White House Tour

On Saturday, Bob, Nathan , and Luke had the opportunity to take a tour of the White House. A friend of a friend set up the whole thing, which is quite a hassle now, due to all the security measures since 9/11. I remember just standing in a huge long line snaking for a block or 2 with my family when I was in jr. high (with Mom talking about zoos and USAFA to strangers. LOL!!!), but all that is no more. Now you have to apply about 6 months in advance, then you have to send in names, SSNs, birthdates, etc. for everyone in the party. You get a specific time to come in, and then once you have gone through the security checkpoint, you are basically on your own. It's a self-guided tour! There are lots of Secret Service people in the various rooms to answer questions, but they don't volunteer information.

Nathan is going to be our guest blogger today, telling you his impressions of the President's house. First off, he said it was very big. It was also very colorful--lots of colorful rugs, furniture, and wall coverings--and there were also a lot of lights, like chandeliers and big candles. Nathan liked the East Room, which was where they have balls and ceremonies, because it was so very big. It was also pretty much empty, except for some carpets. This was also Luke's favorite room because it had a really big chandelier and also a big picture of George Washington. That is the famous picture that Dolley Madison saved when the British burned the White House down in 1814. The Blue Room was very nice and colorful, especially because of all the gilded furniture in there. One really neat thing they experienced was the President flying overhead in his helicopter, getting back from his physical! It's not the same as meeting him, but it's still a lot closer than most of us will get to the President! Overall, Nathan said it was an interesting tour, and he was glad he got to go.

As they were going through with Christine (the friend) and her 2 oldest kids (I kept her youngest and our youngest at our house) , they were telling the boys about how Washington did not want to live in a mansion, like the king of France (there was a picture of Versailles on display), but he did want it to be a house that commanded respect for the position. At that point, a complete stranger walked up and said, right in front of all the boys, "I don't know why you're bothering to tell them all that. They'll never remember any of it. I have 2 teenagers, and they don't remember anything they've ever learned." Bob and Christine just sort of stared, open-mouthed, at her rudeness, and she walked off, but I really thought that was absolutely amazing! I'm sorry she didn't make history very interesting for her kids, but that doesn't mean that everyone else is repeating her mistakes! on the same note, we went out to Chevy's on Monday night (kids eat free then!!), and Nathan said, "Hey look! They have decorated the walls with images of the Mayan sun god!" I turned to Bob and said, "Hey, I thought they would never remember anything I taught them!"