Vacation Rambling

I had the occasion to visit our nation’s Capitol recently and now that I have had a chance to let my reactions sink in, I do have a couple of comments. Unfortunately this was a quick trip and only involved one day of time in the Capitol area.
The Capitol can be divided into very distinct areas of interest. There is the historic, the monuments, the informational and the current. Each of these areas of interest will definitely take more then one day of your time to really get the full picture. The Capitol Mall is the center of most of the buildings that will interest those from out of town. If you really want to see the Capitol Building and the White House, you are best off speaking to your local member of Congress way ahead of the visit. The staff of the member can get you tour tickets to the White House. They will need time to get you on the tour you want, at a good time and without your waiting in a long line. As for the Capitol building, you might get a more personal tour if your member of congress knows you or you become acquainted with the local representative of that member.
After several trips to the city I realized that this was the first time I had actually been to the front of the White House and that my previous trips had just skipped that area for some reason.
For the best view of the history of our country visit the many buildings of the Smithsonian and see the individual areas of interest. Many of the items are original and obviously in no other location. My greatest remembrance will be standing only a few feet from the Spirit Of Saint Louis and knowing its full history and importance to our present day travel industry.
If you visit the monuments, be prepared to have an emotional time. The Lincoln Memorial is grand and the words that you have read other places are more remarkable when set in granite. The Vietnam Memorial is more personal and when you read the names, you see that war is indeed something that involves people. It is probable that you will look for those you know are on the wall and then you may want to know if an acquaintance is on the wall and hope that the name is not there. Also you feel an emotion from those who you will see that you know have come to visit one of the names.
The Library of Congress is both the current and the historic. It is changing to keep it current, while it is a symbol of our past and a desire to be the central library of our nation. Only in this area will you see so much that actually is all of the categories rolled into one and you might need to visit some sites more then once to get the true feeling of the location.
Many people think that this is a city that you should avoid because it is so congested, but it has its ways around that, so that you can avoid the traffic. Use the subway or other local transportation so that you can park away from most of the traffic.
They take children to visit the Capitol, but it takes an adult to appreciate all of its importance.