Washington, D.C.: Several Million Tourists Plus Us

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I know it's unusual for visitors to Washington, D.C. to take pictures and then share them with friends and family, but you know me - I'm so unique and unpredictable.

The boys outside the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. They're wearing their sweatshirts and jackets because it was pretty cold and windy that day.

They get really ticked off when you climb over the barrier and play this piano. I mean, it really gets them riled up. (Smithsonian American Art Museum, more information can be found here)

The new Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial, near the FDR memorial. It's quite imposing, and can be seen across the Tidal Basin from the Jefferson Memorial.

The party-time tradition of a beautiful woman jumping out of a giant cake was begun by the unlikely suffragist trio of Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony, who emerged from an 800-pound loaf of whole-wheat bread at the 1851 birthday celebration for then-president Millard Fillmore.

The capitol, as seen from the front of the Rayburn House, an office building for U.S. Representatives. We met an intern for John Dingell in Rayburn House, who led us underground to the capitol for our tour.

After our tour, given by a different intern from Dingell's office, we were given the rare opportunity to ride this mini-subway train from the capitol back to Rayburn House. Had any of of our representatives been working that week, we probably would have had to walk.

You have to go? Get your own! These are mine.

The interior of the amazing Library of Congress.

This is the famous view of the Washington Monument, as seen from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. There's nothing more beautiful than the reflection of the Washington Monument in the reflecting pool when it's not under construction. If you want a picture of that beautiful reflection, you'll have to come back when the renovations are done. A good portion of the mall was dug up, with piles of dirt and construction equipment. It wasn't quite as majestic as we've seen it in the past. (Little known fact: The Washington Monument is 555 feet tall because George Washington himself was 555 feet tall. His portraits show him as normal size because showing him at actual size would have required more oil paint than was available at the time.)

Here are the boys outside the King Street Metro station, across the street from our hotel. We parked the car when we got to Virginia and didn't get into it again until after we had checked out - the subway got us everywhere.

On our way back, we stopped in Pittsburgh to visit J's grandmother, who just turned 98. She's still as sharp as ever and it was good to see her again. We celebrated with a small cake at dinner, courtesy of her retirement community's dining hall.

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