With all of Connie and Dell's connections, Connie was able to arrange a Capitol Dome Tour... not just your average tour, but one that went up in between the original dome and the new dome.
If you look at the picture above, when they added on to the Capitol, the original dome looked way to small. So they constructed a new dome that fit over top of it so that when looking from the outside, it looked better. So, we climbed, if I remember right, approximately 20 something flights of stairs in all :o) ... in July... with no air conditioning or breeze... pregnant! :o) But we did it! And it was my favorite US Government thing we did! :o) .... So, you get LOTS of photos!
Our 1st "stop" was the 1st of the lower rings. You can't tell from looking up, but there is actually a 4 ft walk way around the whole dome. The photo above is looking down, and the photo below is looking up.
This photo is looking across and you can see the pathway that goes around the dome's circle.
Then we climbed higher. This is just one of the little center octagons that make up the upper part of the roof of the dome. This is the only one that opens and you (if you are tall enough) can peak your head out of the whole and look down out of the ceiling :o) I wonder what mind tricks that plays on someone looking up from the ground tour to see a head poke out of the ceiling :o)!!! Just this one little "hole" weighs over 100 lbs.!
... see below... he is lifting one of those little mauve colored centers :o)
Then we got to the upper dome. There is also a 4 ft walkway around the very top of the dome, right under the huge mural. By the time you climb clear up all those flights of stairs, and you are out of breath and then try to look over the edge ... I'm not scared of heights but it sure plays tricks on your head and you have to step back a minute and collect your barrings. Even looking up makes you dizzy!
All of these murals have a story and symbolism... but there is no way I can remember all of them that she told us and be able to get it right :o) You'll have to look it up :o) And I can't imagine laying on my back on scaffolding that high up for that amount of time either! That is amazing!!! Look that story up too!
Our tour guide showed a cool trick. She had us go on the opposite side of the dome and then she talked in a normal volume of voice and we could hear her way better than when we were standing beside her! When we were beside her, we had to shout over the noise of the crowd below, but she said to smile for the photo and we could hear her clear as a bell! :o)
Below, in the very center of the photo, is the one octagon that we lifted up. The is a little tiny speck (dot) of light that comes through, maybe like where a screw or bolt would go through. That's how you know where it is :o) They look so small on the ceiling yet each one is huge and weighs over 100 lbs. You would think the roof would be so heavy it would collapse but it is actually really safe and strong!
The last stop on the tour was the outside ring. We literally went above the original dome to the top of the new outside dome and looked over the city. The Capitol is in the center of the city and everything shoots off of that. It was really cool to see the entire panorama of the city!
The only thing above us is the very top :o)
Our tour guide, after getting back down... so hot!!!!!
With Dell previously being CSM of the Utah National Guard, he wanted to visit his friend General Tate. He works at the Pentagon and is the Deputy JAG for the entire US Army (which for me and probably some of you...means he is the 2nd in command Legal Attorney of the entire army) He was so nice and talked and talked about everything. He asked questions about when our baby was due and how many kids we had and when we left, he even remember my due date and wished me luck :o)
We weren't allowed to take pictures on the tour of the Pentagon, but they took us through some of it and around the entire outer ring! That is a long walk! Each side of the 5 sides is dedicated to a certain part of the army (Guard, Navy, Army, etc) All of our feet ached when we finished that tour! One really cool part was he took us to the exact spot where the plane hit and there is a Memorial room there and showed a map of where the building was damaged and who was killed, injured, or not present at the time of the attack. It was really interesting! George (our tour guide in the picture) said that if the plane would have hit any where else in the Pentagon it would have done so much more damage, but this particular spot had just been completely reinforced and the people were just moving back their offices when the attack occurred, so a lot of the employees were away from the desks and still setting up there offices. But the reinforcement stopped the plane from going through much more of the building and collapsing even more of the surrounding building.
We also got to meet Senator Hatch in his office, we were going to go me Jason Chaffetz but ran out of time and the kids had all met him before and helped with campaign parades for him and stuff, so we had to pass on that. But Dell works for him and Connie was a huge part of him being elected and we were able to meet all of his staff and that's how we got a lot of our opportunities to see things while in DC.
Next was the Lincoln Memorial.
The new Korean War Memorial. This was another one that Rich and I hadn't seen.
I kind of wish we could have been there a little earlier with better light so pictures could turn out a little better and you could see all of the soldiers faces. Below is the wall that goes with it. It was really cool too.
And below is the Vietnam Memorial. The kids were amazed at all of the names!
That concludes day 3 of our trip! What amazing adventures we were able to have! I don't think the kids understand all the things that they were able to see and do! A huge thank you to Dell and Connie because it would have just been a normal trip to DC with out all of their contributions to our Country and Government!
Day 4: ... White house tour! :o)
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