On Monday I woke up in Reston,VA at Rob and Erin's. Erin, Emily and I planned to go and tour the US Capitol this day. We had been staying up really late for the past few nights.. like 1 or 2AM so it was a feat to get up and get ready and get out there to the bus stop for the Reston Connecter bus befor NINE AM!!! so there we are running out the door me carrying a stroller that was banging against my leg and a big purse and no coat...thank goodness I was in VA where it was in the 50s and raining and not here in UT where it is 18 degrees and snowy. Erin was carrying Emily in her carrier and all the stuff that she needed and Emily needed for the day. We got to the bus stop and realized that we still had five minutes to spare... phew... this is a commuter bus for people that are commuting into Washington DC. it takes you from Reston to the West Falls Church Metro Station. I don't think a lot of moms in Northern VA do the whole tourist thing... just like a lot of moms in Cache Valley don't ... BUT I DO! :) and I will be a mom one day.
We got to the West Falls Church Metro and Erin accidently left her purse on the bus, she did a great job chasing it down and I am proud of her. I stayed with Emily:) we got on the orange line to Metro Center I think then we took the red line to Union Station. We got off the metro and walked over to the Greyhound station where we checked my tickets in because later that day I was going down to the VA Beach area.
We then walked over to the US Capitol. It was a short walk and it was really cool to all of a sudden see it like we are going to tour THAT! As we got closer I noticed how much security is around it, you can look across the street and right there is the Lincoln Memorial. I did not have my camera working that day I only had my phone with me so the picture from that day are not the best...
We went inside and checked in and while Erin nursed Emily I went into the gift store. I bought a magnet that said US Capitol Visitors Center and one that said US Capitol. ( and because I forgot to mention it the other day I also have one that says Calvert Marine Museum and Solomons Island,MD) I also got replicas of the declaration of independence and the bill of rights and the constitution that are on my desk right now in a cool container.
when Erin was ready we went to go check in with our tour and they said that we could start one right then. We went and watched a short movie about the US Capitol in a nice little theater then met our tour guide Vernon. He told Erin and I to meet him because we had to take the elevator. when we met him upstairs he had to find us because for a second we joined the wrong tour...
Vernon was a really funny tour guide... he told us about the painting the apothesis of Washington and said that "there is George Washington ascending into Heaven to become a God and he is taking 15 women with him.... hahahah 13 are for the original states and 2 are for Liberty and Justice. He also told us about people laying in state and how in 2007 before they took her body back to the Bahamas Anna Nicole Smith layed in state and I thought WHAT ??? WHY??? then we realized he was joking...
He showed us a the crypt where George Washington was suppossed to be buried there but in his will he stated that he really wanted to be buried in Mount Vernon. So it took them a long time to find someone to be buried there but now Jimmy Hoffa is buried down there.... hahahahha
I told Vernon I had just read The Lost Symbol and I heard that EVERYWHERE in the Capitol had cell service he said that was not true that if he took me down to that crypt and left me there... I would not be able to call anyone for help hahahah
there was also an older lady that tryed to get in a fight with Vernon about whether George Washington DID or DID NOT have slaves....
As part of being a tour guide Vernon has to memorize 100 statues because every state has two and he pointed them out for us on the tour for any state that people wanted to know about. VA has George Washington and Robert E. Lee- but who else would you EXPECT for VA...UT has Philo Farnsworth-inventor of the TV, yes a Mormon invented TV:) and Brigham Young- who else would you EXPECT for UT! He asked me to point out Brigham Young and I pointed out a man with a short beard, but there Brigham Young had a long beard... I could not get a picture with anyone but Philo because we were on a tour and the statues were surrrounded by people.
Emily was the best little baby in the whole wide world during the tour and barely made a peep. Several people including Vernon complimented Emily and Erin on how good of a baby Emily is :)
After our tour we left The Capitol and it was raining. we realized that we had went out the wrong entrance and were now RUNNING TO THE GREYHOUND STATION... IN THE RAIN... I had on little brown fabric flats that got SOAKED and the rain was coming up into my jeans which in turn also got SOAKED. I am used to spoiling myself in the rain and snow and wearing boots so my pants dont get wet... I forgot how much it RAINED in VA and DC. I took a cab over to the Greyhound and left some of my stuff in Emily's strollar...
So there I am standing in the Greyhound Station wet from the knees down phone dying because the charger is in Emily's strollar and I find out the bus is running an HOUR late and they dont need to tell us why
two men in front of me were having a conversation here is how it went
man one: yeah I could have taken a plane to TX my sister offered to pay... but I was like naw I hate flying I will take the bus... ( I thought YEAH RIGHT you HATE flying SO MUCH that you would rather take THIS BUS for a few DAYS then FLY... whatever)
man two: well I am just coming back from Atlantic City, NJ ( they have a lot of gambeling there) and I just won 3400 but I wanted to take the bus too... ( like mmmhmm right... you are both broke or have some sort of issue with your license like I do so you cant rent a car..)
man one: well all I know is I told my sister to meet me in TX with a whore and some Grey Goose Vodka....
man two : alll right that is what im talkin about...
wow all I can say is wow.....they said lets sit in the back of the bus and I thought note to self... do not sit in the back I don't want to hear that conversation all the way to VA beach.
I got on the bus and realized that since I did not have Alex with me like I have all the other times there was an open seat beside me. This guy sat beside me that looked like a combination of Old Man Winter and Father Time. I thought NO DONT SIT BY ME!!!! you probably smell but he did sit by me and turned out to be SO NICE! ... I felt like I needed to listen to A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief a few more times. He even gave me some food and water! His name was Larry and he also did not need to tell me his whole life story or ask me mine which I also liked...
so there we are sitting on this bus with the rain POURING down in tons of traffic this man diagonal in front of us was snoring so loud I could barely sleep or read... the girl in front of us was drinking a beer because even though that is not allowed there are NO SECURITY CHECKPOINTS to get on a Greyhound...That girl called her mom to complain about the snoring man like MOM there is a man on here SNORING so loud like grandpa but LOUDER... I guess her mom said what do you want me to do about it.. .? and the girl was like um IDK???
we finally got to Richmond,VA and because the bus being late and the rain and the traffic my bus to Norfolk,VA was GONE... the next one was coming at THREE AM. It was now SEVEN PM... So I called my aunt and she was nice enough to send her friends Bonnie and Judy that live in Colonial Heights,VA to come and get me. They were so nice and gave me some DELICIOUS SOUP!
My aunt Gail and her roommate Bettie came and got me and we all went back to Chesepeake VA
I read some then went to bed...
when I went to bed I was so glad I was not sitting in the Richmond,VA Greyhound Station. I get my license ALL THE WAY back in May 2010 and I hope to never ever ride that thing AGAIN!
for the most part an OK day...
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