Our Arrival and Day 1
Our arrival onto the subway(locally named the “Metro”) platform had been preceded by a flight from Dallas Love Field, a layover in Little Rock, AR, and finally concluding in Baltimore-Washington International Airport. This trip was a bit of a seat-of-the-pants endeavor. Not a terrible amount of planning was involved, besides the logistics of arriving, lodging, and transportation around the city, once we arrived.
I had learned, from a previous trip, that driving was next to impossible, not the physical act of driving, but finding a place to put your vehicle, while you explored the sights. So, we found a decent hotel just into Maryland, in the town of Silver Springs. The motel was within walking distance of a Metro station. So, we planned to use only the metro for travel around town.
Getting to a metro station from BWI was a bit more difficult, but not hard. Washington public transit runs a bus from BWI to the end of one of the metro lines. So, we took that bus from the airport, boarded the metro, and off we went to our motel. About two hours elapsed from landing at BWI to entering our motel room in Silver Spring, Maryland.
The weather, being mid-March, was still on the cool side, and as we exited the Metro station to find our motel, the sky was spitting rain.
After a bit of waiting for our GPS to find us(it seems to get confused if you travel great distances while it’s off), it finally told us which way to walk.
Our propagandized minds were running in full alert mode. Every person and shadow became a murderer or rapist that had to be avoided at all costs. Soon we realized that people are people and we lightened up.
We found our motel in about 15 minutes and were soon asleep.
Up early the next morning to clear sunny skies, we were off to the metro station, headed south into the city.
We exited the metro at the Federal Triangle stop, and walked four or five blocks to the west side of the Capitol. Our intentions were to get tickets for a tour of the Capitol building.
Approaching the building from the north, you realize that the the building itself isn’t that large, but the way it is positioned and its location gives it the feeling of being the center
of the universe.
It’s located on a rise, originally called Jenkin’s Heights, which lets the building dominate the landscaped, not unlike many of the structures in the southwest, built by the Anasazi, namely Pueblo Bonito. I found myself not being able to take my eyes off the building. It commands your attention.
We strolled across the west side, looking for the kiosk distributing free tickets for entrance into the building.
We found the line in the southwest lawn. It stretched for several hundred yards, and we worried we were in for it. Luckily, the line moved with rapidity, and within 20 minutes, had our tickets for a 12 noon tour.
It was 9 A.M. at this point, so we walked west along the Mall. The Mall is the term used to describe the area from the Capitol, in the east, to the Lincoln Memorial, in the west, and is under the care of the National Park Service. Imagine many many football fields attached end to end almost two miles in length. Gravel footpaths run this length and you get unobstructed views in both directions.
We would spend our next three days walking and visiting the establishments in this area.
We strolled west down the Mall to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. We arrived a few minutes before it opened and a sizable crowd was waiting.
An interesting fact about most buildings in the city is that they do not open until ten in the morning. Several times we would arrive, only to have to wait for the building to open.
The building itself is gray marble with columns reaching to the sky, with steps worn by time and feet. When you enter, you’re confronted with a rotunda filled with an elephant, stuffed of course. It must’ve been a daunting taxidermy job!
As with most things in Washington, we were a bit overwhelmed at first. We staggered
around a bit and just stared and pointed at most things: a full skeleton of a swordfish, a spider so big it could eat a cat, a cicada bigger than most birds.
We then entered an area with a “butterfly chamber,” a place where butterflies hatch and are allowed to fly freely, while you walk through and watch. To watch a short video, click here.
By sheer coincidence, we arrived in the time period when an Atlas moth, from Africa, had hatched and was showing itself. It had a wingspan of ten inches. Very impressive, to say the least.
Interestingly, the curators of the chamber fed the butterflies with gatorade soaked in a sponge. We asked which flavor the butterflies like best and they said just about any would do.
After awhile, we moved on to the exhibition of nature photography. To say the exhibition was stunning was an understatement. Our favorite was a photo of a fox hunting in the snow. 
Noon was fast approaching and we had a date with the Capitol. So we departed the Natural History museum, vowing to return. We had experienced less than ten percent of its offerings.
We strolled back east towards Capitol Hill, taking our time and soaking in the sights.
It’s a strange feeling being in the area. There’s a certain level of familiarity with the area that seems to be ingrained into your DNA, yet there’s a newness that still comes through.
Your instincts say, “Yea, so what? It’s the Washington Monument. You’ve seen it a thousand times. What’s the big deal?” But then your brain says, “Yeah, it’s the Washington Monument! And it’s a real place! It’s not some fairy tale perpetrated by a box you stare at day after day.”
I found myself completely comfortable with my surroundings, yet totally overpowered by them. In every direction I looked was a sight I was familiar with seeing, yet I had to tell myself that it was a real place right in front of me. Then I was in total awe.
When we reached the Capitol, we stood in line and waited for the guide to retrieve us. We were required to pass through metal detectors and then the guide led us up onto the “porch” of the south wing and around the west side in order to give us an unobstructed view of the Mall.
Then we entered through the front door, walked up a flight of stairs, and were in the rotunda.
The rotunda itself is, how shall I say this, amazing, in several different ways. The attention to detail always amazes me. There seemed to be no square inch not closely scrutinized and debated on as to how it should be decorated.
The ceiling of the rotunda is a mural titled 
“The Apotheosis of George Washington”. An apotheosis is a scene depicting somebody’s rise into Heaven. And, sure enough, there sits old George, wearing his military uniform, among the angels themselves.
Lower down there is a relief painting of the history of America, from Columbus to the Wright brothers, circling a space below the rotunda painting.
At floor level, there are several large paintings showing important events from the history of America: the Pilgrims, the baptism of Pocahontas, and the Constitutional Convention, just to name a few.
It’s an interesting feeling to stand in the spot where Lincoln and Kennedy laid in state.
The guide led us into the south wing that was the original House of Representatives, and now houses many of the statues given by each state. Each state is allowed to send two statues of their famous people.
After this, we were led downstairs into the area where the Supreme Court was housed before it received its new building in the 1930’s. It was hard to not have another moment of, “Wow, I’m standing in the spot where (insert important event in our history) happened.” In this case, where the Dred Scott decision was handed down.
We finally left the Capitol and walked to the east side towards the Supreme Court building. On the way, we passed a fairly non-descript building(if a building with huge white columns, made of marble can be). We decided to go in and find out what it was, and boy am I glad we did.
It turns out, it was was the Library of Congress, the institution that began as Thomas 
Jefferson’s own book collection at Monticello.
The building was, by far, the most ornate we toured on the whole trip. The ceilings reminded me more of Vatican decorations than a government building. We staggered around for more than an hour looking at exhibits and being amazed at the building.
By this time, it was well past two o’clock and we had yet to have lunch. So, we walked a few blocks away from the Mall to a hole-in-the-wall eatery called the Flying Burrito Brothers.
As we entered, we met two young gentlemen exiting the establishment carrying a box of candy.
The first one stuck his hand out and said, “Hello, I’m Randy Jackson. Would you like to buy some candy to help us buy baseball uniforms? The Girl Scouts are killing us with their cookies!”
I figured his introduction was worth at least a dollar.
After lunch, during which I consumed a one pound burrito, we headed back to the mall.
The next building we came to was the National Botanical Garden.
Bill Bryson(travel author) has said that geology isn’t his thing. Show him a rock and tell him its characteristics and he will listen politely, but it won’t actually mean anything to him. I look at flora and fauna the same way. But the botanical gardens did make an impression on me.
By chance, orchids of all types were on display, and we spent several hours wandering the glass covered walkways. We were able to walk up several flights of stairs and look out onto the foliage. The level of preciseness was nice. Each type of plant was meticulously labeled. Never were we left in wonder as to what we were looking at.
We had a few hours before the museums began closing. So, we walked down the street to Native American museum to spend the last several hours of daylight.
The Museum of the Native American is the newest of the Smithsonian Museums. It’s rare in the sense that its goal is to preserve the culture of Native Americans of the present, as well as the past.
The best artifact we viewed was a Peace Medal given to one of the tribes visited by Lewis and Clark on their journey in 1803. 
We perused the building for more than an hour and finally had to leave since it was nearing to closing time of 5 P.M.
We made our way west towards the Washington Monument. Our plans were to stay around the Mall until dark. The sights of Washington were to be really good after dark.
As we approached the Washington Monument, we noticed an interesting fact. The Monument itself is different shades of white. Apparently, while it was being built, the workers ran out of one type of stone and had to finish it with another type. The distinction between the two shades is quite
obvious up close.
We sat around the base of the monument, watching the sun go down and the lights of the city begin to glow.
After a bit, we walked south towards the Jefferson Memorial.
The Jefferson Memorial is essentially an open-air rotunda, with a statue of the man in the center. Within the walls, surrounding the statue, are four of Jefferson’s most famous quotations.
As the darkness came, the Memorial lit up and practically glowed. The lighting is not harsh in any way and seems to emanate from within the stone. It gives a warm, welcoming feeling that makes you want to just sit and take in the ambiance.
The combination of Jefferson’s figure, along with his words, seem to make his presence come alive in a way that most places of reverence cannot achieve. 
Even with the night being quite chilly, we didn’t mind just sitting on the marble benches.
We sat for over an hour, as the night became darker, and Washington lit up.
After darkness fell completely, we began our walk over to the Lincoln Memorial.
It should be noted here that the Jefferson Memorial isn’t on the Mall, but several hundred yards to the south, towards a tidal basin from the Potomac River. So, it does require a bit of extra effort to get to if you’re on the Mall itself.
As I’ve already said, the Washington and Lincoln monuments are so embedded into our DNA that the sense you get from them at a distance is no different than seeing them on television. But in person, when you stop to really observe their intricacies, the details really grab hold of you and make you take notice.
The first thing you notice about the Lincoln Memorial is that Lincoln is larger than you expect him to be. When you stand at his feet, he towers over you.
Secondly, like the Jefferson Memorial, the words of the man surround him. This, with image of the man, has a powerful effect on many people, an effect that you can’t experience while looking at a distance.
The feeling is powerful, and then to turn around an immediately stand where Martin Luther King Jr. stood to give his powerful speech, and, at the same moment, be where Forrest Gump waded out to Jenny, it makes your head spin.
The time was pushing 8 P.M., and our supper-less bodies were beginning to cry foul. It had been a while since I had eaten my one pound burrito.
We decided our fun for the day was over, so we began making our way back to the nearest Metro station, towards the middle of the Mall. As we walked, a slight mist began to fall. We made our way to the Metro station and boarded our train home. In a little over thirty minutes, we were back in Silver Springs. We acquired supper at a very crowded, and rowdy, McDonalds, and walked the fifteen minutes to the motel. After devouring our supremely greasy Quarter Pounders, we were fast asleep.