February 28thI was so excited to go down to the National Mall and visit Washington D.C. One of the first photos I took was in front of the License plates on a car.
The plate has the Washington D.C. flag which is three red stars and two red lines that are in the middle of the numbers and letters on the plate. It is based on the design of the
coat of arms of the family of George Washington. Washington D.C went a century without having it's own flag. It was not until 1938 that they officially announced this design as the Districts flag.
You will see at the bottom of the plate is says Taxation without
Representation. "
No taxation without representation" was a saying in 1763 (wow that is over 200 years ago) that explained early colonists frustration with the men in charge in
Britain (also called British Parliament) that would make them pay taxes but didn't let them vote on different issues. The reason this is on the D.C.
license plate is because Washington D.C. does not have any Senators or Congressmen but still pay taxes.
The other thing they have all over the city are these
Zipcars. It is so neat. Many people that work in the city don't own a car because they have this awesome transportation called the metro. At times when they want to use a car they can go on the computer and look up a location of a
Zipcar. They get a special card that unlocks the car and inside is the keys. Then they can use the car around the city and go where ever they want but just need to return it back to the same spot they found it. I thought it was kind of amazing.
March 2, 2008
But I do have some bad news, don't worry Tyler it is not serious. I fell on the ice when playing with the kids and hurt my hip. Luckily the family I am staying with knew a great doctor and he was able to reposition my hip and patch it back up. I am doing much better.