DC and Back Again--Day Two

Ahhhh. It's so nice to wake up in your own bed and house after being away. It doesn't matter how enjoyable your trip was, Dorothy was right-on when she said "there's no place like home." (although I will say I do miss the room service coffee that was brought up to me in a silver pot. that rocked.)

Day 2 of our Washington DC adventure was basically a 'free day', as the actual shooting of the commercials didn't start until the next. They wanted Vivian there early for her to have the fittings and meetings with Barbara, so the great thing was that she had that day to do some sight-seeing. Even though she wasn't on set, Vivian was still under SAG guidelines to have some 'school time', however. Thankfully Lorena agreed with our thinking (and Vivian's teacher's, as well) that taking in the educational opportunities that are abound in that city would definitely quality as learning! So at 10:30 Lorena met Vivian and I in the lobby for just that. She had Vivian pick 2 things that she wanted to see the most, and she chose the National Aquarium and the Holocaust Museum. (you gotta love that about my girl.) Obviously even an entire week isn't enough time to see everything!

Our hotel was in a great location, definitely walking distance to the Whitehouse. We started off there, before we went to the nearby Aquarium. At first look the Aquarium was not all that impressive, both Vivian and I agreed. Even our Discovery Bay at the Minnesota Zoo seemed to have more to offer, as the Washington version consisted of only a semi-circle of small tanks in the dingy basement of a building. Upon a closer look, however, we ended up really enjoying our stay there. Since the tanks were so small, each one only had a few specific things inside them and the creatures were so easy to see. I saw things I've never seen before...mollusks, a four-eyed fish, a small red octopus...even two (dare I say cute?) alligators named Munchy and Crunchy.

After some lunch at a nearby food court we decided to jump onto the 'Tourmobile', a bus which takes you all around the sites. It's a very cool thing, as you can ride the entire way around which takes about 2 hours, and also have the option to jump on and off at any time to check out the various places. Since we didn't have much time left, we decided to try this to at least see what we could see. We got about 2 blocks, and then we were at the Holocaust Museum. Knowing this was something Vivian wanted to experience--and probably the one thing I wanted to do the most while I was there, as well--I suggested we at least hop off and just take a quick peek. Well, let's just say that one can not take a quick peek at the United States Holocaust Museum. We were probably there about 2 hours and still felt like we rushed through a lot. I was totally impressed with it, it was amazing. The main exhibit spanned three floors, you started at the top and worked your way down from how it all started to the liberation. Then it opened up into the Hall of Remembrance, where there was an eternal flame in the back center of a circular room, and all around candles one could light in honor and/or memory of a loved one. I held it together up until that point, it was quite emotional. Poor Lorena, I think we sort of took her through that against her will but she seemed genuinely glad she did it in the end. Not exactly an uplifting afternoon! Vivian and I picked up some cool necklaces that were made by a survivor, and I also bought a car mezuzah! :-) May We Never Forget, indeed.

Needless to say Lorena was way past her time (bless you, Lorena!) so we hustled back to the hotel. Vivian was to have her 'getting to know you' time with Barbara and we needed to get back for that. I left them to hang and went up to the room to meet up with Cory and Sullivan and hear about their day spent at the Mint and the Museum of Natural History. Anyone who knows Sullivan and his fascination with money and coins can only imagine how he was in his element at the Mint!! When Vivian returned Cory's friend Steve Tulk, who lives in DC, came to the hotel and we all went for dinner to the Old Ebbitt Grill. It was such a cool place! The food was great and it had a fun historic atmosphere. After eating, it was relaxing and having Vivian go through her lines for the next day--her first day of shooting! Coreman had drinks with Steve down in the lobby as the rest of us went to bed early--call time was an early 6:30 AM. I had planned to go with Vivian for her first day, Cory would go with her the second. Once again Sullivan was making DC the Windy City instead of the Capital City, and it took a while to settle him down so we could get some sleep!

Oh hey, I forgot to mention also that the night before Cory and Vivian went with a few of the Fallon folks to get some footage of the President's motorcade as he sped by for the State of the Union speech! I guess that was quite cool to see. Whew, all of the days and events are running together, even as it's fresh in my mind I'm still trying to remember what happened when.