Libby G Goes to Washington - Day Three

Day 3 of “Libby’s first trip to Washington” was another morning that began on the earlier side of things. Daddy took pity on our young traveler, took into account the length of her legs and the length and endurance necessary for our trip, and insisted that we again Uber to our first destination, rather than take the mile uphill to my favorite breakfast spot on the “House side” of the Hill, Le Bon Café.

I know, breakfast included at the hotel was SUCH a deal, but if we were showing her Washington, a few of my personal favorite spots had to be included… and this was kind of “that day.”

It was a warm morning, and we got to eat outside, and she was pretty pleased with her breakfast. The cuteness of the whole French café may have been somewhat lost on her, but she appreciated her chocolate croissant and bites of my pumpkin gingerbread too, along with Daddy’s French toast.

Then, we were again on our feet to make the short journey, with multiple sightseeing stops (There’s the Capitol! See the Washington Monument?!”), including the Library of Congress, where we explained Mimi’s new book is officially listed and catalogued with a special number. We didn’t go inside the beautiful building this time, but we have to save something for the future!  

But we did see the outside and the lovely fountain.

And of course, we also walked past the U.S. Supreme Court. We did a little explaining about that, but there were no protestors out at all, so really, did she even go?!

YES – because we have photos to prove it. 

We told her how cute they’d be someday when she argued a case before the Supreme Court and/or was appointed a justice. 

  

FINALLY, we made it to “Mommy’s office building,” the Russell Senate Office Building. 

We met a very nice staffer of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., outside, who offered to take our family photo, too! 

And after a walk through security, it’s just a few steps to our office (I came in a difference entrance that I normally take, so it was amazing that we didn’t get lost.)

Libby was warmly welcomed by our front office staff and signed in before going to tour the office meet a few staffers throughout. 

And no trip to our office is complete without a photo in front of our mural, donated by Millie’s school in Acworth, Ga. 

…or a photo at Senator Isakson’s desk! This one will also be precious when she’s a U.S. Senator. And she kind of took ownership of that desk. She really studied the contents of the top and started asking questions about business cards under the protective glass.

Our nice tour guide for our personal tour took us to the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs committee room before we got going with the rest of the Capitol tour, too!

She loved sitting in Chairman Isakson’s seat, and I think she would have appreciated the microphone being on and having the opportunity to do some serious grilling of VA officials. (Her Daddy looks pretty proud here, too.)

But the ultimate highlight of our Capitol adventure was likely the same as many children – and adults – who have the opportunity to visit: the Senate subway!

I think it may have even ranked ahead of the moving sidewalk at the airport.

Before our personal tour began (and thank goodness for the personal tour), we watched the Capitol Visitor’s Center film, “E Pluribus Unum – Out of Many, One.” We thought it was great introduction for her, and for us!

Libby did get a little cool at points during the morning, so my scarf came in handy.  Of course, we tried to point out every Georgia-related opportunity and highlight.

That included Crawford Long.

And with the 100^th anniversary of women’s suffrage and the 19^th amendment coming up in 2020, you know she got a quick history lesson about Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucrecia Mott and Susan B. Anthony.

Oh- and Washington and Hamilton.

We tried to have a view from the Speaker’s Balcony, but leadership unfortunately had it reserved for the day. But we did walk by Speaker of the House Paul Ryan’s Capitol office.

She also enjoyed the old U.S. Supreme Court chamber (even if it was dark), along with Senate chamber, and especially the original House chamber, where she got to test out the “whisper spot."

Yes, we got photos with more statues there too. How about President Gerald Ford, for Diddy?

FORD

And President Ronald Reagan for Mimi?

Back in the Visitor’s Center, we even got a photo for Amanda Penn-O’Toole for Wyoming.

All of this walking wore our girl out a bit, and it was definitely time for lunch! I have no photos, because it’s really busy and fairly crowded there, but she dined at the Senate staffer’s main fast eatery (especially if you work in the Russell building), Cups. It’s in the basement, fast and since it feeds hungry staffers, pretty cheap! Libby really enjoyed her pasta from the hot bar. 

We even bumped into two former Isakson staffers, Molly Manning Harper, who now schedules for U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Lauren Culbertson, my former D.C. counterpart in the press shop. Lauren’s now with Twitter doing government affairs and was there on a lobbying mission that day, as she often is now.

But soon, we had to scoot back upstairs to see Senator Isakson for a quick photo op. Libby was incredibly shy with him, so we kept it moving even a little faster than normal, but she had a nice chat especially with one of our staffers when I got her talking about her dog, Brutus.

We also went back over to the U.S. House to watch them in session from the spectators’ gallery. One congressman was giving a floor speech on current events (not standing for the National Anthem, particularly at football games).

I reminded her that this is also where the State of the Union Address occurs each January, and then suggested that we go over to the Senate for the 5:30 p.m. scheduled vote so she could see the Senate in full action and see every senator. I even told her that watching the Senate vote was Mimi’s favorite thing to do in Washington.

Her response? An eye-roll, followed by, “But Mom, I see them vote on CSPAN all the time. All the do is walk up and cast their vote.”

Well, so much for that moment of glory.  But I’m not sure how many seven-year-olds would have given that particular response.

So, we took another trek via Uber, way down to our next highlight, the World War II monument. More history for Libby – with tales of her great-grandfathers’ direct contributions to the war efforts in the Pacific and Atlantic campaigns including in Europe and northern Africa. She heard the abridged tale of the liberation of Paris, and hopefully her visit in the summer to the Mighty Eighth Air Museum in Savannah helped her understanding just a little bit.

We sought shady spots several times during this visit, because it was sunny and quite warm on Monday.  And we took the shady lane down to the Lincoln Memorial next – honestly not that short of a walk, either.

At the Lincoln Memorial, her Daddy read her each of the inscriptions on the walls. We talked about the Civil War and ideals of our form of government.  Who knows how much she took in? Hopefully when she studies these topics more in school, some of this trip will help history feel more “alive.”

We continued our monuments tour down to the Korean Memorial, which by the way, is particularly neat at nighttime.

And then, we went to one that none of us had ever been to, our newest memorial for Martin Luther King Jr.  Our memorials never cease to amaze me. The creativity and through that goes into every detail is so impressive. And yes, we read her every one of the quotes on the pillars and walls. I think she mentioned that they sounded like church! 

But she really was getting tired, so we took a little break on a bench on the Potomac River Basin to appreciate the views and chat a little more about the next monument: the FDR Memorial.

In the spirit of “Georgia ties,” we told her about the Little White House in Warm Springs, Ga., and what brought the president there with therapy for his polio.

Oh my at the discussion THIS set off. Libby: “What is polio?” “How did he get polio; was he born with it?” “How do you prevent polio?” “We get vaccines now? So if someone sat down next to me with polio, then I wouldn’t get it?” Oh they went on and on. And yes, we talked a little bit about his actual presidency too – especially as we walked through the memorial and each term of office.

Most of the fountains there were unfortunately not working, but it was almost poetic, because the last one – at the end of WWII – was flowing freely!

I assured Libby that she would especially like this memorial because of Falla, and I was right on. She said it was indeed her favorite.

By the time we wrapped up there, you can see that she was worn out and in need of another reviving food opportunity.

So, we headed back up to Union Station to show her that sight!

Dinner was finally settled - Shake Shack - where she could get a hot dog and a chocolate cookies & cream milkshake! Plus, there was a foosball table. Suddenly, thanks to all the food and sugar, she had enough energy to play Daddy!

We also went to watch the trains head out. And on a Monday evening, it was hustling. And people were sure hustling to catch their trains home, too. We watched a number of folks literally running to catch their trains.

After that, we decided it was time to introduce Libby to the real subway -- the Metro! We even got to transfer trains. She really enjoyed that part, too!

And walked almost the whole back back to our hotel from our stop. Go Libby!

We had to get serious about getting to bed, too. Tuesday morning was going to be EARLY!