Washington, D.C.

Our Nations Capital is one of the most historic looking, patriotic cities I’ve ever visited!! We spent 4 days there and were out and about exploring the entire time, waking up and getting out at 10 am and not getting back to our suite until 11-12ish that night! We were worn out by the end of our trip, but pleasantly worn out if that makes sense! Here’s our Vacation in pictures…ENJOY!!

   First Stop: The White House! We’d heard it was tiny compared to pictures and to television, but we thought it met our expectations and then some!!

The front of the White House..beautifully landscaped!

Our favorite view of the White House: the back..we got to see the garden which was huge!!

The Washington Monument, it was close due to the recent earthquake..still quite a site to see!

The Jefferson Memorial!

Martin Luther King Jr Memorial, opened August 22nd 2011. This is one of my favorite men ever, I love all that he stood for!

A VERY crowded Lincoln Memorial!

Good thing the wading pool was closed due to construction, Nate had EVERY intention of replaying the scene from Forest Gump!!

A small fraction of the FDR memorial...this being my favorite! I Hate War too!

Before this trip, we'd never seen protesters, this is one of the many protests we saw. We signed this canvas with peace and love!

Of course we went to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum!! 

The Air and Space Museum was cleared as we neared the end...due to protests ending with pepper spray. It made the news.

The National Zoo was amazing!

We of course explored more, but I do not want to post the 800 photos we took!! We enjoyed late night walks downtown, drinks at a few trendy bars, explored The Crime and Punishment Museum (it was okay, nothing too impressive); we even squeezed in 2 hours at the Holocaust Museum, which was very saddening. We enjoyed great food at A Taste of DC, which was a pleasant surprise that ended with an awesome concert put on by Big and Rich...best of all it was free!! A few friends along with the Food Channel recommended 'Ben's Chili Bowl' and they were closed due to plumbing issues, but were at the taste of DC. We got the famous chili half smoke...we LOVED it! It's called a half smoke because it's half beef half pork smoked sausage!! We will definitely go back for more exploring in the future! 

PS. Here is our White House Security HARD at work. Hmmm...

OBAMA didn't Literally kill Bin Ladin

               September 11, 2001. I was playing one of my favorite games Canasta on yahoo and I saw someone say “A building exploded in New York” in the chat forum. I turned on the news and was in complete and total awe at what was occurring in the United States of America! The Twin Towers    were the target of terrorism and went down in flames along with most people in it; nearly 3000 individuals. I will never forget the feeling that consumed me for weeks afterwards; I cried at the tragedy facing us, the fear of the unknown for the families who lost loved ones, and the families who were yet to find out.

          May 1st 2011, I am in my living room and my uncle calls to tell me to turn on the news; that the United States Armed Forces finally brought Osama Bin Laden to justice via death! I will never. NEVER forget that day either. It brought emotions back not felt since that September 11th morning back in 01!  I was and AM proud to be an American! It took almost ten long years and more money than ever, but we, AMERICA did it.

 On Facebook that night celebrations were abundant, and Osama took over social media! 'Thank yous' to Soldiers posted her and 'Im a proud American' posted there; it was amazing that for a mere 2 hours there was nothing but positive posts announcing America’s accomplishment! I was so proud of the unity!! Honestly, it gave me the goose bumps!   

    May 2nd 2011. I see posts (from 10 out of 400) from a few friends saying REPOSTED!!!!~ "Let's be clear on this: OBAMA did NOT kill Bin Laden, an American soldier (who Obama just a few weeks ago was debating on whether or not to PAY), did. Obama just happened to be the one in office when our soldiers finally found OBL and took him out. This is NOT an Obama victory, but an AMERICAN victory!! PLZ REPOST IF YOU AGREE!!!".  What a bunch bull?!?
          
    First of all, can we  not be proud that we accomplished a mission we set out to accomplish instead of pointing fingers??? While  Obama was campaigning for presidency, he stated that his intention was to get our troops out of Iraq and into Afghanistan to get Osama, same orders Bush put into play–Dead or alive. He fulfills his promise (which is rare in politics) and gets no credit?? The tax dollars, the blood sweat and tears from the Armed forces and their families and all of the research and decision making that went into this mission finally paid off!!! This is one of the most notorious terrorists ever to come into contact with the United States of America and we finally, as a team, brought this guy down and all one has to say is “Obama didn’t pull the trigger”!?!? If you feel that way, why not keep it to yourself during a victory such as this?
          
    Secondly, Obama never said that “HE” killed Osama, he gave credit to EVERYONE currently involved and those involved in the past including President Bush as he should have. We are THE UNITED states for a reason!!  I wonder, who would we blame if the mission had failed? Bush? The Navy Seal? You’d blame the man in charge. Which, I am not an expert on the matter or anything, but the last I heard, the President of the United States of America, is commander in chief! I also know  He didn’t pull the trigger, but he DID give permission for another American to do so. It’s like saying that the marines or the army had nothing to do with it just because it was a Navy Seal who shot the gun. Its like saying that the coach of a football team gets no credit for a teams wins or losses.

            AND last, but certainly not least, Obama, ALONE was not responsible for pay freezes which did NOT occur, it was because congress could not agree on a budget plan!!!!! I wont dwell on what didn’t happen though, since it’s trivial. All I’m saying is, you DO NOT have to like the man, but please give the man credit for whatever it is he did to make this mission go right!!! I feel like I should end this blog with a status update from my Facebook page!  
  

“Thanks to our Military who sacrificed more than anyone along, with your families to bring this man to justice, THANK YOU SOO MUCH!! :) I've witnessed what you give up to do what you do and its SO VERY selfless of you!! Wow. Also, Thanks to our President, the commander in chief of our armed forces, for whatever you've done wrong to make this mission go right!!! Right or wrong THE UNITED States Military (this includes our president for pursuing Osama and for having the guts to carry out this mission) is to thank for bringing this evil man to justice. 10 years of hard work from both parties, and even worse, 3000 lives later. No debating or hating I am darn proud to Be an American!! :) Lets keep our faces forward and prepare for what’s to come though.
Yesterday at 9:56pm (this post was from May 2nd 2011)