I lost my husand!

Hope:
This morning started out a bit wobbly, but turned out fabulously. We had a nice, hearty, hot, continental breakfast. Then, set out to take D.C. The first mishap was when the hotel shuttle was not available for our immediate usage. We'd called to reserve a transportation time of 8:30. However, when we went to check in on the status of the van at 8:20, they said it wouldn't be back until 9:10! That wouldn't work. We had to be at the Capitol at 10:00 and as we timed it out yesterday, it would take at least 1 hour on the Metro. So, the other option was to have them call us a taxi.

This ride, we found, was a first for both of us. Neither Nate, nor I, had ever ridden in an American taxi before. Neat, right? The fare for the 1.5 mile ride was a mere $8. With all of the wedding cards we got, that's nothin'. We're practically made of money!!! (j/k)

We found our way to the Metro and got on the Red line in no time. It was our first time to have to transfer lines today, so we had it all mapped out in our heads as to how it would go. It's a good thing that we both had it in our heads because, as I was stepping onto the Orange line to make our transfer, I no sooner got smacked in the shoulder with the sliding door and had just enough time to turn around and see my new husband disappear as the doors were closed between us and the train started moving. As thoughts started to form in my head about what the next step would be, I looked around at the few around me and uttered helplessly, "That's my new husband...." Not to fear. We did continue on our journey separately and reunited at the designated South Capitol stop. *sigh* All is well.

I'll let Nate continue from here about the rest of the day's events.

Nate:
My first time away from my new wife was trying, but she has a good head on her; we met at the appointed place without incident. Our first stop today was the Capitol building. It was fascinating to me at least. In the US, you so rarely see a truly OLD building, and here we were in a building that was crawling with history. Seeing the Supreme Court room where Roger Taney sent down the Dred Scott decision was kind of sobering, and then it was intense to be in the room where the British set fire to the Capitol in 1814. The wildest thing was the rotunda, which was positively vertigo-inducing in its heighth. We also had the privelage to see the House and Senate in session. The House was pretty dead, but the Senate was in the middle of some vote or other, and we got to see LOADS of famous politicians, including John Kerry, Joe Lieberman, George Voinovich (from Ohio), Claire McKaskell (from Missouri), Alren Specter, Pat Morrison (from Kansas), and several others. It was exceptionally exciting to see the democratic process in action, even if it mostly consisted of old men walking to a front desk and gesturing to the recording secretary.

For lunch, we went to the Museum of the American Indian, which is maybe a block from the Capitol. We had been told on our tour yesterday of a snack bar there that served American Indian food, and we thought that would be good for an experience. It was pricey; the American Indians may not have had a concept of ownership, but we certainly do. Still, I got to try buffalo (in the form of a pulled buffalo sandwich). Hope had various vegetarian dishes, which she enjoyed. She also got some drink that was some kind of pumpkin-ish strawberry spiced concoction, which, upon much deliberation, was gosh-awful.

The National Air and Space Museum was our afternoon stop, and it was indeed very cool. I personally was the one a little more interested in this museum, so we ended up going towards the space section, as was my desire. It was pretty cool to see Skylab, rest our feet under Apollo-Soyuz, and see the Apollo 11 re-entry pod. I have determined that I am an absolute sucker for the space race, and everything it entailed. The world of space exploration just hasn't been the same since we stopped going to the moon. We also made it into the section with airplanes, where we saw the Wright Bros. plane and The Spirit of St. Louis. It was all very fascinating, but you know how museums are; after about two hours, you hit a certain overload, and you just kind of see the rest of the place in a haze. That definitely happened for us, but it was a really neat experience to see, and I am so impressed with the Smithsonian already. Sometime I will have to come to DC just for the museums. Maybe I'll have some kid who is as much of a nerd as I am...

Also, I should mention that we got astronaut ice cream. Hope has had it along the way somewhere, but it was the first time for me, and I was shocked to find that it did, in fact, taste JUST like ice cream. I had anticipated something that was horribly fake, but it was apparently legit. Oh sure, it was in a little brick that had the consistency of a fresh Lucky Charms marshmallow, but the taste of ice cream was in spades, albeit in a crunchy warm form. Still, try it sometime.

Tomorrow: The Washington Monument and the Museum of Natural History! BE THERE! (Not really. Let us be on our honeymoon, people!)