Field Trips and Camping

These past couple weeks have flown by! I only have a week left of my internship and it feels like I just got here! 

Last weekend, Caitlin, Laura, Stephanie (a soon to be co-worker of mine) and I went camping on Assateague Island--where the wild horses are. We made the 3 hour drive form DC and through Maryland and crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, an almost 4.5 mile long bridge over the Bay. We had enjoyed the road trip down, but the fun really started once we got to the island. We set up our tent on the sand just over the dunes from the ocean.

Then we went kayaking in the bay. It was Steph and I's first time kayaking. We rented the kayaks for an hour and got the basics of turning (basically how to kayak in a straight line and not in circles) down in about 45 minutes. Needless to say, we're going to need some serious lessons if we want to take up serious kayaking :)

We also got to see some of the wild horses!

After kayaking, we checked out the beach. It was my first time seeing the Atlantic Ocean (apparently seen the harbor in Boston doesn't count). It was so pretty!

After we got back from the ocean, we made dinner and s'mores over the fire. We stayed up late and watched the stars come out (the first stars we had seen since moving to DC!). We slept in the tent that night and got rained on...so we got the true camping experience :)

We also took a trip to Mt. Vernon during the week for work. Mt. Vernon was the estate of George Washington, and Washington and his family are buried there. While not as cool as Monticello, Mt. Vernon was pretty neat!

The plantation sits right on the Potomac. Washington could boat down to Alexandria and DC from his house!

Sheep! Washington kept sheep on the estate and so they have a ton around for visitors to see.

Washington's tomb

The sign says, "Animals George Washington Never Saw" Sarah's response, "This girl."

Washington built an 18 sided barn that apparently was very innovative for the time, though not enough for it to really catch on. I mean, how many 18 sided barns have you seen? I'm not sure what the advantage was over the traditional 4 sides or why you wouldn't just build a circle barn but I guess he thought it was cool.

When I'm not traipsing around the countryside, I am actually working. My big projects recently have been working on prepping one of my bosses for a debate on Medicare reform. It was fascinating to learn about and my work paid off. He did really well at the debate and got lots of complements on his arguments! I've also been working on writing a first draft of a paper on a charter school system in New York City. It's been a slow process, but it has been fun to learn about and is a topic I'm really passionate about, which makes the whole writing process easier.

Also this week, I found a place to live! I'm leasing a 3 bedroom townhouse about 15 blocks from the Capitol with two other girls. My roommates are Steph, the other staff assistant for Sen. Thune from Millbank and graduate of USD, and Libby, who does medical research in Maryland and graduated from Franciscan in     Steubenville. We signed a lease for a year and get to move in tomorrow!

Like I said this week is my last week of work. I fly back to Kansas for graduation and senior week at BC on Saturday. I'm really excited to see everyone!!! After graduation, I'll be driving home for a week and then driving my car back to DC so I can start work in Sen. Thune's office on the 23rd!

Needless to say it will be a busy couple of weeks. I plan on continuing my blog as I move over to my new job, so I'll keep you posted on my life out here in our nation's capitol!

Roadtrips

These past two weeks have been very full! Pam and the family went to Tennessee last weekend for Spring Break so I held down the fort at home and at work. Last weekend, Caitlin, Laura and I went to Arlington National Cemetery. It was beautiful there thanks to the off and on rain we had had the past couple of days. We saw the Kennedy graves, the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and took a tour of Lee's house. There were reenactors at Lee's house doing Civil War dances. It was really cool to visit with them and watch their performance.

Sunday, I drove up to Baltimore to visit Harry, who was in Baltimore doing interviews for a grad program. It was a really nice drive up, not a lot of traffic and some really nice scenery. It was so good to see him and catch up on what everyone's lives back at school. It was great to see a familiar face too after so long in the "big city"!! I can't wait to go back for graduation!

While Pam was out of the office, Matt and I were "in charge." The building is still standing, so we must not have done too bad of a job :)
I spent the week looking for housing. I'm hoping to find an affordable place within walking distance of work. I'm also hoping that that is realistic! So far I've not had any luck, so I will be continuing my search this week.
The weather here has been fantastic. We took advantage of sunny, warm days this week by eating outside whenever we could. We also spent an evening sitting on the grass by the Capitol taking in the sun and the scenery.
We had a half-day at work on Friday for Good Friday. We spent our free afternoon hiking in Maryland. I had a blast! We hiked along the C&O canal and the Potomac River. It was really pretty. The trail was called the Billy Goat Trail, and for good reason. Most of the trail was rock scrambling. It was a fantastic way to celebrate a free afternoon.

  On Saturday we went to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home. It was by far my favorite place we have visited so far. It's out in rural Virginia, so Caitlin and I played horses and graveyards on the way. At Monticello we were able to go on three tours. One of the grounds, which were full of flowers and trees, some even planted by Jefferson. We also got to see the vegetable gardens Jefferson kept. Apparently 330 different types of vegetables were grown on the plantation! I guess then you would have lots of options on how you were going to get your five servings a day! Then we went on a tour of the first floor of Monticello (they wouldn't let us go up stairs to see the secret billiard room in the dome). It was full of artifacts from Louis and Clark's expedition, paintings and books owned by Jefferson and original furniture. It was really cool. We also got to look through the cellar portion of the house where the kitchen and wine and beer cellars were. We took a short break to practice our penmanship with a quill and ink and lounge on the huge lawn. Jefferson leveled the top of the mountain Monticello sits on to create the nice lawn we sat on. They removed 30 feet off the mountain to make it level! Quite a feat with no machines. Then we went on a tour of the slave quarters on Monticello and heard a little bit about the enigma of Jefferson's character, that he firmly believed in the equality of people, that they were endowed with inalienable rights and that slavery had the potential to wreck havoc on the nation if it was allowed to continue, yet kept slaves himself, only officially freeing two slaves, probably his own children, in his will. It was fascinating.

Jefferson's grave. He listed his accomplishments on it. It says, "Here was buried Thomas Jefferson Author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom and Father of the University of Virginia." What is interesting, though, is what it does not mention. Jefferson had a low opinion of his tenure as a statesman, so he purposely left out the fact that he was ambassador to France, the first Secretary of State and President for two terms.

 Nice seal

 The vegetable gardens and the view! You can see for more than 50 miles! Jefferson's plantation was 5,000 acres.

 Writing with a quill.

 Tulips are apparently a Mid-Atlantic staple.

 The tree on the left (not yet leafed out) was planted by Jefferson.

Someone wanted to build a development on the mountain opposite of Monticello. The group that runs Monticello wasn't a big fan of the idea, so they bought the mountain. Now they host 5k runs up the mountain. Not any 5ks running down though.

This week is going to be another busy one! Were going to Mt. Vernon, Washington's home, on Tuesday. Speakers this week include Condoleezza Rice and John Stossel. I will also be working on saving Medicare, advocating against debilitating regulations from the Labor Department and researching ways to fix the education system. So, you know, a light week :)

We are also planning a weekend camping trip to Assateague Island, where the wild ponies live, for later this month, so there will be lots of great stories to share in the days to come!

This Week

It was a busy week at work. Between budget proposals, gearing up for the Supreme Court case on the healthcare bill, and the Pope's visit to Cuba, we had a lot of stuff going on. One of the perks at work is being able to attend lectures from a wide variety of people on a wide variety of topics.
I thought I would share some information with you on what I learned this week.
On Wednesday, I went to a talk by Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. As the son of Cuban immigrants, Rubio came to talk about the impact technology would have on the regime in Cuba. His assertion was that if wifi access were available to the people of Cuba, the regime would topple in days because the Cuban people would be able to communicate with each other.
If you want to watch Sen. Rubio's speech, here's the link to the entire program: http://bcove.me/h3g64n1j.
On Thursday, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin came to talk about his budget proposal. Not knowing a whole lot about the budget, I learned a lot. The Ryan Budget cuts spending and works to decrease the debt. A big part of decreasing the debt is reforming entitlements-Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security as well as welfare reform. Ryan has also proposed reforming the tax code. His plan would simplified the tax code by creating two tax brackets and not raising taxes on small businesses. The most insightful comment, in my opinion, that Rep. Ryan made had to do with rethinking the safety net that the federal government provides to help people that fall into poverty. He said, "...is the goal here to treat the symptoms of poverty--to make it easier to live with or is the goal here to go to the root causes of poverty and eradicate it? I deeply believe in the preferential option for the poor, but what that means to me is that getting people out of poverty and coming up with ideas and solutions that put them on a path to self-sufficiency." Overall, it was a very thought-provoking discussion. If you want to watch the whole discussion, here's the link http://bcove.me/nbvzn0c9
If you are like my some-what skeptical brother, and want specifics on what these reforms look like I encourage you to check out the YouTube videos the House Budget Committee put together. The first one can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xwv5EbxXSmE&feature=relmfu
My last event of the week was a speech by Sen. John Barrasso on Obamacare and the Supreme Court case that will begin tomorrow. As an orthopedic surgeon, Sen. Barrasso has a unique perspective on the impact Obamacare will have, and already has had on the healthcare system in this country. Obamacare will be especially bad for rural areas, like Wyoming, where Barrasso is from, because it many doctors will no longer be able to afford to treat Medicare and Medicaid patients. In rural areas, this would place a huge hardship on those patients because they will have to drive long distances to see a doctor.
There were many other things that Sen. Barrasso discussed. If you want to watch the whole speech, here's the link http://bcove.me/s8wsdpvt
Hopefully you'll find these just as interesting and informational as I did!
Also, here's some more pictures of cherry blossoms. We have had rain of and on all week so everything is green and blooming!

Cherry Blossoms

Hordes of people have descended upon the capitol to see the cherry blossoms bloom. It is really beautiful here right now. Everything is green and the flowers are coming up.
This weekend was somewhat laid back. Saturday we made homemade pizza, which was a huge hit here. Then Caitlin, Laura, Kate and some of her friends and I went shopping. Then we went to a movie. It was a thoroughly relaxing day.
On Sunday I went into the city and Caitlin and I biked down to the Tidal Basin to see the cherry blossoms. There were people everywhere (and the festival has not even started yet)! We got some good pictures and then moved on to less exciting places. :) I then met up with Theresa, John Paul and Michael for Vespers at the Basilica. Theresa then gave me a tour of the Basilica and we went to dinner at the seminary. It was great to see  and catch up with some great South Dakota people!
I've been really busy at work. Both the President's budget and the Republican response came out this week so I have spent some time reading up on these proposals. I have also been doing some research on health care and education.

The Basilica

Some pictures from the American History Museum. This is President Washington--or god-Washington--whichever you prefer. 

We all got a feel for the presidential podium. 

This colorful shirt belonged to one of the 20th century presidents. Can you guess who?

Cherry blossoms and the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.

Gaston's chair--at the Portrait Gallery. 

the Basilica and cherry trees