's hand in creating this beautiful country. You could see the hand prints on the Declaration of Independence. I couldn't believe I was looking at the ACTUAL documents and ACTUAL signatures of our founding fathers that were written and made in the beautiful, stressful, inspired, and truly wonderful moment so long ago. The building these documents are housed in itself is very beautiful. There is a large mural of our founding fathers above the documents, and dim lighting brought a calmed mood that made you feel the importance of just being next to the things that hold our country together.  I bought a Rosie the Riveter Mug at the gift shop too :D What a great experience.

EMBASSY OF ISRAEL: We went to Israel! Well, sorta. Technically, the soil is of Israel given to it by the USA. We were met by one of the workers of the Embassy- he told us all about the Embassy and all about the current issues and cultures of Israel- I learned SO much. It was really cool! But we were all REALLY tired. I turned around to stretch and saw over half of our group asleep... oops! hehe! I was fighting sleep myself! But I felt bad for the guy speaking to our dead audience, so thought better of it. The air conditioning we Divine! :) I was extremely grateful for the opportunity to do this because VERY few people get to go inside embassies, let alone Israel's, especially with the tense conditions there now. We had to leave all of our bags outside and we're asked if we had received any "gifts" to give to the embassy. They told us we had actually gotten in rather easily, usually the security there took over an hour to go through, but for some reason we got lucky!

SMITHSONIAN MUSEUM OF AIR AND SPACE: We didn't have nearly enough time here! It was SO cool to see the old historic planes! We had tons of fun learning too! I LOVE the Smithsonian! Ashley and I wandered around like HUGE nerds explaining different things about space and airplanes to all of our friends- what a great time!


Look! We found the bobble heads as featured in Night at the Museum 2!

  

SNOOPY!!!

 

They had a cool heat sensor camera that we had WAY too much fun with :)
 from left to right, Ashley, Me, and Amber


US HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM:  Words can't even begin to express what this was like. We had an actual survivor from Auswich come and speak to us about his experience because he is friends with one of our chaperone's- I could hardly believe it. He tried to shorten and simplify his story a lot and not say things, but only 2 of 8 of his siblings survived, and both of his parents died. He saw his mother and sisters go to the crematoriums, and he said he would have gone into their line to take care of them, thus having the same fate, if it hadn't have been for another prisoner who threw him back into his own line. Several of his friends were sent straight to the crematoriums because they were too skinny to work- he was wearing 2 sweaters that made him look bigger, even though he was their size. He was nearly worked to death and said he saw so much murder, starvation, suffocation that soon, all he could, would, and cared to think about was food. He told us that he had said to himself while he was there that if he got a bit of bread, he would eat a little bit and save the rest for later so he would feel like a human again- after that he'd be content to die. I can hardly imagine what that would ever be like, and seeing some of the horrific images in the museum made me sick. I couldn't watch the videos. My friend Quintin helped me out- I could just tell by the look on his face coming out of certain rooms that I didn't want to watch or read something. None of us spoke the entire way through. I will never forget the stories of hope and horror and the terrible propaganda the Nazis used. All of us were speechless walking onto the bus. Nobody knew what to say- what do you say? I'm so grateful for the knowledge that I have of the gospel to help me understand what happens after death. I can't imagine what faith so many of these people had to go through and see so much.


PENTAGON CITY MALL: We stopped here for dinner :) I completely amazed Ashley when I told her that the decorations in the mall are called "bunting". :) I bought Brendan a Bret Harper Nationals Jersey for his birthday (SHHH! don't tell him, it's a surprise! Harper is Brendan's hero, he's a 19 year old LDS kid who plays in the Major League- awesome right?)  I also got myself a cute shirt. It was fun!

GEORGETOWN: This city was NICE. It was really expensive. Several famous people have lived there, and everything was pricey. We got into the "Buddy System" ( we yell "BUDDY!" and hold up our partner's hand whenever a chaperone's yells "BUDDY?" hehe we have fun with that one) and I was Buddies with Quintin, who we hung out with yesterday. We had fun! At first, I'll admit it, I thought it was kinda weird to be going around the city alone with a boy, but he's cool so I didn't worry or anything- and we had SO much fun! He didn't want to go shopping, and I was pretty bummed out. But after seeing the ridiculous prices, he settled for an ice cream and I was content to take pictures of the beautiful historic homes. We had fun, but I was tired pretty quickly. Luckily we're going back to the hotel.



One of the beautiful canals in Georgetown



Our group from Woods Cross :)

These guys got SOAKED :) beautiful fountain

CAPITOL HILL PREP WORKSHOP: This was WAY cool! The 40 of us broke down into two groups. They gave us a consolidated legislative bill as a prompt, ours was a bill that would prevent the government from being able to fund abortions. It wasn't as cut and dry obviously... it was a legislative action! Well, my side did really well! We were arguing for the passing of the bill, and I had to help present our points in under 2 minutes. And guess what?! Our side won! Then, our group nominated me to be our lobbyist to the larger "congressional" meeting. I was SO nervous to lobby in front of so many people, but I think i did pretty good! Once I made my points, I had the group ask me questions so I could make sure that we were all on the same page of why this bill would be good. After, I had to leave the room while the other lobbyist made her points. We were brought back in for the final words and vote. I wasn't allowed to speak, but I could write out cards for other people to say, which ended up coming in handy when the conversation started going the way I didn't want it to. Because 95% of us in the group are conservative, it wasn't a close decision at all, but I got the bill passed! And that was WAY cool. :) haha, I'd like to think that I helped by making sure people realized that we weren't talking about the moral issue of is abortion right or wrong, but that should the government be able to tax and fund such a controversial moral issue. I'm REALLY glad we got to do this! It definitely opened my eyes to the processes of congress and helped me realize that I kinda like to do this stuff! I've learned TONS.

What a great day!

Wednesday, June 27, 2012     CAPITOL HILL DAY!!!

METRO TRANSFER TO CAPITOL HILL:  Yes, I am even writing about the Metro. I wore my tennis shoes with my white dress that has orange polka dots and black stripes (fashionable, mind you, despite how it sounds- and vintage too!) I felt silly at first, wearing those huge shoes, but once we had walked all the way to the metro, I didn't regret it at all! We broke down into "teams" so we could ensure we all safely made it to Capitol Hill- our team was the ever classic "team awesome"- with Kris, the chaperone, as our leader. We had SO much fun! Ashley and I were having fun "annoying" (messing with) Miss Laub- she's hilarious!!!! I'm happy to say we all made it safely there! before we got off I hurried and put on my ballet flats, which ended up being a BIG mistake. I thought we were going straight away to meet our senators, but we had to walk to AND tour the capitol before that happened. Needless to say, my feet were pretty darn sore.

US CAPITOL TOUR:  From the Senate Office Building, we took underground tunnels and a mini subway to get into the Capitol. When we emerged via a spiral staircase into one of the wings of the Capitol, I was immediately stunned. The walls were covered with beautifully detailed paintings. The ceilings were arched and painted with scenes from the history of America, back to Columbus. We walked through these beautiful hallways until we got to the Old Senate Meeting Chamber, where old air vents converge under a central dome, providing early 19th Century air conditioning from under a decorative grate. A huge chandelier hung a story above  us, and big columns and arches held up the second floor balcony above. Big red ceramic flowers with gold leafed middles hung on the domed ceiling around the chandelier, and green tobacco leaves with gold accents circled around them. I'm bad at explaining what it was really like, but it was beautiful. We got to see the corner stone of the original building (or the replica of it actually, because the original was lost. It was replaced in the early 1800's to commemorate where the other would have been. By the way, how do you lose a corner stone...?) ANYWAY. We also saw the original doors into the building where our founding fathers walked. We saw the Rotunda where beautiful sand colored arched pillars hold up the floor and famous, HUGE dome above it. It's the center of the whole building, and a marble star marks the center of the room AND city of DC. The marble was worn down from so many people standing on it. (Many of the stairs near the railings of DC are the same way, worn down by 200 years of feet on them- cool huh?)  Statues of founding fathers stood against the walls.



On the "mini subway" into the Capitol





The Commemorative Cornerstone

Upstairs, there was a plac honoring those who died and steered the plane away from the Capitol during the 9-11 attacks. I was glad this was there and that we got to see it. Sometimes we forget these men and women who sacrificed themselves when we think of 9-11, and we never should.

Finally, we entered into the large dome- It was truly magnificent. There were AMAZING paintings and statues. I liked the statue of Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony. There was one unfinished mound or figure behind them which symbolized that women's rights aren't yet complete- that was pretty cool!

When the artist was painting the frieze around the room, he fell of the scaffolding (which was hundreds of feet in the air) and luckily caught himself halfway down. After that, he refused to finish it, so, in the early 1900s, two artists finished the timeline he started. They began by painting the French and Indian War, and ended with WWI and the first manned flight. The most beautiful though was the painting on the dome itself. George Washington sits in the middle with Liberty on his right and Virtue on his left. I have some pics of it that I'll include later.
Walking though, we also got to see the old Senate, House of Representatives, and Judicial Chambers. In the Capitol, every state is allowed to have two statues of important people from the state. Utah has Philo T. Farnsworth, the inventor of the Television, and Brigham Young, the LDS Prophet who led the pioneers across the plains into Utah. Although Farnsworth wasn't on display, we got cool pictures next to Brigham Young in his chair decorated with beehives. We all felt proud to see a representation of our own state in the Capitol. This government is for it's states, and I'm glad that there's a visual representation that tells us our state isn't forgotten. I know that sometimes us Utahans at least feel like our state isn't as important as those densely populated states back east that have so much history, like Virginia or Pennsylvania. But we ARE important! We're part of America too! It made me proud to be a Utahan :)



From the spot of his desk, JQA could hear what other Representatives were saying,
even when they thought he was sleeping... hehe! Smart guy.  He actually WAS really smart,
he knew over 7 languages FLUENTLY, and- well I could go on, but you should look him up.

 

LUNCH: Nothing exactly, well, special happened at lunch.. but it was SUPER crowded! We barely found a place to sit! and even then, we couldn't eat all together. I ate with Katelyn Guido- a SUPER nice, poised, beautiful girl with curly red hair- we had fun! She reminds me of a princess SO much. For instance, instead of saying "what?" she'll respond "I beg your pardon?" to a fuzzy question, hehe! And she always thinks before she says something, you can tell because what she says always sounds so educated and nice. :) We had nice discussions about the education funds that we read about in the newspaper sitting at our table.

MEETING WITH REPRESENTATIVE ROB BISHOP: This was SOOOOO cool!!!!! I can hardly believe I met a Representative! He was HILARIOUS by the way- you would never think that a Congressman would say some of the things he did. He wasn't afraid to tell us EXACTLY what he's trying to do, and exactly how he feels about it- I loved and really respected that in him, cause you can pretty well tell what you would be getting as a representative from him if you voted for him. We need more honest people like that. He was very well educated too. Did I mention he was funny? Cause he was. When Peter (my very strongly Liberal friend, remember?) asked Bishop a question about why he backed out of support from a bill, reading it from a grandiosely worded text he had found on the Internet the night before, Bishop just stared at Peter for a couple seconds and asked him frankly: "Now dude, where the h*** did you get that crap?" haha! He went on to explain the situation and what the bill entailed that caused him to not support it. Now, I didn't understand much of what he was talking about when he was explaining things to Peter, but it shut him up, so I was satisfied with his answer. He DID answer all of his questions though, which was good. We got to ask him questions about how he would take current issues in Utah to the federal gov, and that was really great to learn about! I appreciated to learn more about the issues that we actually do have in our own state, like the untaxed, unmined land in Southern Utah etc that kids who live in places like Dugway worry about all the time. I also liked that he didn't try to dumb anything down for us, and he talked to us like we were on the same level as him. Leaders like him shouldn't ever look down at people- even if the people are a bunch of high schoolers like us. He had to leave pretty soon, but we learned TONS and I was REALLY grateful for this opportunity.

I liked that every Representative's door says this! :)

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS: This wasn't on our schedule, but we got to take a little detour to see it, and I am SO glad we did!!! The floor and ceilings were covered with tile mosaics! Beautiful stained glass windows let in light on the ceiling. Paintings and quotes from scholars and authors and philosophers made NO sense whatsoever, further showing how deep they were! I was IMPRESSED. It was absolutely beautiful! We weren't aloud to take pictures of the library itself, but I took a lot of the entry and foyer or whatever you'd call it. There were cool exhibits in the wings of the library. Sadie, Colton and I kinda wandered by ourselves and together every now and then. Colton is really quiet, but really nice! I just didn't know what to say usually, so I'd awkwardly go through the exhibits 'with' him. We talked a little bit! That was good! He's just a quiet dude! And it's awkward to be the one who has to fuel the entire conversation, so we split up again and I went somewhere else. Oh but please don't get me wrong! It was really nice to have some quiet time! And Colton is still a great friend! You don't always have to be talking to be having fun (that's a concept I'm still learning about- trust me, I'll get better at applying it eventually... hehe) The library is SO cool! Security to get into it (AND every other building in DC) takes forever. I was glad to be able to wander around and spend my time exploring such an American Landmark. I've wanted to see it ever sense I heard about it! And lets face it, the National Treasure movies helped a little too. :)



As you can see in this picture, there really weren't very many people here!
That was nice :)

 

One of the only one's on the walls that I could understand without thinking for years ;)



PAUSE BUTTON! So, I know I'm not all the way through the day; it was a FANTASTIC day!!! But I don't have enough time tonight to write any more out :) SO- I'm gonna leave you hangin- Day 4, Capitol Hill day is...

TO BE CONTINUED!