Illumination Tour- Wednesday night

After dinner at the Old Post Office, we picked up our tour guide and started our Illumination tour. We started at the World War II Memorial. This memorial had two arch ways that represented the Pacific and the Atlantic theaters of the war. There were columns for each state of the union and then a pool in the center.

From this spot you could see both the Lincoln Memorial (starting to "illuminate" as the sun got lower)

And the Washington Monument... which we took some fun pictures of.

Next was the Jefferson Memorial



On our way back to the bus, I caught a glimpse of the Washington Monument, I dashed down to the water to take the picture, hoping that the bus didn't leave with out me. (Next camera I get will take a little better night time shots, but I think this turned out pretty good.)

Our next stop was the Lincoln Memorial. This was probably the highlight of the Entire trip for me. I was very moved by it. I was taking the picture below of the Gettysburg address, when music started... something like angels singing... it was the Battle Hymn of the Republic... at first I thought that it was recorded, but I turned around and there was a choir of high school students (obviously just touring, not really performing) singing. It made tears come to my eyes. SUCH a beautiful moment!



When you are standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, this is your view.

We walked over to the Korean War Memorial. This was really lovely, but I wish we had gone during the day. The pictures on the wall were cool. The tour guide said that these were not pictures of people who had died in the war specifically. They were just random pictures gathered. He said that sometimes a Korean War Veteran will find his picture up on the wall.


We headed for the White house. We only ever drove by the South lawn (never stopping, I tried every time to get a picture, but never succeeded), but this was up to the front of the house (OK, as close to the front as you can get).


We got back on the bus and headed to the Kennedy Center for the Preforming Arts. See the Oregon Flag you Oregonians? Thought of you at that moment. (Even you traitorous Idahoans!)


After leaving the Kennedy Center, we dropped our tour guide off and headed back to the hotel. In bed by 11, Breakfast at 6:45.. have to leave early to try the Capitol Building tour again...