Wednesday, March 20, 2019

This morning we had a little break from the norm and decided to take the subway into town and leave the van at home. It ended up being a costly decision as the subway system is not that cheap to ride for our little family of 7. But it was quite and adventure and we wanted to make it part of our experience. We parked the van at the Greenbelt Station which was the beginning of the Green Line and only about 5 minutes from our house. From there we rode the subway to the Gallery Place stop to start our day.

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First stop today was a quick visit to The National Archives before our first scheduled visit. The General Admission line was pretty long but moved along fairly quickly. It gave us a chance to purchase the bigly-popular MAGA hats which are a big hit around DC. The looks we got from some people around town made it worth the purchase price. Pictured below is Vivian wearing mine. Oddly, she’s a #NeverTrump’er, but she can’t read yet, so joke’s on her.

The National Archives was very different from what I remember it in the 80’s. There seemed to be much much more information in the museum part of the tour. Par for the course this week, there was so much to see and not enough time to see it. We could have spent hours there. Also different from my high school era visit was the prohibition of photography which was a bummer. Nonetheless, too see our nation’s actual Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights was truly amazing. Just to think about all if the sacrifices and Divine Providence that brought those men to that point was awe-inspiring.

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For our scheduled visit today was a tour of the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building set up for us by Congressman Hollingsworth’s aide. We got there by our scheduled 1/2 hour before the tour started but scrambled a bit when they told us that my backpack and Vivian’s stroller wouldn’t be allowed. So we convinced the manager at a nearby Au Bon Pain to let us keep them there and we would collect them after we came back and ate lunch there.

The tour of the FBI Building was pretty cool. It was interesting to learn about the different job categories of the good people at the FBI and how they train for their roles. We even got to watch one of the agents qualifying on the gun range. Fun tour!

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As promised it was off to Au Bon Pain for lunch and to retrieve our bag and stroller. Good lunch too!

Something a little strange that has happened to us this week are the Buddhist monks. A couple of times earlier in the week a monk (or someone dressed as a monk anyway) came up to Sonya and asked her to take a little bracelet of wooden balls “for peace”. Uh. Okay? Both times, Sonya politely declined and we moved on. Well, it happened to me on way from the FBI Building and being the curious sort of fellow I am, I took the bait. Sure I’ll take your little wooden peace bracelet. The “monk” then reached into his pocket and pulled out a little book that he asked me to date, to sign my name “John”, to state why I took the bracelet “Peace”, and….how much I wanted to donate for said Peace. There it is!Luckily I only had $7 in cash on me. So I’m now a proud owner of a little bracelet made of wooden… Oh no, wait. They’re plastic. Not even real wood. What a jip.

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This afternoon’s stop was the Museum of the Bible located just south of the Smithsonian. I’d heard that this was a wonderful museum and I’d heard correctly. However, guess what? Yep. So much there and not enough time to see it all.

The two sections that we saw highlighted 1. how the Bible impacted cultures around the world (music, dress, architecture, etc.) and 2. all of the different archaeological evidences for the existence and authenticity of the writings in the Bible.

There was so much more to see. However, we had already had a long day and a long week and were pretty tired at that point. So we decided to head back to the house for some down time.

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The trip home wasn’t without adventure either. It was a quick 6 minute walk to the Federal Center SW metro station. A quick trip on the Blue Line over to L’Enfant Station where we would simply take the Green Line north back up to the Greenbelt Station.

L’Enfant Station was a pretty busy stop. After a bit of a wait the Green Line train arrived. The doors opened and several people got off. Several people got on, along with 5 out of the 7 of us before the door shut, not to be opened. Poor Savannah and I were left behind. I mouthed the words “Get off at the next stop!” to Sonya. And we met up there.

The rest of the trip was pretty packed. I had to stand the whole way and my dogs are still barking.

Eli made a bold move and wore his MAGA hat on the DC metro all the way back. We now refer to him as Eli, The Brave.