Last week I went on a family trip to Philadelphia and Washington D.C.  And while my roommates (i.e., my parents) generously paid for everything, I was surprised to find how much you could do around our nation’s capitol on a budget. Due to some Internet finagling, we stayed in a much nicer hotel than I was used to. They don’t usually have chandeliers at Holiday Inn. Also, the folded toilet paper was a little off-putting. The great public transportation system allowed us to get across D.C. for far cheaper than a taxi. A subway ride from our hotel to the National Mall was only $1.25. Once we got there, practically everything was free. I missed out on the Spy Museum, but toured two of the eighteen Smithsonian Museums, all of which had free admission. I also got to check out the National Portrait Gallery, containing this great portrait of Ice-T. In the middle of touring these sites, a great place to grab a quick bite to eat are cafeterias underneath most congressional offices. These eateries cater to broke aides and pages, and the savings are passed on to you. Many museums also have cafeterias, but are far more expensive. Before leaving, my roommate (I call her Mom) set up a free tour of the Capitol building with our Congressman. This was really interesting because we got to view areas unavailable to a normal tourist. For instance, one room in the Capitol building held statues of important people chosen by each state. One such southern state chose Robert E. Lee, but in the wake of the Civil War this wasn’t exactly cool. A compromise was made. Lee’s statue had to be shorter than all the rest. The sculptor compensated for this by making its base several times larger, so Lee’s statue looked just as tall as the rest. Those crazy sculptors… --Cody