A Full Day in DC! The Capitol, White House, Fordʻs Theater, Smithsonians, and Memorials Day!

Good Morning Washington! We started the day off with a drive to the Capitol Building for an 8:30 tour. We had breakfast at the hotel and we were off for a busy day filled with things to do. Like I said, we started the day at the Capitol Building. We were dropped off near the west side of the building and walked up Capitol Hill to the east side where you go in for tours. 

In the Visitorʻs Center the statue of King Kamehameha I is prominently displayed. Like US Senators, each state gets two statues to represent their state. King Kamehameha and Saint Damien are Hawaiʻiʻs two. We didnʻt get to see Saint Damien as he is in an off limits part when congress is in session and congress was in session. There are more than 100 statues though in the building as congress can appoint other statues regardless of state. 

The King Kamehameha statue used to be in a different room where it was partially hidden by pillars. But one of the stipulations that came with the statue was that he had to be in a prominent place. The deal with him being where he was originally was due to his weight. The room he was in had a ton of other statues as well. He is the heaviest statue in the building weight more than 6 tons. Thatʻs over 12,000 pounds! So they moved him in 2008 to his current spot. 

Our guide started us in the crypt. Originally they planned on burying George Washington here but he died too soon for them. The crypt wasnʻt ready for another 20 years and the family said no thank you and he is buried in Mt. Vernon on his property that we will see tomorrow. 

It was then off to the Rotundu. This is the bottom of the giant dome that is on top of the building. The circular room is adorned with painting depicting scenes in American history. At the top in the dome is a painting as well. With different Greek Gods next to people and events in American history. 

National Statuary Hall, where Kamehameha used to be

Capitol Police in training

Marine One leaving the White House while we were in line to get in the White House

We then got to do a Kualapuʻu first. We are the first group Iʻve led that got to go inside the White House. While we were waiting we did see Marine One leave with President Biden on it. Not long after that a small motorcade left the White House grounds right in front of us. 

Walking the halls of the White House

Kinda cool to look at your gps and see you are in the White House

You donʻt get to go upstairs and see bedrooms and things like that. But you do get to see regular rooms that are used when tours arenʻt going on. These rooms have things like John Adamsʻ, the second president, hot waterholder.

Guess the name of this room?!?!

The Blue Room

State Dinning Room where President Jefferson and Meriwether Lewis planned the Lewis & Clark Expedition.

Our usual view of the White House is on the other side of that black fence

Group photo outside of White House

We then went to another presidential site. Although this one a little more of a bummer for Lincoln. We went to Fordʻs Theater. Fordʻs Theater is most notable as the site of the assassination of President Lincoln. Right after the Civil War had ended Lincoln and his wife went to the theater to watch the play, Our American Cousin. While watching the play he was shot in the back of the head by a famous actor at the time, John Wilkes Booth. After shooting Lincoln Booth then stabbed Lincolnʻs guest, Major Henry Rathbone in the arm. He then leapt out of the box and onto the stage breaking his ankle in the meantime. Booth got away that night but was shot dead 14 days later. 

Kahua with Booth. Mustache Bros.

Sophia and Lahela with Mary Surratt. The first woman hanged by the United States for supplying a place for Booth to make plans with friends to kill Lincoln and others. 

Actual gun used to shoot Lincoln

Lehua with Lewis Powell, another conspirator that was hanged for his role. 

Elle had enough of Boothʻs actions

A pillow that comforted Lincoln as he was passing. Actual blood stains from Lincoln still on the pillow. 

Door that led to Lincolnʻs box at the theater along with a wooden door wedge that Booth put behind the door against the wall so people had a hard time getting in. 

View from inside the theater with the box Lincoln was shot in behind the kids.

It was then off to the Smithsonian Museums. We split up into groups and had the choices to go to the American History or Natural History or both as we had over three hours to go to them. 

Lunch at food trucks behind Smithsonian Museums

George Washingtonʻs actual clothes

Herman and Lexi in American History Museum

A *new*Ace with World War II anti tank gun

Ice Cream!

There is a cool butterfly room in the Natural History Museum that many went into. Hundreds of butterflies flying around and some even land on ya! 

Mrs. Link and Cynthia both were attracting butterflies

The even have actual mummies that were real people. How wild is that?!

The Hope Diamond

T-Rex eating a triceratops 

How to square up to bears......

Natural History Museum

Bus time!

Washington Monument

We then went to dinner at a chicken place. I didnʻt take photos at dinner as we were really at a ton of tables so it wasnʻt very easy to do. It did taste good though! 

After dinner we hit up a few Memorials. First stop, the World War II Memorial. This is to celebrate and memorialize those that fought in World War II. Itʻs a beautiful memorial with water. Each state has a column along with territories that helped the United States win the war. 

As you can see by the plaque below, there are 4,048 stars. Each star represents 100 American deaths in the war. 405,399 we killed during the war. 

Next up was the Vietnam Wall. This memorial has the names of every single person that was killed or captured during the war. There are 58,318 names on the wall. As usual, Aaron did a super job explaining the war, the origins of the wall, and the design of it. 

Next we were off to the Marine Corp War Memorial. This is symbolized by the raising of the flag on the island of Iwo Jima. A fun thing to do is drive around it. An optical illusion makes it look like the flag is raising and standing up as you slowly drive around it. 

Our final stop of the night was a visit to the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial. This of course is to memorialize those that died on September 11, 2001 at the Pentagon. This was one of four planes that was hijacked and crashed into American landmarks. Two others hit the Twin Towers in New York and the fourth was taken back over by passengers and didnʻt make its final destination, the Capitol Building, instead crashing into a field in Pennsylvania. 

Aaron explained how the Pentagon had actually been renovated recently on the side that was hit and wasnʻt back to being fully staffed. If the plane had hit any other side thousands may have died. Inside the Pentagon on 9/11 125 people lost their lives. On the plane that crashed were 64 people. 

The design at first may look like it is thrown together. But of course it is not and is one of my favorite designed memorials. They are benches that you can sit on. One side represents the plane taking off and the other side that doesnʻt go down represents how it never landed. 

On the side that doesnʻt go down is a personʻs name. If you see the name and see the Pentagon, that person was in the Pentagon. If you see the sky, that person was in the plane. The benches are arranged by the age of the person. The first bench was the youngest person on the plane, three year old Dana Falkenberg. She was on the flight with her family who was moving in the process of moving to Australia. Just down the way from her is her older sisters bench. Elle found her parents in the middle next to each other. Amazingly, they were the only family on the plane. Every other person was a single person on the plane. 

The oldest person that died that day at the Pentagon

And that was our day in Washington, D.C. It was a terrific day that was jammed packed. I gotta say one of the things I absolutely love about our kids is their ability to adapt to situations. They can be be very playful, goofy, and fun. But when itʻs time to be super serious and pay respects they have been on it. At WWII, Vietnam, and the Pentagon they are silent listening to our guide Aaron. Walk around slowly and take in the memorials. Really paying the utmost respect to these hallowed places. Thank you kids, youʻre doing great! Adults, you too! See you tomorrow for a trip to Arlington National Cemetery, Mt. Vernon (George Washingtonʻs Plantation) and a few more monuments and sites. Then, an evening drive to Philly! Aloha!