White House tour

After a late night arrival and a real hunt for something for dinner, we got settled into the hotel for some rest before a busy day.  Our White House tour was scheduled at 8:30 am.  

[I had contacted my local member of Congress a month in advance to arrange the booking.  Unfortunately, you have very little control over the time for which your tour is scheduled.  You simply tell them what days you are available.  Given the holiday weekend and my conference obligations, I had no fully open days, so I simply listed all the days we would be in DC and hoped for the best.  Unfortunately, one of my two conference obligations was also scheduled for 8:30 am on the same day!]

So...my family toured the White House without me.

There were of course no pictures allowed inside (and no water bottles, no backpacks, purses or other bags of any kind - and no baggage check anywhere).  So my family went in with their phones alone, then returned to the hotel to pick me up and to get the necessaries to spend a day exploring the city (water, snacks, books, etc)

Delaney's favorite part of the visit was to learn more about the Presidential pets.  She had a self guided tour booklet that told about John Quincy Adam's alligator, Coolidge's raccoon, and Jefferson's two bear cubs that he got from Lewis and Clark.  There was no guide, but the security staff would answer questions.  There was no opportunity to see the residential or working parts, just the large functionary rooms for receptions.