We took our Georgia teens to Washington D.C. as a special trip.
Before we went, I studied a Frommer’s travel guide. We meticulously planned out the trip to cover as many of the major sights as possible.
One of the things we certainly wanted to see was the U.S. Capitol building. As we approached the entrance, we found that the line was about 500 people deep. Our itinerary didn’t allow for such a wait, not that we would have wanted to wait for so long.
Then I remembered. The Frommer’s guide had mentioned an underground trolley that ran from a nearby Senate building to the Capitol. We found the building and made it through security. Once inside, we found the elevator banks, entered and pressed the button for the basement. Once the doors opened, we found ourselves in a large open area with a Capitol policeman at the head of queue of about thirty people.
These people were all official D.C. types with security badges and briefcases and in walks this group of teenagers that didn’t belong at all. A couple of people even tried to tell us that we couldn’t use it, but I had learned otherwise and the policeman had our back.
So we ride this trolley for just a couple of minutes and the ride ends. We start following the crowd because we had no idea where we were or where we were to go. It was a basement with old block walls and pipes running overhead. We found the elevators and took them up to the main floor. When the doors opened, we were staring straight ahead into the rotunda of the Capitol. I walked over to the doors where the daylight was shining through. Looking out, I saw the same line of 500 we had seen earlier. Doing our homework turned a two hour wait into a ten minute adventure.
I’ve been back since, but the trolley is no longer available to the public since the 9/11 disaster.
Maybe someday I’ll tell about stealing the Declaration of Independence and finding a map on the back that led to a great treasure.
Joel Stiff's Adventure 