Pictures added to Gallery from Yesterday
check ealier post for pics
USA Science & Engineering Festival Day 3
Today began with everyone meeting in the lobby and taking the Metro to the nearest exit to the Capitol. Going the see the Capitol is just like getting through security at the airport, but with one other criteria, no food. After having cleared the entrance security we got to see the new tourist lobby. It was beautiful! We saw a great film that gave a brief history about the Capitol and then had a guided tour of some of the main rooms. They don’t let you see the senate or congressional chambers, but we did see the entrance to Nancy Pelosi’s office. The artwork in the rotunda was just fabulous! It was very cool to see the actual portrait of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It is bigger than I thought. The dome was very large and very ornate.
After having seen the Capitol, we decided that we had to stop by Senator Dick Durbin’s office for the work on the DREAM Act and for his advocacy of Oscar Vazquez, a former Falcon Robotics team member who was on the team that beat MIT in the underwater competition in 2004. While the senator was not in, we got to meet with some of his senior staff, Joe Zogby Chief Counsel to
Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin, and his assistant. It was wonderful to meet people who are very committed and who have been pushing for the DREAM Act for 9 years! Senator Durbin and his office were instrumental in helping Oscar to get back into the U.S. and we wanted to thank them for all their hard work. We were quite surprise that Joe knew who we were by name and knew our whole story. We always tell the kids at Carl Hayden that people all over the U.S. are watching us because of the stuff we are doing and its true! Here is a link to Senator’s Durbin’s webpage with Oscar on it, http://durbin.senate.gov/dream/stories/index2.cfm
After about a half hour of meeting with Durbin’s staff, we decided to visit McCain’s office to mention that we think he should support the DREAM Act. We left a letter with his office to pass on to the senior staff or McCain himself. Following our “civic homework” we decided it was time again to become tourists. We then ate Polish dogs from a hot dog stand. It was good! I know this has been said before, but it bears mentioning every time you do it. Hot dogs always taste really good outside, especially when its windy and chilly!
We went to the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum. Words cannot describe the feeling of seeing a V-2 Rocket or the Spirit of St. Louis, or the Wright Flyer, or the Apollo capsule, or the Gossamer Condor or even the Brietling Orbiter. It was like walking through an encyclopedia! We saw the astronaut mission photos and found Charles “Pete” Conrad’s picture several times and felt connected to him by having been in the Spirit of Innovation Awards and by knowing Nancy Conrad personally. It was really cool!
All the kids and Mrs. Palmares and I all felt hungry by now and wanted to eat before we had to get back on the Metro to head back to the Hotel. We walked over a mile to get to the middle eastern restaurant we wanted to eat at to find it closed. We then back tracked into China Town to eat at Absolute Tai,a tai restaurant. My dish was good, but some of the kids found it less than desirable. I have a feeling we will be ordering pizza tonight at the hotel.
Our plan for tomorrow is to hit the Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial and then head down the mall to see the USA Science & Engineering exhibits. We will also check out our stage area to see if our crates have arrived and are ready for our presentation on Sunday.
