Today we were going to the White House for a 7:30 AM tour. They didn't let us bring in anything except umbrellas, wallets, keys, and cell phones. That was it...Nothing else! It also said we couldn't bring in a comb, but we could bring in an umbrella! Does that make any sense to anybody????? So we left the hotel with nothing except wallets, keys, and a cell phone. Nothing else!
So we woke up 5:30 AM to get to the White House a bit earlier than 7:30 (just to be safe). As soon as we got ready we stuffed ourselves with a donut and a banana. Back when mom went to the White House you have fifteen minutes to look at six rooms. So we had expected to go there look at the rooms, then come back for breakfast at the hotel and get our belongings and go on with the rest of the day.
Now we were on the metro, which wasn't very crowded, reading the newspaper and sleeping. We got off at Federal Triangle and walked to the White House. There was a big group of people standing in a line and we guessed they were there for the tour also. So we joined the line. We waited awhile before we got in to sit in another line inside the fenced area! In the second line I watched the guard dog sniff every car that came in for about 20-25 min. Then we watched big black vans (not minivans) drive out and then put their lights on and sirens. It was really cool!
Finally we got passed that and we were walking to the security tent. They checked us making sure we weren't bringing in anything dangerous...especially a small comb, which is apparently very dangerous!!!!
We were passed security and we were walking down a hallway looking at pictures. A guard kept calling: keep moving. A tour guide will get you started in a minute! That was surprising to us! We weren't expecting a tour guide to show us around. Well all the tour guides aren't just tour guides. They were security guards. Our guide was phenomenal!
He kept making little jokes and our group just listened and watched him. It was funny! When we were in the Blue Room he said this was his second favorite room....and we were waiting for him to go on. Then he said: well don't you want to know what my favorite room is? It's the break room!!!
Anyway, he was great. He explained things well and was interesting. After the tour we took a picture with dad's cell phone in front of the back of the White House. Then we had a man come up and volunteered to take a picture of all of us.
The tour ended up being about 40-45 minutes long, which was a lot longer than we had expected. We enjoyed that though.
When we got back to the hotel breakfast was done (which we knew because it was already past 9AM) so we just got coffee. We walked up to our room and packed our lunches and got ready for the second part of the day.
We actually ended up going back to where the White House was so Carl could get some video of a statue in front of the Treasury building. While Carl, Christian and dad went over to the White House area mom, Miriam, and I visited the White House Visitor Center.
Next we walked over to where the Boy Scout Statue was. We took several pictures of the scouts in this family (Carl, Christian and dad) in front of that statue.
Then we walked to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, which is where they make money. They gave us a tour on the second floor where you could look down and watch them make money. The tour was pretty good. Before the tour Christian and I got our picture taken in front of one million dollars in ten dollar notes that weren't cut.
After visiting the Bureau of Engraving and Printing we headed over to the Natural Museum of American History. We spent the rest of the day here. It was very cool. We visited all of the exhibits and had a lot of fun.
That night at the hotel we had hamburgers and cheeseburgers. This was the last night we were having dinner there. After dinner we pretty much rested for the next day!
By Bethany Colglazier
