Making like tourists

Last weekend we had the pleasure of traveling to our nation's capital for my dear friend, Kirsten's, wedding. Since the wedding was on Friday, we had the weekend to sightsee (I had never been there, unless you count a drive-by 15 years ago). My hubby, the history buff, was over the moon at the chance to educate his wife. I must admit, it was pretty inspiring to see such historic sights. My feet were very tired, but it was worth it to watch the sun set over the Lincoln Memorial at the end of the day (note to self, cute shoes are not appropriate for a day of sightseeing in DC).

First stop: The Newseum

The Newseum is amazing! It is an entire museum dedicated to journalism and the biggest news stories in history. I think anyone going to DC needs to check it out. Outside is the "front page" exhibit. They showcase the front page of one newspaper from each of the 50 states. The most popular headline the day we were there was that Congress had passed the bailout plan.

One of my favorite exhibits was dedicated to 9/11. The wall shown here is two stories of front pages from 9/12/2001. It was a very emotional and moving exhibit. My other favorite, though not shown, was the Pulitzer prize exhibit. It featured all of the photographs, and the stories behind them, that have ever won the award. Another emotional and moving exhibit.

The Newseum has the largest collection of the Berlin wall outside of Germany. In addition, they have an actual guard tower from the wall.



This is the view from the terrace at the Newseum. It overlooks much of Pennsylvania Avenue and they have a map explaining what each of the buildings is.

On Saturday, we made our way over to Arlington National Cemetery. If you don't know, one of my mom's closest childhood friends was MIA in Vietnam for over 30 years. Miraculously, his remains were found in 2002 and he was laid to rest in Arlington. Branden and I were unable to attend the service (finals week in college), so it was important to us to be able to pay our respects now. Being in Arlington was overwhelming and reminded me of how lucky we really are. I was so honored to be able to see such a special place.

This was one of the last sights we saw while in DC (we saw a lot more but our camera died while at Arlington). It is the US Department of the Treasury. I took this picture because I noticed the flag was at half mast. I thought it strange, since no other flags were flying at half mast that day. My theory? They were mourning the loss of 700 billion dollars. Just a theory...