Wow, DC was extraordinarily fun! I did so many things, y'all. Talked to lots of people. I had a blast! I used to live in DC, so touring wasn't high on my list of things to do. But one of my roommates, the lovely Pamela Hearon, managed to finagle a tour of the Capitol for us. I've been in the Capitol many times, but it's so beautiful I was ready to go back. And I'm glad I did!

The day started in the Rayburn Office Building where we trekked to Pam's Congressman's office and dutifully turned over all our liquids, signed a guest book, met the Congressman, and took a photo with him. Yours truly even managed to give the man a bookmark. 😉 Hey, he asked why we were in town. I do have to say that he was wonderfully gracious considering all the ladies in the photo, with the exception of one, were from Alabama and couldn't ever vote for him if so inclined. Nice man, truly.
Photo with Jerry Costello

After our tour, several of the ladies split off for sightseeing while Pam, Kimberly Lang, and I went to lunch at a place called Bullfeather's just down the street from the House office buildings. (Lunch was on the Marriott, btw. We were asked to stay in another hotel for one night and given quite a nice incentive to do so: a free room, cab fare, and $100 cash.) Later that evening, we all met up again and went to the Occidental to celebrate Kira Sinclair's birthday. A quick walk to the White House, and then we were headed back to our hotels for the night.

That's the end of Day One in DC. Tomorrow, I'll tell you about my presentation at the Chapter Leadership Seminar and my experience at my very first Literacy Autographing!

One more thing: today, I'm also blogging over at Kate Walker's blog. She's giving away a tote of signed books! Come say hi!