The story of a thirty-something girl trying to make things happen in Washington, DC.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

So You Wanna Be a Tour Guide?

As you may recall, I have recently taken on the challenge of becoming an official D.C. tour guide. There is an official licensing exam in my future and I have been studying like a good little tour guide. I thought you might get a kick out of the kind of information I am filling my head with. Here is a brief sampling of random D.C. trivia:
1. How many animals are at the National Zoo? (3,600) Name them. (Just kidding)
2. What was unusual about streetcars operating on Washington streets? (They had no overhead wires)
3. How many bathrooms are in the White House? (35)
4. Which president gave the shortest inaugural speech? (Washington--133 words)
5. Who was the first president to be born in a hospital? (Jimmy Carter)
6. What state capitol building is taller than the U.S. Capitol? (Austin, Texas)
7. On the Marine Memorial (a.k.a. Iwo Jima), how many quarts of water could the soldiers' canteens hold? (32 quarts or 8 gallons)
8. What baseball tradition did President William Howard Taft begin in April 1910? (The 7th inning stretch)
9. What popular author called the Smithsonian "America's Attic"? (Mark Twain)
10. How many golf balls can fit inside the dome of the U.S. Capitol building? (a million-bazillion) (Just kidding)