Washington DC trip report Part 2

I’m going to combine the Friday and Saturday visits into one so as not to be repetitive. Yes, we went twice since we had two sets of tour tickets from different congressional offices and because some of the group were not there Friday morning it made sense to go again Sat morning. Good thing! A lesson we learned – guided tours stop at 10:00am. You can still get in, but it’s a wander at your own pace thing with agents in some of the rooms who can explain the portraits on the walls, but you that’s it. Fridays tickets were for after 10, Saturdays time was 9:30. So if you go, request an early time to get a guide – it makes a HUGE difference.

The other thing to know – don’t bring anything! You don’t need anything except your ID. They allowed cell phones but they watched you turn them off and there was no way you were going to be able to sneak that puppy out and turn it on There are eyes everywhere! Also, no lockers. All of this is on the forms you get with you confirmation of a time but, you know, there is an idiot in every bunch right? On Saturday someone ditched a backpack on the grounds. Brilliant! It merely delayed the tour for a bit until they had gone around asking everyone about it. I assume a visitor admitted to ownership because it was only a momentary blip. On Monday though we were watching tv and the grounds were locked down due to an abandoned backpack! Media types were herded inside. The few who I follow on twitter indicated that it happened rather frequently. Groan. C’mon people! If you get lucky enough to secure a White House tour – follow the damn instructions!!

Lecture done Here’s some pics of the rooms we went into that I snagged off the web since we clearly couldn’t take any of our own. Some cool tidbits of trivia will follow:

East Wing layout open for tours

East Room

Those chandeliers? Stunning. Apparently it takes 30+ hours to clean each one piece by piece. Considering how they sparkled, I’d say it happens quite frequently too! I recognized this room as soon as we entered it. It’s where Obama has held some prime time news conferences and his health care town hall. As I stood in the doorway that led out to a hallway, I got a bit of a chill. This is the hallway:

East Room Hallway

Oops – guess I grabbed a thumbnail..but you get the idea. Red carpeted hallway leads into East Room and right inside the doorway (where I was standing at that moment) would be a podium where the President would stand for the press conference. I was standing where the President stood!! Weeeeee!

(yes, I know, the whole time we were in the White House we were going into places where ALL the President’s and their families have been and shoot, the entire family was right upstairs while we were there Saturday, but it was a particular thrill to stand in a spot and take in a view which was very recent. I was picturing the teleprompters & tv cameras and chairs full of reporters with the portraits of Mr & Mrs Washington on the wall behind them. Pretty awesome!

Green Room

I am not even going to mention specific portraits in the rooms! I was impressed enough that the Secret Service agent could rattle them off. Oh, yes, our guided tour was conducted by an SS agent. He said they did the job because it helped to make them seem less scary to visitors. Good plan. Yes, he had the classic ear bud and was in the traditional dark suit. But he was not scary at all, in fact he was pretty nice & occasionally witty. He said he liked learning all the details of the house because then he could appreciate what he was protecting.  Anyway, each room has portraits of President’s, First Ladies & the occasional landscape. The furniture is all original as is the china on display.

Blue Room

Yes, these rooms really are as beautiful as they look in photos. More so of course as you can really see the textures. The carpets are gorgeous too.

Red Room

When we were there Friday one of the moms noticed people touching the wall coverings and furniture as they wandered through. Aack! Are they nuts? Well, wouldn’t you know it but while we were in this room and even AFTER the SS guide told us NOT to touch anything – we saw some yahoo reach out and touch the wall when the guide was talking about it! Ugh.

Dining Room

The Dining Room is unique in that it only has one portrait in it – Lincoln. The painting was given to the collection under the request that it be the only one in the room. Given the many floor to ceiling windows, it works perfectly in there.

From there we exited out the north portico. Once outside we could turn on our phones & that is how I got the pictures that I posted on the very first Quickie Report. Now the cool thing about the north portico is what is ABOVE it. Here’s a more clear photo of it off the web:

North Portico

So we were walking out of that door under the hanging light. The center window is conference/sitting room which is where Lincoln gave his last speech before his assassination. To the left as you are looking at is Sasha’s bedroom and to the right is Malia’s. How did we find that out? Because on Friday as we looked up we noticed a butterfly cutout hanging in the window on the left. We asked the SS guide about it at the end of our tour and they confirmed that the bedrooms were indeed up there.

Since we were kept strictly to the east/north end of the house, we never did see anything in or around the West Wing. The girls’ swing set is not visible from any of the public places either. Which is nice because it otherwise felt somewhat as if we were intruding when it was pointed out in one hallway that the screen blocking it off is removed when tours are over and then the family has the run of the house and that they do go everywhere.

Now for the fun trivia – yes, even cooler than knowing where the First Daughter’s bedrooms are!!

James K Polk

The shortest President at the time, his wife noticed that people would not even see when he entered a room so she requested that a song be played to announce his arrival. Hence, Hail to the Chief was born.

President William Howard Taft – one of our larger Presidents was also a big baseball fan. He would regularly attend games. And part way through he would stand up between innings to stretch his legs. Let’s say – around the 7th inning? And since he was the President, everyone *else* would have to stand up too out of respect. Hence, the 7th inning stretch.

I just loved how two traditions that we’ve all just taken for granted as “we’ve always done it that way” and that seem so formal were born out of rather every day events & needs.

And that does it for Part 2. I promise more personal pictures in the next installment. I just had to document what I could remember of the White House before details seeped out of my porous memory. You’ll see that while we didn’t formally walk in the Breast Cancer 3-Day, we may have logged as many miles on our own not quite prepared for it feet ;->

Quickie DC report

I’m sitting in the hotel restaurant having lunch as I wait for my airport shuttle. Last one here. It’s been the usual weekend of wonderful company with tons of laughter (gobs really), counselling, great food and sightseeing. Here’s the few photos I took with my phone that I can post right away. The rest, and there are a lot, will have to wait until later this week when I can get them off my camera. It’s been so liberating NOT having the laptop!!
We had to leave cameras behind on White House tours so here’s a few from the North lawn as we exited the grounds on Sat and then a Capitol shot and the Washington monument from yesterday.

What do you mean it’s not Adam Lambert Tuesday?

I know I know, give it up right? Sigh..fine…but I’m taping all of the interviews they are making them do this week to get my fix.

I have to say though, that it’s turned out to be quite the eventful/historic Tuesday hasn’t it?

President Obama makes his first ever Supreme Court Nominee – Sonia Sotomayor:

What I know about the law and judges you could fit on the head of a very small pin so I wont opine too deeply other than to say that what I have read about her since this opening came up was very impressive and what I heard from her today at the announcement made me feel confident this is a very wise selection. And whether I agree with what Obama does or not, I always know he has put great thought into things and consulted with many voices first.

Then the California Supreme Court released it’s ruling to uphold the passage of Prop 8 but also to uphold the 18,000 marriages which took place between the first court ruling legalizing same-sex marraige and the passage of prop 8 in Nov.

It’s an old cartoon, but it still applies and the decision is extremely disappointing but not unexpected. So, the fight continues. There will most likely be another initiative introduced in 2010 which will be more CLEAR about what people are voting on. I am also confident that the groups supporting equal rights will do a much *better* job about getting the word out than they did in ‘08. Of course, even state recognition is just a part-way answer. As my friends explained who did get marriage in that window of opportunity, they still had to file taxes seperately on the federal level since all marriages are not recognized with them. *sigh* Gotta keep chipping away!

Today is also the 7 year anniversary of a guy just starting his own blog to release his frustration at the direction our country was going in:

Well, now, that little sideline endeavor seems to have turned out pretty well, dontcha think? Happy Blogiversary Markos!

So I guess there is enough going on to distract me from missing the lack of a new Adam Lambert performance tonight.  Allow me one thought on him: I swear that kid is the second coming of Elvis! Perusing some fan boards this weekend the level of passion devoted to him is pretty stunning and it’s not all young girls and boys. It’s international and multi-generational and really pretty phenomenal. As was said to him in one interview this weekend – he will never be anonymous again.

Obligatory 100 days post

Of course I had to write something since I was so into everything last year right? And heck, my guy won so it’s all good, right? Oh wait, you forgot I’m not a blind follower didn’t ya? Actually all of my liberal friends are neither blind, nor followers of ANY kind so no no no, we do not just sing the praises of our Democratic control in DC. Overall though, I certainly think things are much better that it would have been with McCain by a long shot so I’m pretty happy with the first 100. I give him a solid B (since the media seems so intent on a flipping letter grade!!)

What I love mostly is this flickr photo stream they released last night.  Some really awesome pictures of the first 100 days. You know what freaks me out though? That I can name almost all of those people in the pics with him! Of course, that’s probably good overall that I am so informed – and I certainly never was as aware in any other previous administration. Still kinda scary though

Here’s two of my favorite shots:

George Clooney in the Oval Office

That shot of hotness took me by surprise as I viewed the slide show. MmmmMMmmm good! Check out that paint on the wall outside too! I love how many of the transition areas are decked out in some really bold and beautiful color schemes.

Blackberry dump

A pile o’blackberries on a table outside a meeting room with post it notes indicating the owner’s name. Guess that was to prevent the lawmakers from twittering from the meeting!

Joy

Joy. Pure joy. With a hint of sadness as my friend Jax is not here. Her mom passed a few weeks ago and then last night her dad had a heart attack. So the very public celebration of the day is a bit tempered for me personally.

Words? Well, for me it is the people who were there. I’ve picked out a few images from the web that speak to me. For me, this is the line from the speech that stood out:

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.

It encapsulates the policy difference between the outgoing administration and President Obama’s (oh that felt good to type out!!)

I felt a moment of localized pride as I saw him escorted around with Speaker of the House Pelosi and Senator Feinstein. Two women from California. As someone twittered earlier, the crowd was filled with color as an endless throng of old white guys were introduced to be seated in the upper dais. That is, until they got to the current group. Then we saw some much better diversity.

There was a moment in this next picture that I thought Obama finally showed a smidge of nerves. He looked like he was trying very hard NOT to make eye contact with anyone as he composed himself. I had the feeling that if he did see someone he was going to break into a fit of nervous giggles This was also when I was proud of those two California women!

And please tell me that Cheney in the wheel chair did NOT look scarier than normal?? Do you Mr Potter from It’s A Wonderful Life in that image? Oh yeah. He was, arguably, the most powerful Vice President ever. Often referred to as Darth Cheney due to his scarier than thou demeanor. That he hurt his back lifting moving boxes yesterday? Yeah, gotta say that might have been karmic!

And then finally. The oath. Amusingly butchered by Chief Justice Roberts! And we thought Obama should be nervous, it didn’t occur to me that the Cheif Justice would have butterflies too.  But of course he did. It was the first time he was doing it too. That’s ok, it probably broke the tension for Obama.

No words needed

Grandma in the (White) House!

Yeah, I can’t help it. I am following the personal details of the Obama family attempting to settle into life in DC. Hey, it’s the first time in MY generation that I am following all this with a young family going in. Shoot, a family with kids younger than my own! Ooof. At least Barack and Michelle are (barely) older than me! Today it was announced that Michelle’s mom, Marian Robinson will be moving into the White House with the family, at least initially. I love that. A First Grandma!

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If you pay attention to my Twitters, you know that this week has been draining. It was so hard to get back into work, but then it had to be month end. Very taxing on a vacation mushy brain. On top of that, there was a football board meeting  and baseball club tasks. Let’s jump back in with both feet thigh deep shall we? The good news though, is that there is an end to those two! Yes, this is really the last full season of football for me and the wheels are finally in motion to relieve me of the baseball club duties sometime this year. WaHOO!  I always say that I can endure anything as long as I know there is a certain end to it. That’s how I got through childbirth and this year’s Padres season anyway

Oh, I shouldn’t have thought of the Padres. Then I think of #51 Trevor Hoffman, the Hell’s Bell’s closer for the past 16 years..gone to the Brewers. Ouch. I fear that this coming baseball season will be even harder to watch than the last!

This is how we do it

First time that all living Presidents/President Elects are in the White House together since 1981. The event even inspired George W to make a statement that not only was Bushism-free, but was actually pretty damn cool (guess the release of pressure that must accompany the dwindling days he must spend in that office are making him more relaxed and clear minded):

“One message that I have and I think we all share is that we want you to succeed, whether we’re Democrat or Republican we care deeply about this country,” Bush said. “All of us who have served in this office understand that the office itself transcends the individual.”

Also, I love that rug! Apparently in the video that was posted of this photo op, you can hear Clinton telling W that he’s always liked it. Somone on DailyKos mentioned that Laura Bush had designed it so I looked it up on The Google, and sure enough – she did! I may not have a heckuva lot of respect for her husband and the job he did, but I’ve always liked Laura. I read she was getting a publisher for a book deal and you know what, I would read it! A few of my liberal friends are already snickering about it but I’m interested! I LOVED Hillary’s book about her time as First Lady. I wouldn’t mind getting a peak into what it was like for Laura as well.

Whichever way you lean politically, the peaceful transition of power and the way our former executives interact with each other is truly unique. After all, there is no one in the world who understands what it is to sit at that desk than those 4 men. It’s wonderful that they would be so willing to lend a hand to the next one in line.

Is it Jan 20 yet?

Took a break from political posts after the election due to extreme burn out. Even though things mostly went the way I personally wanted them to go, I was just done talking about it. The break has been good and I knew I was ready to dive in again when I saw this and felt a jolt of optimism and pride:

See that Presidential seal on the plane? Chills!! For the first time in my political lifetime (which I define as me being politically aware and not just voting by habit), the White House will be occupied by someone closest to my political leanings. He’s not a perfect match – heck, no one is and I do get a bit hot under the collar when people complain about politicians from either side not being a perfect match for them (hello, reality anyone?)

A word to my more conservative readers. I’m sorry. Really, I am. I know that picture spurs a completely different reaction for you. I know exactly how you feel. I was there in 2000/2001. The policial winds of the nation have always blown back and forth. Each down period makes that party stronger as it refocuses and gets in touch with voters and finds the message that will resonate beyond just their most loyal base constiuents. I’d love to reassure you and say it will all be fine, but I know that’s a lie. Because a few of my friends said that in 2000 and IMHO the last 8 years did not prove to be fine at all. So I wont placate with false promises. I do advise my more passionately political friends to find a place where you can rant away with a few like minded folks. That really does help (which is why DailyKos became my political home). Vent and then work on improving the party from within any way you can.

Meanwhile, let’s both make of some low hanging fruit shall we? Yes, that means, the media. Because I really really wish that BREAKING NEWS flashing in RED actually meant that I was about to be told something I absolutely HAD to know about. Horrid as it sounds, there better be fire/flood/destruction etc etc. I had better NOT see that just because Barack Obama’s plane has landed in DC for the first time. Or because the grand parents of Caylee Anthony have arrived for a new conference about the child’s remains being found. Or because John Travolta’s son has died. Those may be *news* items, but they are not BREAKING worthy!!

President Elect Obama