Ms. Me Goes to Washington

DC that is. I don't remember the name of the movie for the title of this entry. I even tried to think of some clever way to put my name in there. But I am just not very clever tonight I guess!

I am back from my trip to Washington DC! It was great. I had to attend a business conference there and knew I would for a couple months. And since I have some friends there, I tried to get in touch with them to come stay with them and see them. But it wasn't going to work out well in their schedule. So a month in advance of the trip and the day before I bought my plane ticket, I called mom and asked her how spontaneous she was feeling - and she said she was feeling very spontaneous! So she came with me on quite short notice! And we had a blast. We flew in on Friday and checked into our hotel. Immediately we went out to find a convenience store so she could have some milk. Apparently milk is very important to her because it was very distressing to her that most of the restaurants that we ate at didn't have milk and there weren't any other close convenience stores to buy milk at! Before we left the hotel that night, mom and I did receive an invitation to come join some young guy and his group of friends to play a "beer game." Whatever that is! We laughed it off and thanked him kindly for the invitation and then went on our merry way. The same "beer game" guy told us about a supposedly super yummy restaurant called the Capitol Q and we actually found the restaurant to eat there one night, but we took one look at it and figured that we would stand out like sore thumbs in that place! It was this tiny little restaurant with a glass front and a whole bunch of blinking, neon beer signs in the windows! I am sure the food is good, but would the customers be??? :o)

Saturday was rainy and cold and windy so we stayed indoors and checked out a couple of museums - namely the Holocaust Museum, the Natural History Museum (that is the home to the Hope Diamond and some diamond jewelry once owned by Marie Antoinette and the wife of Napoleon), and the National Gallery. Going through the National Gallery caused me reminisce over the time I spent in London! Oh those were the days!

Sunday was very windy and cold so we stayed indoors again. This time we went to the White House Visitor's Center, the National Archives (National Treasure, the movie, has it all wrong - it doesn't look anything like in the movie), the National Gallery again (but just for lunch), and then the Air and Space Museum. I didn't originally think we would go to the Air and Space Museum, but since the American History Museum is closed for renovation (until this summer!) we went there because they had some of the more popular items from the American History Museum there. I saw Abraham Lincoln's top hat, the ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz, a sun-stone from the original Nauvoo Temple, and Jackie O's inauguration gown and cape - it was beautiful - I would wear it today!

Then my conference started on Monday and went, formally, through Tuesday. It was good. I learned some valuable things. I just don't always care for conferences because you have to sit there and listen to speakers all day long and try to stay awake! Luckily I had my sour breath mints with me so they helped to keep me awake. And I had to work really hard at it because my boss was sitting right next to me! And he would occasionally lean over and say something when I had just dozed off! Ugh. I've got to figure out some way to not fall asleep during meetings. Maybe I will have to go back to doodling like I did when I was still in college. It worked then.

Monday night we had the joy to meet up with my friends, Elysa and Lake, that live in DC for dinner! We met them at a Spanish restaurant and ate tapas. It was very different, but very good. And of course the company was superb! It was so fun to catch up with my former, laugh-at-our-yoga-class, roommate!

Wednesday morning was the best part of my conference! I got to lobby my congressional representatives! Me and one other guy from Utah went to each of the 5 representatives' offices to meet with their staff if at all possible. Neither one of us had made appointments like they prefer. But since we were out from the west they were pretty accommodating - which makes sense! Since I imagine they don't get to see too many of their constituents. We went there to share our thoughts and concerns about some of the bills that are out on the floor right now. We basically asked them to vote for the New Employment Verification Act, against the Americans with Disabilities Act Restoration Act, and create a bill for the new Family & Medical Leave Act changes that the Department of Labor has proposed. All of which will substantially effect what I do in my line of work! It was a really neat experience and I have to admit, I am much more inclined to email them directly now whenever I feel the need to share my opinion about any sort of bill out the floor. Yay-hoo for our country! Mom was even able to tag-along with me for this portion of the conference.

Among our visits on Capitol Hill, we took pictures in front of the Supreme Court building and went into the Library of Congress to check out the main reading room. So amazing. But they wouldn't let us take pictures. That was kind of a bummer - but it makes sense since there were actual patrons there. And no we didn't go looking for the President's Book of Secrets - remember it is fictional from the movie National Treasure 2.

After Capitol Hill, mom and I took our box lunches my conference provided back to our hotel and watched a little movie (For Love of the Game) on TV and was nearly tempted to finish watching it. But when we saw that it didn't get over until 3:30 pm and we still had to see all of the monuments, we took off. So we started with the Washington Monument, then the World War II Memorial, Vietnam Wall (loved it), Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Memorial (just a tad weird), Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial (this one would have been super cool if the waterfalls would have been running), and then the Thomas Jefferson Monument. (By the way, I have no idea which ones are monuments and which ones are memorials - please pardon my ignorance!) :o)

Then we flew home early the next morning! It was a whirlwind trip - I am finding that is the usual case with me and my vacations. I think some day I need to take a whole week trip and just have a relaxing time such that I come back and don't say, "It was a whirlwind trip." Maybe this summer sometime. Hawaii anyone?? :o)