Hello again, dearest blog readers. I was told by a reader of the blog (Hi, Julia!) that this has been the most humid summer on record in the DC metro area, and I can confirm that the air was so full of moisture today, it felt like walking through sprinkler mist for most of the day. But yesterday’s heat finally went away, and at most times, it was quite pleasant? Kinda? Definitely not what we’re used to in SoCal!
It was a very busy day for the Campbell family here in our nation's capital, as we traveled to and fro the length of the National Mall thanks to the miracle that is the Big Bus tour. It's one of those touristy "Hop on, hop off" open air double decker buses that goes just about every place you'd want to. But it really worked for us today! That, combined with some excellent Metro usage, has made getting around DC a breeze.
Coincidentally, "a breeze" was felt by us often today, as we made extensive use of that open-air top deck of the Big Bus. Better for seeing monuments, and a nice cooling mist on the face, to boot! (Calling it rain is an insult to rain.) One of the best parts of it, though, was watching how much fun the girls were having with each other. Sitting up in the open air, most gentle light mist on their face, surrounded by the history and majesty of Washington DC. You could see it all day long… These girls were loving it!
Two girls loving their sprinkly tour day!
To back up a bit: We started the day with breakfast next-door to our hotel at the Corner Bakery. And from sitting at the Corner Bakery, we discovered you can actually see Union Station just up the street! Astute readers of this blog will notice that we did NOT walk this very short route between Union Station and our hotel yesterday, but instead took a moderately circuitous path which veered toward the backside of the US Capitol. Thankfully, future travel between our hotel and Union Station - home to both the Metro and the Big Bus - has been considerably shortened, as we now use this direct path when appropriate. (Which is, frankly, every time.)
And, dear blog readers, we must make a confession: It's time for the Campbell family to upgrade its photo game. We were determined to get a good photo in front of the Capitol, but are still kind of figuring out how to get all of us into a shot with a giant historical landmark in the background. We will be passing this DC icon many more times during this trip, and we're determined to make it happen.
Note: you can play "find the Mackie" in these photos - our beloved rule follower was determined not to step on the surrounding lawn, which was, it should be noted, immaculate.
For a while now, ever since Mackie really got into the TV show The West Wing a few years back, the girls have also worked up a routine where between the two of them, they pose together in order to represent a national monument or memorial. And so we've been trying to get them to do their poses in front of the actual landmarks. Here's their first attempt: doing the Capitol at the Capitol. More to come as we visit the monuments!
Meanwhile, we made our way down to the Capitol visitor center, and hopped onto a tour which Emily had pre-booked. We ended up with a tour guide named Douglas, who was absolutely fantastic. Friendly, knowledgeable, and they hand out these little headphones so you can hear him at all times. Which only makes sense: you don't want every tour guide shouting to their group everywhere.
As you may recall, the Capitol itself is filled with all manner of statues, as each state sends two, but Douglas seemed especially excited about the eminent arrival of a statue of Johnny Cash courtesy of the good folks of Arkansas. He's pushing for Minnesota to send in a purple statue of Prince; and should the new president of the Senate (Timmy!🤞) also hail from Minnesota, well, maybe that's more than just a (let's go) crazy dream.
There's also a really fun space down in the Exhibition Hall called the Democracy Lab. On the Capitol website, it says it's good for younger visitors, and we almost steered away because we thought it might be for really little kids. But it turned out our girls were exactly the right age for a fun series of activities that involved federal budget compromises, delivering public speeches, voting on an issue before Congress, etc. In fact, the girls each got a chance to write their own bill, submit it for amendments from the rest of the family, and finally put it up for a vote. Mackie's bill had to do with climate control in classrooms, no doubt inspired by GALA's slow start getting every room in its new location air conditioned in a timely fashion. Daphne's bill concerned protection for endangered species that help the environment, such as bees and certain types of spiders. Eventually Mackie realized she had proposed an unfunded government mandate, so she quickly wrote a second bill to address the funding gap. Now that's Democracy!
All in all, our pursuit of knowledge at the Capitol worked out very well.
Next stop for us: the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, where photos and videos are not allowed, naturally. But we did learn the truth about the seldom seen 2 dollar bills: Turns out, they're not collectible or special at all! As our guide related, the 2 dollar bill was not printed for about ten years from the mid-1960s to mid-1970s, and that made everybody think that they were collectible or in some way worth more than the other bills. But as our tour guide, the very lovely, very funny Jeffrey told us, the truth is, they are printed every day, just like all the other bills! They print about as many two dollar bills as they do $50 bills on any given day. The bank is dying to give them away! In fact, Jeffrey told us, to this very day you can take one $10 bill into the bank and get five 2 dollar bills in return. That's a bargain! 😛 (Note: Jeffrey's next gig is likely to be Jungle Cruise skipper at a Disney resort, because that was the kind of tour he ran through the Bureau's byzantine printing process. A true highlight, and yet another in a long line of extremely friendly, extremely knowledgeable tour guides that we've really enjoyed hearing from during this trip.) You have to get tickets on one side of the building, then walk around the corner to the other side of the building to start the tour, and you can’t book in advance, but our advice? Check it out! You’ll see literally millions of dollars and the whole currency making process is pretty fascinating. (Time to update that 1990’s SD 4:3 video which kicks off the tour, though…)
Daphne’s 14th attempt at getting a good picture of the Washington Monument. There will be more.
We then hopped back on the bus and took the rest of the route through DC, and ended up back at Union Station and our hotel, a newly discovered super short walk away. At the hotel, we took a short break and prepped for our evening at the Washington Nationals game!
On our way to the ballpark, after a quick subway ride away from our hotel, Emily stopped to pick up Indian food at a restaurant called Rasa that she had read about. It was good, she reports, but after taking her chicken wrap into the ball game to eat, she suddenly had to grab the Cracker Jack to deal with some especially spicy lingering that kicked in after a bit. I was also concerned after tasting the mango lassi at this place that the girls would no longer have a taste for mine, because it was very very good. I had just finished saying that to Daphne when Emily walked up and said, "Colin, why can't your mango taste like this?" Indeed, fears realized!
The game featured the Chicago Cubs in town to play the home squad, and as usual, the Cubbies brought a huge fanbase with them. A post-game concert featuring the electro DJ act Two Friends was also on bill, at the conclusion of the game. And the game was pretty fun! On offense, the Cubs hung a seven-spot in the second inning, and that was it. We got to see a Cody Bellinger homer, and that's always welcome. But the plucky Nats chipped away (kinda), and after a three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth, had closed the gap to 7 to 6. With runners on first and second with two outs, their rally came up just short, and the Cubs escaped with a win.
Other highlights from the game:
- The fabled "Presidents Race" was won by Nats mascot Screech, after some low-grade WWE shenanigans.
- The all-beef hot dog satisfied only one of the three of us who tried them.
- Overall, the ballpark very nice - with an A+ walk from the Metro stop to the outfield entrance. It had a real "game day festival" vibe that got us pumped for a game between two teams we don't normally root for. 😛
- We also got bit by the "micro purse or see-through bag only" policy. D'oh! At least they were happy to rent us a $20 locker to stow our stuff. (We're tourists! In DC! They were unmoved.) Of course they were selling clear purses in the gift shop, once you got IN to the ballpark. Uh, Guys? Sell those outside… 😛😛
(Side note: can you put your emptied, unclear bag into a clear purse and bring it in?)
Threatening skies, sure, but mostly dry with only occasional heavy mist.
Overall, I'd grade it an A- experience at the old ballyard for this visiting family of four. And sitting next to my 13-year-old girl and teaching her how to keep score the old-fashioned way - with a $1 scorecard and a golf pencil whose edge was dulled to a non-sharpness that the TSA would likely have no problem letting us take it home - was priceless.
We stayed for a bit of the post-game show featuring Two Friends, which is their band name, not just a description, but it was pretty hard-core festival style electro dance music, which the girls were not super digging… until they played their electro version of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing." That's when Mackie and Daphne STARTED believing, furiously dancing, and singing, and loving it.
Then it was back on the Metro for a super simple, super easy trip right back to our hotel. Los Angeles, why can't you have public transportation like this?
Another big day on tap tomorrow, with some serious topics mixed in with our usual fun hijinks, so we'll see how the day goes. And thanks for reading this! If you have any other questions or suggestions, be sure to drop us a line.
See y'all tomorrow!