Wednesday-August 23

Yesterday we traveled from New York to Washington DC. We took the Greyhound here and it wasn’t that bad. There was this Hispanic boy/young adult who was sitting in front of us with his girlfriend and he would not stop looking back at me. He would look behind his shoulder throughout the trip, at least 50 times (no exaggeration) and just stare at me for a few seconds. It wasn’t like he was checking me out, but it was just weird. He would just stare at me and sometimes I stared right back to let him know to turn around. Usually if you are staring at someone and they see you staring at them you turn away and don’t do it again. He never got the point and he continued to stare at me. He really started to bother me so after about the 30th time he stared at me I made it very obvious and put my sweatshirt over my face so he couldn’t see me. I almost had Jared change seats with me. Once we arrived in DC he stood up and turned around one more time before getting off the bus and stared. I was glad I never had to see him again. When we got into the greyhound station we had someone ask if we needed a taxi, which we did so I said yes. They led us to a really nice car, not a taxi, and when we asked how much it was going to be the man wouldn’t straight up tell us. It was kind of upsetting because he took us the long way and told us it was 7 1/2 mile (while on Mapquest it was only 6) and he was not telling us how much. It turned out ok only costing $25. We didn’t give him a tip because he would not tell us how much it was going to be and it was more than it should have been. We can play that game too Mr. Taxi man! After getting settled in we went across the street to a Mexican Restaurant, which was good. They had good authentic food. The rest of the evening we got brochures and started to make plans for our visit.

This morning we took the metro to DC and it was amazing how the station was so clean unlike New York. There was no trash, the seats were padded, it was very cool in the station and it was just all around nice. We started the morning off by going to the Lincoln Memorial, WWII memorial and then to the Washington Monument. It was neat to go up in the Washington Monument and see out over DC. We saw the White House, and past it a few miles was the DC temple. After that we needed lunch, but in downtown DC they don’t have food anywhere. So we asked a man and he told us there was a cafeteria not too far away in an office building, so we ate there. I was surprised they didn’t have restaurants or fast food, but then again it wouldn’t fit into the area. We figured it was because it is a historical area, so to have a McDonalds wouldn’t look too good because it wouldn’t fit in. After that we spent a few hours at the Holocaust Museum, and that was interesting but very sad. I don’t really like to see that kind of stuff because it doesn’t make you feel happy after seeing it. We then went to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, FDR memorial, and finally the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. We got to see where and how our money is made. It was interesting to see that and I think that would be a great job: one sheet for America, two for me. We walked all over today and we covered a lot. It was neat walking around the city and seeing so many historical monuments.