Visitors and visited

It's fun to have visitors. The company is great and it spurs me on to do other things, too.

Some friends of ours spent time this whole week at our place. They had a huge list of sights to see, and I think they must have seen the majority of them! They were really busy.

I was lucky enough to be able to join them on some things. Some of what I saw I have seen before and some I haven't.
I went to the "Crime and Punishment Museum" -- good but a little disturbing, too. I don't like anyone getting hurt or being taken advantage of and that's what criminals are all about, right?

We visited the National Archives and saw the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights, and the first drafts of the first Amendments to the Constitution, and as a bonus, one of the original copies of the Magna Carta that is the beginning of the system of English Common Law upon which our system is based, (and it is almost 800 years old). The great thing about seeing these things is not the things themselves, (old pieces of paper), but it's like being in the presence of greatness. Ideas in physical form. And those ideas have endured for generations and proven to be good.
Thanks to my friends, I was able to go to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. It was really interesting to see the $100 bills being made. It was a pretty amazing site but also just like any other factory I have been in. Kind of reminded me of other factories I have been in or worked in and how most of the time we just use or consume whatever it is and don't even think about what came before it came into our hands. One of the workers was having a little fun with us and tossed up to the viewing window a brick of $100 bills about the size of a large book while holding a sign asking if anyone wanted $100,000 dollars. Don't worry, he was completely closed off from us and technically it doesn't become official currency until it passes into the possession of The Fed and is authorized.
We also visited Mount Vernon, George Washington's home. It was interesting to see everything and reflect on our founding fathers. I am always amazed to walk in places where important people also walked many years ago. One of my favorite parts was walking through the woods at the estate. It was beautiful and the view over the Potomac was beautiful, too.
We also went to Jefferson Memorial and Roosevelt Memorial and walked around the Tidal Basin and saw the beginnings of the cherry blossoms. I really like some of the Jefferson quotes; I think they are really inspiring. With only a few small changes, he wrote the Declaration of Independence, which is definitely amazing. I'll end with one of the quotes at the memorial: "Well aware that the opinions and belief of men depend not on their own will, but follow involuntarily the evidence proposed to their minds; that Almighty God hath created the mind free, and manifested his supreme will that free it shall remain by making it altogether insusceptible of restraint; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments, or burthens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion . . . No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship or ministry or shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but all men shall be free to profess and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion. I know but one code of morality for men whether acting singly or collectively."