We had another birthday! Mrs. Hopson turned a year younger today and we were thrilled to be able to share her special day with her.
A band of Mrs. Hopson fans, led by Spencer, decorated the bus to surprise her:
After the morning birthday celebration, we made way into the city for a whirlwind day of activity. I have no idea how we fit it all in but it looked something like this:
Capitol Building - Sitting atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., it is the seat of the United States Congress, the legislative branch of the U.S. federal government and was completed in the year 1800. Though not at the geographic center of the Federal District, the Capitol forms the basis for the District's street-numbering system. It is the origin point at which the District's four quadrants meet, and around which the city was laid out.
Supreme Court - The Court was established pursuant to Article III of the United States Constitution in 1789 as the highest federal court in the United States. It has ultimate (and largely discretionary) appellate jurisdiction over all federal courts and over state court cases involving issues of federal law, plus original jurisdiction over a small range of cases. In the legal system of the United States, the Supreme Court is the final interpreter of federal constitutional law.
Library of Congress - The Library of Congress is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress, but which is the de facto national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States.
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum - The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution holds the largest collection of historic aircraft and spacecraft in the world in 161,145 square feet of exhibition floor space. It was established in 1946, as the National Air Museum and opened its main building near L'Enfant Plaza in 1976. In 2014, the museum saw approximately 6.7 million visitors, making it the 5th most visited museum in the world.
Lincoln Memorial - The Lincoln Memorial is built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is located on the western end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., across from the Washington Monument.
Korean War Veterans Memorial - The Korean War Veterans Memorial is located in Washington, D.C.'s West Potomac Park, southeast of the Lincoln Memorial and just south of the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall. It commemorates those who served in the Korean War.
Vietnam Veterans Memorial - The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a 3-acre national memorial in Washington, DC. It honors U.S. service members of the U.S. armed forces who fought in the Vietnam War,
service members who died in service in Vietnam/South East Asia, and
those service members who were unaccounted for (Missing In Action)
during the War.
White House - The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States, located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C. It has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. We learned that only George Washington didn't live in the White House.
Marine Corps War Memorial - The United States Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial) is a United States military monument sited at the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery and next to the Netherlands Carillon, in Arlington Ridge Park, Arlington, Virginia. The memorial is dedicated to all personnel of the United States Marine Corps who have died in the defense of the United States since 1775.
Here's a map of the spots visited today in alphabetical order of the order of the visits:
Mr. Wirthlin reminded us with fruit snacks that today is Star Wars Day: "May the fourth be with you." he thed with a thmile.
The United States Capitol
After the birthday and Star Wars activities, we started off the history part of our day with a visit to the U.S. Capitol Building where we received a guided tour by representatives of Senator Hatch's office. They were great and very knowledgeable. We rode the underground subway that connects building through tunnels and saw many of the great chambers of the building. It was undergoing renovation inside and out as you can see in some of the pictures that follow.
Approaching the Capitol in all its scaffolded glory
Looking closer at the dome
Sam the staffer from Orrin Hatch's office was fantastic and helped us gain a deeper understanding of the Capitol
Waiting at one end of the Capitol Subway that will take us from Senator Hatch's office building to the Capitol. Must be a long way if it requires its own Subway, right? Nope, its about 100 feet long. The whole 10,000 steps per day thing must've come on the scene a few years after this was built.
Hopping on board for our 15 second journey - it was still pretty cool.
At the statue of Philo Farnsworth, the inventor of the television and a native Utahn. There are two statues from each state in the Capitol. Utah's other one is of Brigham Young, not Napoleon Dynamite as some of our student's guessed.
Standing on the stone that marks the exact center of the building and concomitantly, the exact center of Washington, D.C. Colson here is literally the center of everything around us.
We found the statue of Brigham Young in the Statuary
Here again with Brigham Young
One last look at The Capitol before heading across the street to The Supreme Court
The United States Supreme Court
After seeing one branch of government, we move on to one of the other two, namely the judicial that resides in the Supreme Court. I asked the students to give me names that would describe the building and heard, "imposing", "powerful", "stunning", "BIG", "ominous", "impressive", among others. It truly is a remarkable building. The budget for the building was $10 million and it actually came in $100,000 under budget; likely the only building or 'anything' in the history of the federal government to come in under budget.
Approaching the Court
Walking up the stairs to the Court (Lucy & Emily in foreground)
Future justices of the court (Thayer, Adam, Colson, Sam)
Lining up for our tour with the Court in the background. It is hard to appreciate in a picture how massive the building is.
I couldn't resist taking the next four pictures of tired kids who had just sat through a movie on The Supreme Court It was interesting, but didn't have very many explosions or car chases.
With our guide who is actually a Supreme Court Clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas, an incredibly sought after position. He was great and the tour was amazing!
One of the large meeting rooms on the main floor of the court used for multiple purposes. For any woodwork fans out there, it was absolutely opulent in this building. I'm the kind of guy who looks at grain matching and joint precision and this place was perfect. In today's dollars, what was paid for the entire building could've been blown on just a few of the rooms in the Court.
Another meeting room where attorneys wait their turn to appear before the Court
Same room, different view. The pictures on the wall are of former justices
The actual door to Justice Clarence Thomas' office which was open.
A beautiful courtyard, one of four, located in the center of the building
Along the way, Lucy stopped to pose with her favorite justice. She has a Supreme Court trading card collection and Alito is her very favorite, from his rookie year.
After starving Courtney by giving her pizza to eat (which she doesn't like) she resorted to trying to eat the building this morning
Cameron was reaching in his bag to find his basketball for the next stop on the tour...
...Playing hoop in the real "highest court in the land". This full-court sits directly above the courtroom.
A little action:
The Library of Congress
The Supreme Court was great and we had a 'bonbon' of a tour but needed to keep moving to our next destination, The Library of Congress, home of the Whopper. Wait, that's something entirely different. Sorry about that.
Walking up granite steps into giant granite buildings should be our real national passtime based on how much it happens in our nation's capital. Up we go into the Library
What a stunner. These halls are so beautiful.
We visited first the Gutenberg Bible and listened to Mr. Wirthlin describe its significance. He is very well informed.
So pretty
Around the tops of the archways are famous quotes. The students were asked to write down as many as they could. I liked the image of the youngsters looking up in this magnificent building and took several that follow
I think this couple actually thought that Andrew was a docent at the Library and true to form, Andrew proceeded to instruct them on the finer points of the architectural styling of the building...
...Andrew continued to elaborate on the architecture and moved on to point out some of the finer details of the history of the Library of Congress and of the nation. He began to educate the visitors on the merits of a bicameral legislature in modern democracy and how despite having the three separate and ostensibly equal branches of government that the real power resides with the judicial and the nine members of the Supreme Court who are appointed for life. It was a busy afternoon for Andrew, who actually was hired on the spot as a docent and now works in DC. He won't be returning with us to Salt Lake but told us to give his family his love.
One of my favorites
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
After the Library, we made our way west along the Mall to the Air and Space Museum. What a blast this was to see the amazing collection of flying objects. I didn't take a ton of pictures because I turn back into a kid in this place and run around wild like the rest of them, not even remembering I had a camera :-)
Korean Veterans Memorial
We departed the Air and Space museum to move on to a more reverent part of the day visiting several memorials, beginning with the Korean
The statues in the field are amazing lifelike
Hit a wrong button on my camera that captured Madeleine sans color, but I kind of liked the result. She is, however, much more colorful than this.
Discussing the memorial...they really were, and pretty profound thoughts as well.
One more shot across the memorial's reflecting pool. The "Freedom is not Free" quote on the wall to the left was discussed by students during our evening meeting
Lincoln Memorial
Next stop was the iconic Lincoln Memorial. So much could be said about this great founding father and about this monument, the site of so many profound moments in history.
View from the base of the Lincoln Memorial across the reflecting pool (doing its job) toward the Washington Monument)
Approaching the monument stairs
Time with Lincoln
Ladies with Lincoln
Colson and James in front of Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address
The behind-the-scenes magic of the tour personified, except for that lady on the far left. She had nothing to do with our tour...I think.
Vietnam Veterans Memorial
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is another humbling representation of those who sacrificed so much for freedom. It was a very reverent moment to walk along the wall and see the names of so many to gave their last full measure.
Isabelle, Kate, Courtney, Kyli, and Anneliese decompressing after memorial-hopping
Always has to be one of these shots where tall monuments are involved
The White House
It was actually getting pretty late in the day when we decided to do a fly-by of the White House. We couldn't go into the house but were able to get a great view from the outside.
Isabelle, Courtney, and Anneliese in front of 'The House"
Madeleine by The White House
A pretty cool shot of the Carden Crew at The White House
More shots by The White House. For Gabe, it's "Go Time"
Relaxing in front of The White House
One more group shot
Sam (and Laura and James) enjoying the scene
Future Secret Service Agents
Lookin' good, Colson!
Marine Corps Memorial (Iwo Jima)
Just when we thought we were done for the day, we learned that we were going to visit one more memorial, the famous Marine Corps Memorial depicting the flag being raised on Iwo Jima after the U.S. conquered that island in WWII. We learned that although there are only six soldiers in the scene, the sculptor included 13 hands, stating that the 13th hand represents the hand of God.
One last group shot before heading for the hotel.
Evening Meeting
It was definitely a busy day and we ended up exhausted. Just to make sure we didn't go to bed hungry, we stopped by the Sugar Shop for some handmade doughnuts, leveraging Mrs. Hopson's birthday as a perfect excuse for gluttony. But before the sweets, we had another nice evening meeting where we debrief the learning of the day and discuss what the morrow will hold. It is a window into our world here. A little long and not the best lighting or cinematography but for what it is worth:
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Great pictures! Entertaining as always 😃
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