T+6 days: Friday

Whoa. Busy day - and we're not even done! Today was originally supposed to be our pre-arranged, tour-guided tour of D.C., but because they were first off going to tour the Capitol, which we had already done, we left them to go out on our own. Before we left them, we did take these photos in front of the Capitol, however.

A statue of Ulysses S. Grant - the second-largest horse statue in the world

The Capitol

The first place "The Star-Spangled Banner" was sung

 Then, at the Museum of Crime and Punishment, we got locked in a pillory...

Me in a pillory

Elli in a pillory

 ...and then, 800 years later, got put in the Cochise County Jail.

Me in jail

Elli in jail

Then, in another exhibit, we learned about the CSI process - here's the crime scene.

The crime scene

Then, we went to the National Museum of American Art/National Portrait Gallery to eat and explore a bit.

The ballroom/rotunda where Lincoln had his inaugural ball

An interpretive art piece

 Then, we went to the Capitol and met Representative Mike Pence.

Elli, me, and Representative Pence (and a rare sighting of Dad in a picture)

Rep. Pence and me

Then, on the way back to the hotel, we saw this sign.

Taxation Without Representation Street

I'm about to go off to the Awards Banquet, so there will be more pictures and information...well...in the next paragraph.

- About 5 hours later -

As promised, in the next paragraph, here is Awards Banquet information. So we, after arriving back at the hotel, got changed really quickly and headed to the banquet. Here are some photos and comments.

Elli and me in our banquet garb

 The spellers sit at separate tables than the parents and family.

Me at my table at the Banquet

Elli and Dad at their table

 After an opening speech, the presentation of colors by the United States Joint Armed Forces Color Guard, and the national anthem by the United States Marine Band Brass Quintet, we ate and then Ken Jennings, famous Jeopardy! player, gave the keynote speech.

Ken Jennings speaking

 Then the finalists were honored and given their prizes.

The 2011 Scripps National Spelling Bee Champion, Sukanya Roy and her trophy

One last photo of the Spelling Bee stage

The Spelling Bee after-party

At the after-party, cookies and punch were served and I got (drumroll, please) a signed copy of Ken Jennings' Trivia Almanac!

So now it's late on Friday night, our last full day in our nation's capital. I'll set foot on Hoosier soil tomorrow. That's about all. Catch you on the flip side!