Day 1 - Saturday, April 23, 2011

Wow! No matter how many "Washington D.C." license plates we see, I can't get over that fact that we have actually made it here. To the many of you that have supported the concept of Our Journey to Our Nation's Capitol, we thank you for your love and support as it is truly appreciated.

After recovering from our looooooooonnnnnggg flight from Boise to Seattle to Chicago and FINALLY to Dulles, we arrived safe and soundly at our hotel shortly after midnight last night.

Today started off with, perhaps what will be one of my "Top 5" stops of the whole trip - the Steven Udvar-Hazy Center (an extension of the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum) at Dulles Airport. For those of you that have had the opportunity to visit this unbelievable attraction, you know what I mean when I say that the emotions of simply walking in the main entrance were almost overwhelming. After you come through the front doors, which put you on the second level catwalk, you are looking directly at the nose of an SR-71 Blackbird. While we stood in awe at this true phenomenon, down below was a class of midshipmen from the U.S. Naval Academy decked out in their dress whites - pretty impressive... for the Navy! Behind the Blackbird we could see the Space Shuttle Enterprise. At this point, our journey could have ended and I would have been quite content. Nonetheless, we went on to see an F-14 Tomcat, an F-35, the Concorde, and the Enola Gay (the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima). There were aircraft EVERYWHERE... lined up on the ground, hanging from the ceiling, it was pretty awesome!

Next stop was Quantico, Virgina - home to the Marines Officer Candidate School (OCS), the FBI Academy, and the airbase where the Presidential Helicopter is kept on stand-by. But, for us, Quantico is the home of the National Marine Corps Museum. Like most museums in D.C., it was FREE! And ironically, this was the highlight of the day for Tracy and each of the kids (mine was definitely the Udvar-Hazy). I want to try not to overuse the word  phenomenal, but this place truly was! We started off with lunch in the "Mess Hall", which was a kick in the pants, and then proceeded through the chronological exhibits of U.S. Marine Corps history. When you go through the Chosin Reservoir portion of the Korean War exhibit, the room temperature dropped 15-20 degrees as if to portray the Frozen Chosen. And likewise, when walking through the Vietnam exhibit, the room temp increased with an overdose of humidity. My personal highlight of this museum, though, was being able to see (and take a photograph of) the actual flag that Joe Rosenthal photographed during World War II. Indeed, I stood in front of the very flag that Harlon Block, Doc Bradley, Franklin Sousley, Ira Hayes, Rene Gagnon, and Mike Strank raised on Iwo Jima.

Heading north back towards D.C. we stopped at Mount Vernon, the home of George and Martha Washington. A great opportunity for the kids to see some really old history, and for everyone to walk about, outside of a museum, and just enjoy the absolute beauty of Virginia.

Our day ended walking along the Potomac River and through the streets of Old Town Alexandria. So far, this journey could not have possibly gone any better (other than the GPS not working for the last 30 minutes of the night). Until tomorrow, my friends - Semper Fi!