Joe & Brook: A Woz Adventure to Washington D.C.

I've wanted to visit Washington D.C. since I was 12 years old. My brother got to visit and I was fascinated with things he came back with and the stories he told. I didn't understand it all, but I knew it was important and I wanted to experience it all. Years went by and I never went, even when I lived in New York City as a single with money and time...I still didn't go!

So this is a trip 20 years in the making!

We visited April 6-10, 2012. Henry was on school break, it was Easter and Joe's birthday was on the 10th! We had a lot to celebrate!

Since we try to travel as frugally as possible, charter bus transportation won out. 4 hours on a bus with a 4-year old. Could we do it? Of course we could! Henry is a great traveler. It was a breeze.

boarding the bus in NYC

We stayed at the Embassy Suites in Crystal City. We had a King Sized, 1 bedroom suite. It was a great hotel, we really enjoyed our room and space. Henry's favorite feature aside from the bathtub?

of course!

Our first night in DC we just relaxed. Even after doing nothing for four hours on a bus, we were wiped. We found a mall nearby and had Potbelly's sandwiches for lunch and just wandered around a bit. We came back to the hotel, went swimming and then ordered in pizza and just vegged. It was great.

The next morning we woke up and went to the Embassy Suites breakfast that is included in your rate. I really loved this - I'm a BIG breakfast fan and a buffet never disappoints!

Henry was quite excited to eat Fruit Loops for breakfast since I never buy them!

We all ate well and were soon on our way into the city!

waiting for the Metro.

walking toward the Capital - we had a tour scheduled for that morning

After going through security, a queue and a bit of wait time, we were soon on our tour. First up was the Rotunda.

absolutely beautiful!

The rotunda is 96 feet in diameter and 180 feet in height. It connects the House and Senate sides of the building.

there are 8 giant paintings - four are of revolutionary period scenes and the other four are early exploration scenes

these paintings stretch around the rotunda and are painted in a way to give an illusion of actual sculptures. The scenes take you through America's history

the fresco on the ceiling, "The Apotheosis of Washington"

Next up was the Hall of Statues.

Each state gives two statues - they must be marble or bronze and they can choose whomever they would like, any dead historic figure. They are placed throughout the entire Capital building.

The House of Representatives used to meet in this room, but it quickly became too small.

Liberty

And the final stop on our tour was the Crypt.

those columns support this massive building!

this is the center of Washington D.C. - all roads stem from this point

Overall this tour was nice, but we were really hoping to get to see the Old Supreme Court Chamber and more. It was quite short, maybe about 30 minutes. Worth doing, but the prep to actually go inside the building - the security line, waiting in queue, etc. actually took longer than the tour itself!

The Capital is connected to the Library of Congress via an underground tunnel, so that is where we headed next.