Notes from Washington DC

Here's what we've learned so far:
 - We could never live in this city.
 - We definitely prefer driving over riding the Metrorail
 - You can waste a lot of time just getting to your destination.

That being said, here's how our day went yesterday.  The weather was still messy, constant mist and sometimes light rain all day.  We started our day by driving to the Metro station in College Park.  We took the rail to the Archives which was about a 20 minute ride.  Spent a little while there viewing the Constitution, Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence.  Left there and headed to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.  We had lunch in the cafe because there were no other choices.  Way overpriced....we won't make that mistake again.  Today we'll be packing our lunch.  We never toured the Museum because by the time we finished lunch it was 2:00 and we needed to be at Arlington Cemetery by 3:00.  So off we went to another rail station.  The ride takes about 30 minutes.  We got on the wrong train at first, but thankfully a nice lady on the train told us how to get where we were going.  It rained steadily while we toured the cemetery so we didn't have many photo opportunities.  We did get to see the changing of the guard and Arlington House.  The flowers were beautiful and we were able to get some nice pictures of them. 

At the end of the day we were exhausted and just ready to get back to the RV.  We rode the Metro back to the stop where we left the Jeep.  It was rush hour and some of the trains were really full.  It's amazing how everyone is in their own little world and so unaware of what is happening around them.  I thought we were going to have to push people out of the way just to get on the train at one point.  The people inside were blocking the doorways.  At least we'll have a little experience when we get to New York. 

So we finally got to the rail station, got on the elevator in the parking garage.......AND GOT STUCK!!!  Yes, really!!!   The elevator wouldn't move and the door wouldn't open.  Thankfully the elevator was still on the ground floor and there was a window to the outside.  We sounded the alarm and banged on the window until someone noticed us.  The fire department and police were called and they arrived in about 15 minutes.  It only took a moment for them to get us out.  Needless to say, we didn't get back on a different elevator.  We took the steps to the 4th floor.  I don't think any of us will ever forget that experience. 

A few pictures from the day.....