Day 2

Thursday April 30, 2009 9:00 PM EDT

Well today was a lot of walking.  I went into the city this morning with Brandi.  We had to catch the bus from her apartment at 5:30 AM and then ride for about an hour before we got there.  Since my Welcome to Washington breakfast wasn't until 8:30 I spent some time getting myself oriented and walking around the National Mall (which I learned is not a normal mall but a big lawn).  I found a sculpture garden that was kind of interesting to walk around in and figured out a good way to get a picture of me 

I really had no idea what to expect at the breakfast, I wasn't even sure that the Senators would be there.  Well I went up to the Lyndon B. Johnson room where they gave me a name tag to wear and showed me to a table with pastries, OJ, and coffee.  At the beginning people just mingled.  There were a few staffers in the room and I guess I looked like a loner so they came over and started talking to me.  After a few minutes Senators Reid and Ensign arrived.  I spoke to Senator Reid for a minute and than each of them spoke for a few minutes to the whole group.  Apparently they are kind of unique for holding this breakfast every Thursday that Congress is in session.  They're also unique in how well they get along despite being from opposite parties.  I highly recommend attending this if you ever visit Washington.  After getting my picture taken with both of them it was time for the Capitol tour.  The tour was with one of Senator Reid's aids.  It was nice because it was a small group and the aid was able to get us into everything ahead of the big school groups.  After the tour I sat in the gallery for both the House and the Senate.  The Senate was debating on what to do about Guantanamo bay and then on an amendment to the bankruptcy laws.  The House debated about an amendment to a credit card protection bill.  I thought it was funny that part of the debate was about making the fine print bigger.  The other part was about making it so credit card companies can't charge customers for paying their bill online or over the phone which I had never heard of before but oh well.  It was interesting to see the government in action and I can understand why it takes so long for anything to get through now.

After the Capitol I went over and peaked in the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court building.  There wasn't too much exciting there, the Court wasn't in session.  Next I got a hot dog from a street vendor and then headed to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.  I think my favorite thing there was the exhibit showing the photographs of nature.  I wish there was a book on that available to buy but there wasn't.  Here's a link for a taste of it.  After that I went and met up with Brandi who was just getting off work and we went up the Old Post Office tower together and then to the National Archives.  It was a long day with a lot of walking but it was fun and I got to see a lot.  Tomorrow I'll be touring the White House in the morning and then I'm going to try and see the memorials.  Well I'm signing off now, goodnight!

Day 1

Me blogging at SLC

Wednesday April 29, 2009 8:00 AM MDT

As I am getting ready to head off on my trip to the East Coast and Europe I thought the best way to share my experience with family and everyone else would be through a blog.  Unfortunately I can’t actually start the blog as I am writing this because I learned that unlike Phoenix and Denver airports Salt Lake does not offer free Wi-Fi internet.  I am currently writing this in Microsoft Works and will post it to a new blog page as soon as I can.  If you are reading this please feel free to share the link with anyone you think might be interested.  I’ve asked my parents to forward an emmail with the link to everyone but I’m sure there may be people I have missed.

Well I guess my trip really started a couple of days ago.  Since Thursday the 23rd I have been moved out of my apartment and living on the road.  Thursday and Friday were graduaton days at BYU so my parents were out for that.  You can check out some pictures here on my facebook page.  As I am traveling I will try to post as many pictures as I can both here and on my facebook.  After graduation I spent Saturday with my parents visiting Sarah and Dayne and then later Brooks and Mike.  Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate well enough for Mike and I to get one last boat outing in before I leave.  Sunday morning my Mom and I saw Dad off with my car loaded with about all of my stuff.  Shortly after we began heading up to Shelley Idaho to see Grandma and Grandpa Hayes.  We got up there about noon and had a good visit and dinner with them.  In the evening Chris and Pauline came over as well as Abraham and we looked through old pictures and genealogy stuff together.  The next morning Abraham Came over and the two of us went and did some errands and shopping in Idaho Falls for a few last minute things for my trip.  Afterwards we went back to his house and played a few games of Settlers of Katan.  We ended up playing three games that day and I didn’t win a single one!  Tuesday morning came and I piled the remainder of my stuff into Aunt Lori’s car and went down to Salt Lake with her, Elizabeth and Brunson (sp?).  We made a couple of stops along the way including one at my friend Scott’s apartment.  He had a Europe book to give me as well as some travel advice since he had lived there for a semester on a study abroad.  It was good to him one last time and I helped him rearrange some furniture in their new apartment.  Probably about 4 we finally made it to Dan’s hosue in Eagle Mountain.  Brian and family and Sarah and family came too so we had a nice get together with barbeque sandwiches.  I think all the cousins enjoy getting together as they all seemed to have a really good time.  I spent the night there on their downstairs couch which was actually pretty comfortable.  We had to get an early start the next morning so that we could make Elizabeth’s flight at 8 AM so we all piled into the car again about 6 in the morning.  I thought that I did good job getting through security here.  I planned ahead and just wore shorts and a sweatshirt and slippers so that getting through would be easy and then brought clothes to change into in my backpack once I was across.  I guess the only mistake I made was wearing just a sweatshirt because apparently they want you to take those off when you go through so I had to get padded down instead.  I still think it was about the fastest I’ve ever made it through security.  After that I saw Elizabeth and Brunson off at their gate and that brings me to here. 

Tomorrow I have plans to have breakfast with the Nevada senators and then tour that Capitol building.  Hopefully I can get some good pictures to post and have some good stories to tell.  So long for now!