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How I Spent My Summer Vacation, and What Democracy Means to Me
Okay, I am easily moved by Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and The American President--not just because they're swell movies, but because somewhere under my callused exterior I have a deep fondness for the aims of my country. I am not so silly as to imagine we're there yet, nor that The Founders knew what they were doing. I am more moved, I think, by the idea that this country is an experiment, one that sometimes goes off the rails and sometimes does good. So going to D.C. with Avocado and the Spouse was wonderful.
It was not without its pratfalls, of course. Like: when we got there on Sunday night, Danny discovered that he'd left his jacket (and cellphone) on the airport shuttle, and I was smitten by my fortunately rare digestive uck, which had me lying on the floor of the bathroom for an hour (the floor is a good place if stomach uck makes one faint). My tummy settled down after a while (while Danny was downstairs enlisting the folk at the front desk to try to arrange for the return of his chattels), and we ventured out for dinner, and a walk down to the White House. Which looks astonishingly like...the White House. That's one of the cool things about D.C.--almost anywhere you are, there's Architecture You Know. Wandered around, enjoying the soft warmth (on Sunday evening, the humidity was not bad and heat was not unbearable).
Monday, with a long list of things to do, we went off to do them all. We were, perhaps, a touch overambitious (this is the result of letting Avocado set the itinerary for the day), but we managed to visit all two places the kid wanted (The Museum of Crime and Punishment and the International Spy Museum, both very glitzy for-profit sorts of places). Then, after a really good lunch at Matchbox Pizza, we went to Ford's Theatre, which marked my first verklempt moment: not just the theatre, but the very beautifully done museum across the street at Petersen's Boarding House, where Lincoln died. Then I dragged them to the National Portrait Gallery, because I like old portraits (quoth the kid, "I really prefer photos."). After which we were all so footsore and tired that we returned to the hotel. There, Kid was so tired that she couldn't even go out for dinner. Spouse and I went out, found dinner at a Chinese place, and returned with fried rice for the kid.
Tuesday was oppressively humid and gummy. We headed off to Newseum, the museum of press and current events, which is fabulous. We were there longer than I'd expected (the place is huge, and you could stay for days) and decided to lunch there, because the skies had opened and it was pouring. When the rain stopped, we headed off to the Smithsonian Air and Space museum. Which was crowded and crazy and fun. I am constantly awed by the fact that anyone was willing to get into a Mercury capsule (or a Gemini or Apollo capsule) since I've seen broom closets which are more spacious. Every time we began to mutter about leaving, one of us would find a new something or other to go investigate, and the museum was open later than we'd expected, and... Finally we called it a day, headed back to our hotel (on Rhode Island and 15th), and had really good Mexican food for dinner. Then, fall over.
Wednesday, we went to the Holocaust Museum. There's not much I can say except that it is beautifully done and heartbreaking and enraging. After lunch, for something completely different, we hared off to the Museum of American History, which was wonderful--although a chunk of stuff was being renovated. Like the Air & Space museum, every time you turn around there's something else that's just cool (the first Kermit the Frog! Archie Bunker's chair!). We saw a young woman do a performance piece about the Woolworth lunch counter sit-ins (and Avocado got into an animated conversation with her afterward which more or less made her drop her character and just talk to my girl). There was a fascinating exhibit about Jefferson and slavery (there was a man who knew better and just couldn't change...Bec wound up hating him; my feelings are still very mixed, but the plaque with the 600+ names of Jefferson's slaves on it was sobering). It's a good thing we were all tired after dinner, because we had to be up very early the next day.
Why so early? Because we had tickets for the 9:00 tour of the Capitol. Which was fine--beautiful architecture, and startling Wow moments. And then things got a little complex. See: Danny had been on the phone off and on all week trying to get hold of his coat and Blackberry (on my phone, that is to say). The number of calls and emails (and of course he didn't get the emails because the address they were sent to can only be accessed from...his Blackberry). Finally, sometime late on Wednesday it had been established that 1) yes, the driver had turned in the coat, and 2) yes, he could pick it up, and 3) yes, the office was open Monday-Friday from 9-4 (the last message he'd got from the main contact had said he could pick it up on Monday...when we would be back in San Francisco. Hysteria ensued). So while Danny headed off to Super Shuttle in Crystal City, Bec and I headed to Nancy Pelosi's office, where we were given passes to the Senate.
This was cool. This was probably the coolest part of the whole trip. Just after we arrived, a vote was called on cloture on the budget. Over half an hour senators wandered in, voting with a gesture up or down (which the recording secretary announced over the PA), and standing around nattering with each other. And there was the glitter of stardom: we saw John Kerry and John McKean, Joe Biden (not in his president-of-the-Senate capacity: I suspect he was there to chat up the possibility of an Aye vote), Kirsten Gillibrand and Barbara Boxes and Barbara Mikulski (who is tiny...standing next to John Kerry she looked like a hobbit). Mitch McConnell looks like a prune with a yellow tie. And somehow, because Bec and I were talking about what was going on, we became the source of information for two or three sets of non-national tourists. Finally, when the Senators began to leave for lunch, we split too. I went and got another Senate pass for Danny, and while he and Bec went back to the Senate chamber, I went to the Folger Library and communed with a first folio of Romeo and Juliet, and a quarto of Hamlet, and...
Then we met up and walked over to the National Archives. I have to add that this was a blisteringly hot and miserable day; getting from point A to point B was swelteringly uncomfortable. But we made it to the Archives, where we saw the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution. Kind of awesome. And there are the conversations you get into (little boy: "why are they all written. Why didn't they print them?" Mom: "Well, you know, honey, printing presses were very expensive..." Me (because I can't keep my mouth shut): "They wrote out the first copy--the one without any mistakes--for everyone to sign. And then someone set it in type so that it could be printed and distributed." Kid shrugs. Mom mouths "thank you," which is better than Mom mouthing "shut up.")
This was the evening when Avocado was meeting up with a bunch of friends from camp, so she went off on the Metro and Danny and I went and had dinner and went back to the hotel for a quiet evening of Danny reading all the emails on his now-recovered Blackberry.
Friday dawned really really hot and humid, and the weeks' exertions had caught up with Avocado. She wanted to sleep in (and me, in cheerleader mode, kept trying to get her out to see all the monuments we should have front loaded...). We got her as far as the Lincoln Memorial and she folded ("I'm not appreciating this the way I should.") so we put her in a cab to the hotel, and wandered the Mall on our own. We were hoping to go to the Decatur House (closed), to walk across the Elipse (temporarily shut down for some reason--they were shooing tourists off to the street as we approached), or at least go to the White House Visitors' Center (closed). We took it as a sign, got some lunch (crab cakes at last!) and went back to the hotel for a swim.
Our last evening we went down to Old Town Alexandria, had dinner at Gadsby's tavern, and walked around in the warm dusk. Despite the ups and down it was a terrific trip. And well worth the cold that came home with me.
It was not without its pratfalls, of course. Like: when we got there on Sunday night, Danny discovered that he'd left his jacket (and cellphone) on the airport shuttle, and I was smitten by my fortunately rare digestive uck, which had me lying on the floor of the bathroom for an hour (the floor is a good place if stomach uck makes one faint). My tummy settled down after a while (while Danny was downstairs enlisting the folk at the front desk to try to arrange for the return of his chattels), and we ventured out for dinner, and a walk down to the White House. Which looks astonishingly like...the White House. That's one of the cool things about D.C.--almost anywhere you are, there's Architecture You Know. Wandered around, enjoying the soft warmth (on Sunday evening, the humidity was not bad and heat was not unbearable).
Monday, with a long list of things to do, we went off to do them all. We were, perhaps, a touch overambitious (this is the result of letting Avocado set the itinerary for the day), but we managed to visit all two places the kid wanted (The Museum of Crime and Punishment and the International Spy Museum, both very glitzy for-profit sorts of places). Then, after a really good lunch at Matchbox Pizza, we went to Ford's Theatre, which marked my first verklempt moment: not just the theatre, but the very beautifully done museum across the street at Petersen's Boarding House, where Lincoln died. Then I dragged them to the National Portrait Gallery, because I like old portraits (quoth the kid, "I really prefer photos."). After which we were all so footsore and tired that we returned to the hotel. There, Kid was so tired that she couldn't even go out for dinner. Spouse and I went out, found dinner at a Chinese place, and returned with fried rice for the kid.
Tuesday was oppressively humid and gummy. We headed off to Newseum, the museum of press and current events, which is fabulous. We were there longer than I'd expected (the place is huge, and you could stay for days) and decided to lunch there, because the skies had opened and it was pouring. When the rain stopped, we headed off to the Smithsonian Air and Space museum. Which was crowded and crazy and fun. I am constantly awed by the fact that anyone was willing to get into a Mercury capsule (or a Gemini or Apollo capsule) since I've seen broom closets which are more spacious. Every time we began to mutter about leaving, one of us would find a new something or other to go investigate, and the museum was open later than we'd expected, and... Finally we called it a day, headed back to our hotel (on Rhode Island and 15th), and had really good Mexican food for dinner. Then, fall over.
Wednesday, we went to the Holocaust Museum. There's not much I can say except that it is beautifully done and heartbreaking and enraging. After lunch, for something completely different, we hared off to the Museum of American History, which was wonderful--although a chunk of stuff was being renovated. Like the Air & Space museum, every time you turn around there's something else that's just cool (the first Kermit the Frog! Archie Bunker's chair!). We saw a young woman do a performance piece about the Woolworth lunch counter sit-ins (and Avocado got into an animated conversation with her afterward which more or less made her drop her character and just talk to my girl). There was a fascinating exhibit about Jefferson and slavery (there was a man who knew better and just couldn't change...Bec wound up hating him; my feelings are still very mixed, but the plaque with the 600+ names of Jefferson's slaves on it was sobering). It's a good thing we were all tired after dinner, because we had to be up very early the next day.
Why so early? Because we had tickets for the 9:00 tour of the Capitol. Which was fine--beautiful architecture, and startling Wow moments. And then things got a little complex. See: Danny had been on the phone off and on all week trying to get hold of his coat and Blackberry (on my phone, that is to say). The number of calls and emails (and of course he didn't get the emails because the address they were sent to can only be accessed from...his Blackberry). Finally, sometime late on Wednesday it had been established that 1) yes, the driver had turned in the coat, and 2) yes, he could pick it up, and 3) yes, the office was open Monday-Friday from 9-4 (the last message he'd got from the main contact had said he could pick it up on Monday...when we would be back in San Francisco. Hysteria ensued). So while Danny headed off to Super Shuttle in Crystal City, Bec and I headed to Nancy Pelosi's office, where we were given passes to the Senate.
This was cool. This was probably the coolest part of the whole trip. Just after we arrived, a vote was called on cloture on the budget. Over half an hour senators wandered in, voting with a gesture up or down (which the recording secretary announced over the PA), and standing around nattering with each other. And there was the glitter of stardom: we saw John Kerry and John McKean, Joe Biden (not in his president-of-the-Senate capacity: I suspect he was there to chat up the possibility of an Aye vote), Kirsten Gillibrand and Barbara Boxes and Barbara Mikulski (who is tiny...standing next to John Kerry she looked like a hobbit). Mitch McConnell looks like a prune with a yellow tie. And somehow, because Bec and I were talking about what was going on, we became the source of information for two or three sets of non-national tourists. Finally, when the Senators began to leave for lunch, we split too. I went and got another Senate pass for Danny, and while he and Bec went back to the Senate chamber, I went to the Folger Library and communed with a first folio of Romeo and Juliet, and a quarto of Hamlet, and...
Then we met up and walked over to the National Archives. I have to add that this was a blisteringly hot and miserable day; getting from point A to point B was swelteringly uncomfortable. But we made it to the Archives, where we saw the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution. Kind of awesome. And there are the conversations you get into (little boy: "why are they all written. Why didn't they print them?" Mom: "Well, you know, honey, printing presses were very expensive..." Me (because I can't keep my mouth shut): "They wrote out the first copy--the one without any mistakes--for everyone to sign. And then someone set it in type so that it could be printed and distributed." Kid shrugs. Mom mouths "thank you," which is better than Mom mouthing "shut up.")
This was the evening when Avocado was meeting up with a bunch of friends from camp, so she went off on the Metro and Danny and I went and had dinner and went back to the hotel for a quiet evening of Danny reading all the emails on his now-recovered Blackberry.
Friday dawned really really hot and humid, and the weeks' exertions had caught up with Avocado. She wanted to sleep in (and me, in cheerleader mode, kept trying to get her out to see all the monuments we should have front loaded...). We got her as far as the Lincoln Memorial and she folded ("I'm not appreciating this the way I should.") so we put her in a cab to the hotel, and wandered the Mall on our own. We were hoping to go to the Decatur House (closed), to walk across the Elipse (temporarily shut down for some reason--they were shooing tourists off to the street as we approached), or at least go to the White House Visitors' Center (closed). We took it as a sign, got some lunch (crab cakes at last!) and went back to the hotel for a swim.
Our last evening we went down to Old Town Alexandria, had dinner at Gadsby's tavern, and walked around in the warm dusk. Despite the ups and down it was a terrific trip. And well worth the cold that came home with me.