Jason's parents came down today; it was so nice to see them! We had a rough time in traffic, but it was nice to have some time to talk. We had fried chicken for dinner. When Mom and I picked up the food, the cashier asked if we would like it to stay or to go. "Yes, the two of us plan to eat 14 pieces of chicken, 7 biscuits, french fries, coleslaw, and a gallon of soda." Yes, a gallon of soda. This is what a gallon of soda looks like:
I got to fill up the bag myself at the soda fountain and got some strange looks from other customers. I've never seen soda in a pouch before. Here are some other pictures that I've been meaning to post.
Me with the cherry blossoms!
The Jefferson Memorial with the cherry blossoms.
The Washington Monument with the cherry blossoms.
The lovely flowers I received for giving a stellar tour. 
It's been a good day.
It's been a good day. I almost forgot to write about our briefings! We heard from a really interesting guy in the morning; he is an Iranian blogger who talked about why the United States should care about democracy in Iran. He was engaging and interesting. Our second briefer was Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform. He was really sarcastic/irritating/dismissive. I expected him to be at least semi-reasonable...not so. One of the other employees there spoke for a few minutes after Mr. Norquist left, and he was more polite and logical (for the most part). It was kind of a frustrating experience.
Well, it's been a bit of a long day, so we are turning in. Tomorrow is just one week until we are back in Utah!
Ah, America's role in Iran's political system...did you go to Reza Aslan's talk at BYU? It was amazing and his point was basically that the U.S. should let Iran work democracy out for itself (he also told a delightful story about how an Iranian university student, when she found out he was an American citizen, asked him what it was like to live in a theocracy, because Bush's rhetoric was so loaded with references to God, and a vast percentage of the American populace consider themselves Christian...but it makes you think about how we perceive other cultures.) I highly recommend his book on Islam "No God But God." Sorry this talk of Iran really gets me going because I love Reza Aslan. I would marry him, even though he is going on fourty...
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