Day Two: The Mall and all it's walking glory!!!

The Washington Monument. Our very first stop on a very, very
jam packed day.

View of the Lincoln Monument from the Washington Monument.
Notice, no on is around. That's because it's 7:30am and most people are still sleeping.

I thought this photo was cleverly taken.
By Moi!

Brent in the bitter cold, in front of the Washington Monument.
We got there at 7:30am to stand in line to get tickets to ride the elevator to the top.
There were about 15 people ahead of us when the tickets ran out.
We were in line for over an hour.
But we'd do it again Monday morning.

Aww, cute photo of me in front of the Capital.

View of the Mall from the Capital Building.

oAnother one of those cool fireplaces.
I love how they painted the inside red.

Just another view of the Capital.

Me looking up at the Capital.
Again, everything is so big!!!

The ceiling of the Rotunda.

One of the fireplaces that warmed the Senators before the expantion of the Capital.

This is a hallway inside the Library of Congress.
I have to say is my MOST favorite of all the buildings in
Washington D.C. It is just incredible!!

A closer look at the ceiling.

Part of the mosaic ceiling.
Can you tell what the word is?

I think at one point this was some sort of fountain.

Take a look at the amazing stone work!!!
It was incredible.

Just another cool photo.



One of the amazing windows with
a cool quote above it.

Some of the awesome columns and ceiling inside the Library of Congress.

These sayings were ALL OVER the ceiling of the Library.
For some reason, this quote struck a chord with me.

A view of the Capital building from the back.

I think this is the Justice Department.
It's back behind the Capital building.

The National Archives building.
We would visit this place another day.
The line to see the Declaration of Independence wrapped around the block.

Guess what this is?
If you guessed the Hope Diamond, you would be correct.
It was so crowded in this tiny room, and everyone pushing and shoving to get a glimse that the security gaurd started yelling to take a quick pic. and get out the way, be courteous to all, this room is crowded right now.
This was on display in the National Museum of Natural History.

I just posted this pictures so you could see how stinking
crowded it was in the National Museum of Natural History.

The cool T-Rex.
The one at Thanksgiving Point is just as impressive.

My super cute husband.
He surprised me at Christmas with this trip.
You know how great he is?
He even arranged the babysitting. Which was a huge surprise in and of itself!!!
Thanks Brent, this trip was FABULOUS!!!

View of the White House.
You can see preparations for the Easter Roll.
All the make-shift plastic orange fences.

The Lincoln Memorial.
Note: It was CROWDED!!!

View of the Washington Monument from the Lincoln Memorial.

Lincoln himself.
Brent and I almost named Jaren, Lincoln.
Off to the left of his statue is his Gettysburg address. You know, the Four score and such. As I stood there and read that speech tears ran down my cheeks. This memorial is awe-inspiring and probably one of my favorites. This was an incredible man who helped unite a country. Unfortunately it had to be through war, but we wouldn't be the country we are today without him.

You really don't understand how huge
Abaraham Lincoln is until you stand
right next to him.
He is GINORMOUS!!!

Statue dedicated to the soliders of the
Vietnam War.

Section of the Vietnam Memorial.
Can you see our reflections?

Another cool shot of the Washington Monument.
And in the distance, can you see the Capital?

We didn't get to experience the cherry blossoms in their full glory.
This tree must have been a late bloomer.

The Korean War Memorial

View of the Washington Monument from the Title Basin
Brent took this photo.

Thomas Jefferson Memorial from the outside.

Thomas Jefferson
One of the writers of the Declaration of Independence

It's amazing, back then they wrote their own stuff.
No staff writers to write their speeches.

Yes, if you can believe it all this shiz happened in ONE FREAKING DAY!!!! My brother-in-law put it best when he called Brent " the hardest working tourist" he'd ever met. Darn tooting right. When Brent told me he wanted to do all this in one day I was a little liery. I don't think he realized how huge the Mall was or how far apart everything was. I just went along for the ride. We saw A LOT!!! But missed out on a lot too. We did so much walking that my knees hurt, my hips hurt and especially my feet. It's a good thing I lost those 20lbs or else Brent would have had to carry me to the Metro. It was tiring. But worth it.
As I thought about my day on the Mall, and reading all the inscriptions in the memorials it was hard for me not to be overwhelmed. Without a doubt, this country was formed and established around God. His influence is in everything.