Dec 27 Mr. Fix It

Gene has been working all day on the toilet problem. First he rented two HUGE fans and a dehumidifier. We've had the heat up to 90 all day so its like a sauna in here! Looks like this is going to work, WHEW! Now he's got the toilet in pieces all over the floor. I keep running errands for him to pick up the parts he needs. I now know where Home Depot and the RV repair shop are. I've been cooking and cleaning all day...so I'm REALLY bored. Maybe I can get the blog up to date.

While I was gone Gene got some help from our House Representative's office so that we have been booked solid every day since I got back. Since September 11, you can't just wait in line to see certain things. You have to contact your Representative and give them security information at least 5 days in advance to have them arrange for your tour tickets. Thanks to Laura of Jay Inslee's office, we were given a fabulous tour of the Capital buildings, with her knowledge of everything being very informative. She took the two of us (that's right, just us!) through the tunnel from the offices of the Representatives, under Pennsylvania Avenue, and into the Capital. We really gave us the personal attention. She toured us through the Old Senate and House chambers, the Capitol rotunda, Statuary Hall, and then through some doors and right onto the floor of the House of Representatives. We sat right where the Supreme Court Justices sit for the State of the Union speech (maybe Jennifer will get to sit there someday). Gene mentioned that the first thing that came into his mind was FDR's speech of Dec 8, 1941 where he asked Congress to declare war on Japan...the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. There is an amazingly powerful feeling in the room even when its empty. We sat for quite awhile. Unfortunately, I noticed that under each seat there is a "evacuation hood" that is supposed to protect them in case of an attack. Spooky.

Inslee's office also got us White House tour tickets too. Aside from a little snag that our names weren't on the official list when we got there, it was great too. We just had to turn over our Social Security numbers, ID, and the letter and tickets from Inslee and, in about an hour, they let us in. The security here is VERY tight. You aren't allowed to take anything inside, no cameras, no purses, no stun-gun (there was a long list, and stun gun really was on it). The White House is magnificent as always--and really beautifully decorated for Christmas. It was a shorter tour than I remember but I assume that has to do with security as well.

Gene managed to somehow beg tickets to a production of "A Christmas Carol" at Ford's Theater. They were my Christmas present! The theater itself is amazing--we sat in the third row center, looking right up at the box where Lincoln was shot. The production was wonderful as well. Scrooge was fabulous, really nasty. Down in the basement under the theater is a National Park Service museum. They've got quite an exhibit of the assassination. The overcoat Lincoln was wearing, the gun Booth used, and Mary Lincoln's opera glass case that she dropped. Tons about the conspirators, the trial, and how they were tried and sentenced. Booth was killed when they caught up with him, a fire in a barn as I recall.

One night (I can't even remember what night it was), Gene and I were pooped and our feet hurt. We were on our way home but we wandered past the National Theater that had Billy Joel on the marquee. We love his songs and have seen him in concert so we wandered in to see if they had any tickets left over. Well, for $44 each, they did. We had to kill three hours before it started and after all that time we were REALLY pooped and our feet REALLY hurt. We couldn't wait to get to our seats and sit down. Funny thing was, the show was called Movin' Out (the name of one of his songs) and it turned out to be a musical using his songs--no Billy Joel at all! Totally funny. I did wonder why the tickets were so inexpensive, but it didn't click at all. I loved the show (I think Gene was nodding off). Some famous dancer (Tasha???) who danced with Baryshnikov (that may not be spelled correctly) choreographed this show that used 26 Billy Joel songs. The dancers were magnificent. Some ballet, some modern dance, some that looked more like gymnastics. Anyway, it wasn't what we were expecting, but it was great fun anyway.

We love the subways in DC. They are the cleanest and most efficient we've seen. Matt, I want one just like this in Seattle! No graffiti, no smoking allowed, no boom-boxes or cell phones. They are really well used. The train from our park to the Mall takes about 20 minutes. We counted the seats and figured that each train can hold 400 people sitting down...and a lot more with people standing. Most people are able to sit even during rush hour. The whole system is really easy to use. We just buy a ticket that lets us ride all day for $6.50, that way we can get on and off all day wherever we want.

We spent a day at Arlington National Cemetary too. Wandered all over, went into Robert E. Lee's home that is on the site. Actually it was his wife's home...he just got to live there! You can stand on their front porch and see right down to the White House and Capital which is all that would have been there when the house was built. Now you can see the Pentagon from there too. In fact, you can see the corner and side that were hit by the plane on 9/11. Spooky again. Watched the changing of the guard (Gene loved it), saw the Kennedy graves, the Challenger memorial, etc. It was starting to get dark when we headed over to see the Marine Memorial, the statue of the Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima. I took this picture in the pitch black dark. No tripod so Gene and I stacked up all of our brochures, wallets, etc and layed down on our stomachs on the cold marble to get this photo. I hope you appreciate it!

Washington DC is truly wonderful. We've got a few more things to finish up our visit. We haven't seen the lecture at the Supreme Court (although we went in), we haven't been up the Washington monument, and we haven't been to Martin's Tavern where Caroline and Marc gave us gift certificates for Christmas. Thats my list...Gene probably has a longer one! We will probably be moving south soon as LJ and Hank may be coming to visit us in Florida so we have to get movin'. We have really loved it here though. Whew, I think that's about it. I'll try to choose a few of our best photos to post. Its been beautiful weather most of the time. Cold again today, but blue sky. We have been so lucky!