A Family Vacation- Washington D.C.

For the first time in years the Johnson family took a family vacation that was not to Jackson Hole. *Cough cough hallelujah!* Jason and I spent some time in Washington DC this summer and we loved it so much that we talked my family into a vacation at our nation's capitol. I joked that Jason needed to sign a contract agreeing to marry me despite the craziness that would surely accompany a week-long trip with my family. However, I'm happy to say that DC has come and gone, and we are still happily engaged. Woohoo! Now on with the vacation!

I was excited to see the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, or in other words, where they make money!

Below, Joel is standing in front of one million dollars!

We couldn't take pictures on the tour unfortunately. They threatened to kick you out of the building and take your camera if you snapped a picture, so I didn't risk it. I loved the tour though. Can you imagine being the worker who prints more money each day than the amount of money he'll earn in his lifetime? THAT would be a depressing job.

I admit I've never been crazy about space stuff, but even so, the Air and Space Museum was pretty cool. We explored a real space shuttle to see how astronauts go about doing simple tasks such as writing, eating and taking a shower without gravity. We learned about the discovery of the airplane in an exhibit about the Wright brothers, and we watched a 3D movie that I swear was better than any 3D show I've ever seen. (Avatar aside of course)

My mom couldn't be happier than inside an art museum. The National Gallery of Art had so much to see that we got lost more than once among the huge collection of European and American paintings.

Below are original works of Rembrandt and Picasso.

This was a fun little pizza place where Jace and I took a break. Excellent five cheese pizza.

Jefferson Memorial

I love this picture of Preston on the steps of the Jefferson Memorial.

Jason and I had to skip over the Roosevelt Memorial on our last trip to DC due to an overload of things to see and little time to see it all. So this time I was happy to have ample time to spend visiting the memorial of one of my favorite presidents.

I love the shot above where everyone is focused on snapping pictures. I learned quickly that a trip to Washington DC requires extra camera batteries and plenty of room on your memory card!

One thing I love about the memorials in DC is the use of quotations to depict emotion. Each quote is carefully selected to add specific feeling to the site.

Joel was in such a grumpy mood! Usually you want vacation snapshots to look flawless with everyone happy and posed, but when you look back at pictures like this you get insight to the reality of the moment. No one is always happy, and Joel's pouty face definitely shows that! That makes the picture realistic.

The Korean War Veterans Memorial has 19 statues depicting a squad on patrol in Korea. A powerful quote is scrawled at the feet of the squad. I felt that it fully explained the emotion of the memorial. "Our nation honors her sons and daughters who answered the call to defend a country they never knew and a people they never met."

Above the serene reflection pool a second quote reads, "Freedom is not free." Below are the names of all the soldiers who lost their lives in the war.

My favorite- the Lincoln Memorial.

This is only half of our week-long vacation to our nation's capital. My next post will include pictures from our trip to the top of the Washington Monument, my favorite museum-the Newseum, cookies and cream cupcakes, the International Spy Museum and a day at the beautiful Arlington Cemetary.