We went to Washington DC yesterday. Sandra’s brother Craig works in the Pentagon, so he gave us a tour. It was really cool. I was blown away by how BIG it was. Twenty-five thousand people work there. That’s like a city’s worth of people!
As we entered, there were lots of cautions against cameras. I didn’t think I would get a chance to take any pictures at all, so I quickly took a selfie in the visitor area’s bathroom. I wonder if it is a first? Have I just made history by taking the first Pentagon bathroom selfie in history?
Notice the pentagon-shaped sticker on the wall behind me.
As we were walking through, we bumped into many people Craig knew. One of those people offered to get us a tour of the office of the commandant of the Marine Corps. The commandant! That’s the highest-ranking officer of the Marines! The commandant wasn’t there, but it was amazing to get a tour of his office. There is a little area where he does photo ops with people, and we were invited to get our cameras out. I think I look awkward in the picture because I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to sit down, but that seemed disrespectful.
The art and photos in the room were cool.
After the Pentagon, we headed to see some of the Smithsonians. On the way, we went past the capitol building.
Buildings this beautiful end up looking like postcard pictures – even when you’re using a crappy phone camera.
Brent wanted to check out the impressionist paintings in the Smithsonian Art Gallery. I don’t think I’ve ever been there. The rotunda has a fountain with Mercury in it. I couldn’t resist posing.
Such grace and beauty…
We went to other museums as well. Unfortunately, a lot of the areas were closed. Even so, there was still some cool stuff to see. We ended our visit at the Washington Monument. I sat against the monument on the shady side for a while. It was a beautiful day. The monument looks crazy-tall when you look straight up the side.
EDIT: Brent posted a picture of me taking the picture above. Here it is:
Relaxing after much walking.
What an awesome day. We rode the Metro back to the car, then had crabcakes for dinner on the way home. Mmmm…
Ha! These are excellent! The statue one made me laugh out loud. I believe Brent has a photo on his Facebook page of you taking that last picture. I thought you were just sending a text.
I think you should set up an area in your house that is set up for photo ops with people, too.
I found the picture! I pulled it from Facebook and uploaded it. 🙂
This has to be hands down one of the most fun-filled vacation days I’ve read about this summer – and believe me I know from vacation days! Awesome…I liked all your photos, even the awkward one – you at least look proud to be there or something.
[I vaguely remember the BLS choir being somehow invited to sing in the Pentagon as part of a Christmas series where school choirs would be invited. It was cool being asked to participate but that was so many decades ago I hardly remember any of it outside of the big shopping area underground where we waited for pick-up again afterward. Bet you’ll be able to recall more than that later on…plus, your brain cells are younger than mine.]
So jealous of the Pentagon tour… awesome. And yes, such grace and beauty.
Soooo 4 times as many people work in the Pentagon as live in Seward?
So happy that you had “Fun” and the pictures show it!! All of your pics remind me of the times that I went there with Uncle Paul & Aunt Linda (except the bathroom shot!!! (^_^) But, then again, we didn’t tour the Pentagon, how fortunate that you were able to. This is surely a trip that Anna won’t soon forget!!! Blessings & Love from Nebraska….Aunt Bev 🙂
My jealousy knows no bounds. Epic day. Well done. (I’m with you on the amazing size of the Pentagon. I took a tour once and after about a minute and a half, I was completely lost. Did you get to visit the Pentagon memorial/chapel area?)
We did go to the memorial chapel area, but not the outside installation. We were short on time.
Wow! Another great episode in the life of Brad! The Pentagon….awesome!
And it’s clear that you would make an excellent model for any would be sculptors:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIoVaeKJHjw
That’s a great shot of the Capital, and that’s a shot of the Washington Monument.
Hehe…