If I Could Walk 100 Miles...

We had a very nice vacation. I am thoroughly exhausted and I finally got a tan (yay) because that is important. You should see Audrey's:)

We went to the National Zoo twice in Washington D.C., I would have to put it in the top 3 best Zoos in the Country (It was so good we went back). It is a FREE (except for parking $20...all that money goes to the animals so I do not mind) and it took us about 4 hrs to get through the whole Zoo about a 3 mile walk. The habitats were amazing these animals live in the Four Seasons of Zoos. The Pandas were AWESOME!!! Sorry Andrea no Giraffes but they did have some very cool Elephants. We had a nice picnic lunch and then headed downtown to the National Mall. Ginormous is not even the right word to describe how big this section of the city was. We went and parked near the National Monument (about 5 miles away) thinking this would be a central place to see things), we were wrong.

We saw the White House, The National Monument and the 4th of July Parade....the girls really liked that. We saw so many buildings that have so much significance and history it was mind boggling to have them right in front of us.

The game plan was to go to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History which was about 10 blocks from where we were and also go to the Library of Congress (this is like Nirvana for was), I had also promised that I would buy him his Father's Day gift there. So we start walking and there are a TON of people, it is the 4th of July in Washington, which made things stressful. We walk about 2 miles and find the Smithsonian but I really wanted to take Wes to the Library of Congress and I had the address but not the understanding of the layout of the National Mall. So we kept walking (wrong choice). Washington D.C. is a Police State (which makes no sense because it is not a State). I have never seen so many Police anywhere...by the time we went home we must of have seen at least 1,500 Cops and Agents.

You would think that at least one of these Cops would know how far the Library of Congress was from 10th and Consitution (Smithsonian). I guess none of them read. I kept getting just a couple more blocks down that way...and you guys are here to protect us. We kept walking probably another 2.5 miles, the poor girls...they were being so strong and did a really good job, but I could see them struggle. It was also so humid and hot (much more humid than NY) so we stopped to take a rest across the street from the Canadian Consulate (I bet they would have known where the library was) and the Museum of Jornalism...we are going to go there the next time we visit...it was spectacular just seeing it from the outside, it was HUMUNGOUS and full of news. Sounds like a good place for Marcie:) Wes goes ahead and does a little bit of scouting and comes back and says the Capitol Building is just up the street. Well who does not want to see the Capitol Building, so we start walking again and I ask my 3rd group of Cops (they were always in groups) where the Library is and point the same direction, yata, yata...we walk another .5 miles to the Capitol. Seeing the Capitol Building on T.V. does not capture the grandeur (lots of big words in this blog) of this building. I liked it so much more than the White House and you could actually get close to it. Unfortunately I was so hell bent on getting us to the Library we hardly spent anytime there looking around. People were already lining up for the Fire Works (it was like only 2:00 and the Fire Works did not start until 10:00) so it was getting crowded again which did not help my mood. We made it to the back of the of the Capitol Building and I see another group of Cops and I am fed up with asking them so I snapped at Wes to go and ask them for directions...he did not hear the first part of my sentence and thought I was accusing him of not knowing where we were going and dragging us around D.C. ...so I am ashamed to admit it but Wes and I had a screaming fight at the Capitol Building. He just wanted to turn around and go back to the Smithsonian but you know us ROOKS when we get an idea in our head, it is getting done. I told him that if we had to walk 100 miles we were going to the Library. I stomped over to the group of Cops and asked again where the Library of Congress was and one of them pointed right at it, right next door to the Supreme Court (the building was so white, and ongoing theme in D.C.). Only a couple of blocks left to walk. Wes and I are not talking to each other, the girls are miserable and it is spitting rain...stupid vacation. We finally make it to the Library of Congress....GORGEOUS building (there are 3 buildings that make up the Library) this was the Jefferson building. We walk up the 50 stairs, open the door and find out that it is CLOSED!!!! You can only imagine how this affected the mood. I was soooooooooo mad that I refused to take any puctures ot that stupid building. We probably walked a good 6 miles just to get there and it was CLOSED!!!! (I went on their website before we left and it did not say that it was going to be closed for the 4th, other buildings had extended hours because of the tourism).

Good thing we were all angry because I think it gave us the energy to trun around and walk back the same way we had just come...I glared at the group of Cops that I had asked directions from, you would of thought they would have told me that it was CLOSED!!!! 4 miles later we get to the Smithsonian...where we are going to do more walking in a large crowd and I am still not talking to Wes. I know, it sounds like a ton of fun. The Dinosaurs were cool and I got to see the Hope Diamond from afar. That was cool. We leave the Smithsonian and it is starting to down pour ... so instead of walking another bazillion miles to see the Fire Works in 6 hrs we walked the 2 + miles back to the car.
Remember we also walked 3 miles at the Zoo that morning. We walked a good 15+ miles that day.

Wes and I made up in the car and the girls fell asleep as we drove to the hotel in Virginia. We watched the Fire Works on T.V. it was very peaceful.