Day 7, the Arctic Blast

Today was by far the coldest day of the trip. We bundled up, added layers,

and tried to avoid walking.

We began with a tour of the Capitol. It is truly a magnificent structure.

Blake was a great guide.

We saw the original Supreme Court before it was moved next door to the 

Capitol.

  

Freedom: replica of the statue that tops the dome

Washington’s second state statue in the Capitol: missionary and founder of Walla Walla 

Marcus Whitman

Capitol’s dome

Basilica of the Immaculate Conception

National shrine and largest Catholic Church in US

Praying Rosary at the Mother of Perpetual Help altar. 

The whole church is filled with side shrines and altars.

Nearly all the art work is mosaic.

Here is an example of the mosaic shrine. 

The walls are mosaic as well as Our Lady and the figures.

The last item on the DC bucket list was to see the Lincoln Memorial.

It was beautiful at night, as was the reflecting pool and the Washington Monument.

Day 6

After our last Mass with Fr. Casimir we headed to the Georgetown district.

Washington National Cathedral is Episcopalian. It was truly beautiful architecturally,

but we showed up at the end of a service. The seniors thought it was ruined by the culture...

women clergy, food in the church, everyone talking.

Super windy and cold

The girls have long been waiting our trip to Georgetown Cupcake. With a reality TV show

and arguably the best ingredients we had to wait for 45 minutes in line before making it into the shop...but the wait was well worth it.

Then we went to the skating rink at Washington Harbour.

It was rather cold, but it was so much fun.

Day 5

Today we left DC for Mt. Vernon, the estate of George Washington which 

overlooks the Potomac River. 

We met our guide at 10am and finished our tour at about 3:30.

After an amazing pizza dinner, we headed back to Foggy Bottom for the night.

The grounds, tour, museum, and education center were amazing.

Interactive Be George display: 

receive military information and advice and then determine what choices 

you would make in his shoes.

Visiting the tombs of George and Martha

They still have animals on the farm.

  

We made our way to Alexandria, Virginia where the townhouse of George and Martha was.

It has a quaint historic district on Kings St in Old Town.

The church that George Washington attended: Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia.