Day 348 (President Obama)

Today did not originally start as planned. My mom and I woke up early, drove to the train station and waited for the train. Curious about the time, I reached for my phone. I didn't have my phone! AHHHHH! We were supposed to go to the White House to watch President Obama fly off in Marine one and I was supposed to call my friend James who works there to let him know when we arrived.

I briefly contemplated just trying to figure it out without my phone, but since we were so early, we had enough time to go back to the hotel, pick up my phone, and still make it in time. So, we did that, and I was trying to not get irritated with myself. We got on the train, rode it to the next stop, and transferred to the blue line. Guess who was sitting literally one person away from my mom? It was James! Is that weird or what? We got on the exact train that he was on, in the exact car that he was in! And, it was all because I forgot my phone! In a city the size of Washington, what are the chances of that happening? God really does work in mysterious ways!

So, we all walked together to the White House, went through 2 security check points and were finally waiting to be led out to the South Lawn, where Marine One was going to pick up Obama. After we were led out onto the field, we waited some more and of course took some more pictures... (I'm assuming you were all able to figure it out, but just incase you didn't, the guy standing next to my is my friend James.)

This random dude in the middle is James' friend Cody who was also there to watch Obama get picked up by Marine One.

Finally, the helicopter arrived! (My camera did some trippy stuff with the helicopter blades because they were spinning so fast.)

When it landed, a marine popped out to open the doors. (I know the pictures are a little blurry, but the 2nd & 3rd pictures really are different.)

There was more waiting, and again, more pictures...

And then, Obama was walking to the helicopter! (With some other guy, but I have no idea who the other guy was O_o) That's me mum waving in the foreground, LOL.

Followed by the entourage...

And then, as promised, Marine One flew away.

At the same moment, the decoy helicopter flew past, and they were off! (It's that helicopter in the background)

Since we were already at the White House, we did the public White House tour, but they don't let you take pictures inside, so all I have to show you is the front of the house once we exited.

Then, we walked towards the Jefferson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorials, stopping at the Washington Monument along the way...

This is my mom trying to stop the Washington Monument from toppling over. (She doesn't look too happy about it.)

Jefferson Memorial...

FDR...

And, since I showed you the back of the statue at the Lincoln Memorial, here are the backs of Jefferson and FDR. (Note the little wheel on the bottom of the FDR statue to show that he was sitting in a wheelchair.)

Finally, we went back for the 3rd time to the National Museum of the American Indian to have lunch. This time it was deep fried frog legs, okra and green tomato salad, heirloom bean salad, pureed calabash squash, wild mushroom bread pudding and cheesecake XD (This was basically an appetizer, a desert and 4 sides and we shared everything, so it's not as much food as it sounds like, but it was still a lot!)

Since we had seen pretty much all we had intended to in the city, and we were tired of walking in the heat and humidity, we decided to end our day by watching Inception.

That movie is whacked loco nuts! Don't watch it if you have trouble following several simultaneous plot lines, but if you like that sort of thing, it is a great, imaginative and visually stunning film! The story line was almost too convoluted to follow, but not quite and the special effects were top notch! The only thing I have to complain about is that the acting wasn't quite up to snuff, especially considering who was in it, but very few movies can be perfect. I definitely recommend this, two thumbs up!

PICTURE OF THE DAY: