Day 5 - Where Decisions are Made

Today was the day for our big capital tour. We were really looking forward to it because we had reserved our tour through our congressman, Ralph Hall. The tour didn't start until 1:50 p.m., so we decided to take our time in the morning, and not hurry too much getting there. There is a Metro bus stop at the campground so it is convenient to get places. We hopped on the bus about 10:30 and rode to the nearest rail station. The bus made several other stops on the way so we were glad we went when we did. It wasn't the fastest trip to the station. We rode the Metro train into D.C. again. By this time, we are getting pretty good at maneuvering our way around. We rode the train to the nearest metro station to the capital. One of the capital office buildings has a food court type place in the basement so we ate lunch there. It was really busy with people everywhere. It didn't seem organized at all but everyone seemed to know where they were going. We finally got something to eat and sat down and had lunch. It was interesting watching all the people.

It was time to go meet our tour guide. We had to go to Ralph Hall's office on the 4th floor of the Rayburn office building. There was a tunnel leading from the building we ate in to where we need to go. In fact, there are tunnels that lead everywhere down there. A person can get to and from the capital from about 10 different buildings without ever seeing daylight. Congressmen and Senators even have their own subway that transports them to and from.

We met our guide. He was an intern for Hall's office and he had been there since May. He was pretty nice and started us on our way. There was one other family on the tour with us and they were from Allen, TX so it was nice to see some others from home. It seemed like it took forever to get to the capital because of security and various lines that we had to stand in. We got to the CVC or Capital Visitor Center and there were people everywhere. We started with a video and then went to various rooms including the old Supreme Court chambers,  Rotunda and the current house gallery. They were all pretty cool and very thought provoking. The tour lasted a while and by the time we got back to the office, it was almost 4:00 p.m.

The last thing we did was look at the view from Hall's office. The intern said that it was the best view in the building and it was amazing. Ralph Hall has been in Washington so long that he has been able to work his way up to the best office.

After the tour, we went to the Air and Space Museum located on the mall. We were pretty tired and we didn't make it all the way through it. We did get to see some pretty neat exhibits and some very famous aircraft. For some reason, it hit us all and we were really tired. We decided to go back to camp and rest up a little. The girls wanted to go swimming so they did and Catherine washed a few loads of clothes. I made a trip to Target and got a few supplies. It was a good night for resting, for tomorrow would be another busy day.