washington d.c.

i'm slowly making my way through all fifty states, at last count i've hit 5.5! i have a long way to go.

*california
*arizona
*nevada
*utah
*virginia
*washington d.c. (i know it's not part of the fifty states proper, but it should count for something, right?!)

j had a conference in dc so i tagged along and had a REALLY FUN time while sadly he was mostly in a conference room in a marriott, decidedly not as fun. :(

here are some photos!

USA! USA!

the bay area's BART system is based on the dc metro system. the turnstiles and seat transfigurations look just the same. we got out at one stop and thought we were at lake merritt station.

this is the famous "senate bean soup" that is served every day at the senate dining hall. it's pretty tasty!

why oh why is there no dunkin donuts in california?!

marble staircase at the supreme court. there are two of them and they each ascend five stories. what's crazy is that they are supported only by overlapping steps and extensions into the wall.

capitol building

U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing - this was a really neat tour. they take you through the factory where they print money and you see these big barrels of green ink. there's also really cheeky signs posted all over the factory near the workers that say things like "you think you're sad? i just saw my entire life's income being printed in less than 3 minutes!" i didn't catch the exact amount that they print a day (i want to say $1 billion but i could've heard wrong), but needless to say it's a lot! they print 24 hours a day to keep up with demand. there's also another printing factory in texas. crane's paper (the fancy stationer) provides all the paper to print the money on.

my first day i started at the lincoln memorial and made my way down the national mall, where the smithsonian, comprised of many different free museums, is. obama recently has been taking walks from his office (once to starbucks, once to the national mall - i believe his words to his staff and the press were "the bear is loose") and i was hoping to run into him and say hello but no such luck. did you know that the lincoln memorial is a popular place to propose?

i really love dc and would be excited to live there. it felt like san francisco, but cleaner. it's also terribly humid there, but who's counting? there's a law that says no buildings can be taller than the washington monument, avoiding the dark downtown that cities with lots of skyscrapers tend to have.

my favorite was the air and space museum. i'm the kind of person who will sweep through a museum fairly quickly because it's too much to read all the exhibit signs and flip through the interactive panels. i instead latched myself to a free tour group led by a former nasa employee and learned so much about the space programs. this is apollo 11, the first mission to get to the moon. going to space is crazy.

i have a weird fascination with the kennedy family and first ladies generally, so i was really excited to see a whole exhibit dedicated to the first ladies. here's part of their collection of some of the ladies' inaugural gowns. do you recognize any?

one night j and i took a night bike tour of the monuments. now, here's the crazy thing about dc weather. it can be sunny and bright one minute, and then thunder will storm and then the sky will frown and rain will start pouring down. we were warned before the tour that it might get rained out, but we went anyways because we didn't have any other time that we could go. it was really fun - we saw the jefferson memorial, the fdr memorial, the mlk, jr. memorial, the korean war memorial, and the lincoln memorial. it was at the lincoln memorial that the rain really started to come down and we all huddled inside with abe to wait out the rain. there is definitely no drought going on out there. i've never seen so much thunder or lightning.  

i also saw the white house from outside (tried to get a tour inside but didn't get in), ate at shake shack, dined next to dianne feinstein, saw the star spangled banner, went to part of the holocaust museum, went to arlington national cemetary in virginia, and lots of other things! while i was at arlington they were holding funeral services for a general and they did a 13 gun salute (21 is reserved for presidents and heads of state) with cannons from world war II. the tomb of the unknown soldier and the changing of the guard is really moving to see - the inscription on the side of the tomb gives me chills: Here rests in honored gloryan American soldier known but to God. 

d.c. is a great place and i hope to return soon, there were still many things i wanted to do but missed!