How many 16 year olds get to wander the halls of Congress, in and out of Senator offices, where so much history has been made?
Not many I bet.
This is outside the Senate office that was occupied by John Kennedy.
We would like to say Ryan and Goose were asked to speak to the U.S. Senate, but this conference room was open so we shot the picture!
We all visited every Senator’s office where paws4vets had operations or business, told our story, introduced Goose, and asked for help. It was interesting, fun, we were very well received and helped on our way with recommendations and help where they could. The halls of the office buildings were very quiet as Congress is out of session with a lot of politicians home fighting for their political lives.
This week our goal was to visit the monuments and Congress to talk about p4v as our other events have slowed down a lot.
Yesterday the White House was on the list. You can’t even get close to the “house of the people” as there are armed guards out two blocks in a perimeter every 25 feet. Those are just the ones we saw.
We have enjoyed other less highly guarded places, although every single place we have been has security to make the airports blush.
The Thomas Jefferson memorial was really cool. After coming from the National Archives (documents like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution) reading about Jefferson’s life surely gave us a much greater appreciation of what the U.S. is about, and how we seem so close to losing it.
We have also visited the National Botanical Gardens, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, Union Station, the Senate Offices, and all the war memorials.
After our events Tuesday and Wednesday, given decent weather we are planning to sail the 12 miles upriver and anchor 5 blocks off the Mall so we can easily walk to the museums without having to worry about parking.
We have driven about 1500 miles in the rental car covering events from Aberdeen Proving Grounds north of Baltimore, over to Ft Fredrick in the middle of Maryland north of the city, and down into Virginia. Traffic is just awful. It sure will be nice to head south again at 6 mph and not have to worry about a billion other drivers, crazy roadways, one way streets etc.
We even found time to go to an air show in Leesburg and pass out lots of cards, Although it is hard to see, Goose was absolutely fascinated by the model planes flying upside down just 50 ft away from him. I really, really wanted to let him chase it down!
Meanwhile back at Yume, work on the boat has almost stopped. Shelly did finish the interior cushions and they look awesome!
I am making lists for things to do once we turn south and start moving again. Spreader lights, varnish, deck paint, rigging work etc.
Until then, we continue to focus on this opportunity to create as much difference as possible for the paws4people foundation by raising as much funding as we can.
