Dreary Monday

Monday, Monday. What a dreary day. Erin and I woke up this morning to nothing but clouds, wet sidewalks and humid air. All that adds up to a great time to go say goodbye to President Ford at the Capitol. We had heard rumors that the lines at the Capitol got long the further you got into the day, so we got up and headed out at 9 a.m. There were a couple backlogs along the way, but everything went smoothly. We couldn't bring anything inside the Rotunda with us, but it was very impressive. There were armed guards from each of the armed forces standing next to the casket, whcih was draped with an American Flag. After we passed by the casket, we shoke hands with President Ford's son.

It's not like Erin and I like going to funerals, or looking at caskets. However, we both felt that this was an important part of American History. President Ford was a unique president who was thrown into the most powerful seat in the nation under extreme circumstances. We understand that he wasn't elected into office, but he still held the position and helped bring a nation back together. It was for those reasons that we decided to go an honor him this morning.

After leaving the Capitol, we tried to get into the Smithsonian Art museum. The website said they were open today, but the locks on the doors told us otherwise. So it was back to the hotel to relax. We got back just in time as it started to rain...again. D.C. got about an inch of rain today.

After relaxing for a little bit, we got up and heading out to American University to meet up with Diana and Damon and Guapo's for lunch. Diana was Erin's roomate in D.C. when she spent 4 months here studying abroad. After lunch, which was great, we took a walk around campus. Here are Diana and Erin (next to a map) getting re-acclimated with the campus.

After saying goodbye to Diana and Damon, we headed on the Metro for the National Archives. We were able to view some of the most important documents of our country, such as the Constitution, Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. This building is also one of the focal points of the movie, National Treasure. If you haven't seen it, it's on weekly on Encore...or you can just come over to our house as we now own a copy and I will have it playing on a 24 hour loop.

We headed back to the hotel to take it easy again (still muggy out). Now we are debating about where and what to do for dinner. Lucky us, the resturant connected with our hotel just opened back up. Maybe we'll take a picture there...