Free at Last. They Took Your Life. They Could Not Take Your Pride.

Stinky listening intently to President Lincoln.

Wednesday was a good day too. We decided to go check out Ford's Theater. its' free, but if you buy your tickets on-line, it costs $3 per person. We did that and were very glad we did. We also went on the first tour at 9, which happened to be another good idea.

We walked to the theater from Union Station, got there around 8:45 and there was already a line. They let us in, we picked up our tickets at Will Call and headed into the museum part. There were many videos and posters and information about Lincoln's presidency, the Civil War and John Wilkes Booth's plot to first kidnap him and then the change to kill President Lincoln instead.

We wandered around and learned so much and then headed to the theater for the presentation.

At first I thought, uh oh. A ranger standing on the stage and talking? Could be a regular snooze fest. Luckily, I was wrong. The ranger did get up on the stage and talk to us about what happened with Lincoln's assassination, but he was entertaining and informative and he told us fun details about how Grant was supposed to go with Lincoln, but Grant's wife couldn't stand Mrs. Lincoln, so they had to make up an excuse to get out of it.

After the presentation, they take you across the street to see the house where Lincoln died. there is another post death museum there and they talk about the manhunt for John Wilkes Booth and how delusional he was.

After we got done at Ford's Theater, we headed to Starbucks for caffeine and croissants before we went to the zoo.

I finally got a to see a live panda! Stinky wanted to see giraffes but we were told they were all in Florida for the Winter. What are they? Retirees?

We had a good time at the zoo. We all agreed that the reptile area was our favorite. We saw a snake eating another snake. EW!, but cool.

We went to the rain forest area for just a little minute, as there were birds just flying around and Coadster finds birds creepy. You can see her on the left of this photo keeping a safe distance.

We finally ate lunch and then headed to the National Gallery. We saw lots and lots of religious art and some other cool exhibits.

I'm a fan of the Impressionists, so we checked some of their paintings too. Right as the museum was closing and we were getting ready to leave, we found there was a whole other building to see. We would try to check it out the next day...Our last day in town.

We headed over to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. It was very well done.

While we were there, we saw a man with his daughter who was about 6 or 7. They went to each quote, his daughter read it and her dad asked her what she thought it meant. Then he talked to her about the meaning. Mostly about coming at the world with love, and fighting for justice and civil rights for yourself and everyone else who is being oppressed. It was so sweet and powerful, that the girls and I were close to tears.

On the way back, we stopped at what I believe was the World War I Monument? It was simple but pretty at night.

Then we went to dinner at an old firehouse. It was good for the most part, but the mussels on my seafood pizza were so overcooked I couldn't eat them. I tried, but they were like rubber. the rest of the pizza was good, though...

My friend Annie met us there. She lives in Virginia and is an activist and mom and an all around incredible woman. I met her on RAGBRAI a couple of years ago and I just love her. The girls had a great time talking to her too.

We headed home and cleaned watched another girl movie before bed. We went to bed early, so we could get up early and make the most of our last day in D.C.