Adventures in the West Wing!

Yesterday, I had the incredible privilege of touring the West Wing of the White House.

A friend of mine (who works for Senator Cruz) has a contact from grad school who works for the Obama Administration. He has the ability to give private tours of the West Wing, and invited my friend, who in turn invited me a few other people to join. I was ecstatic to be invited!

I slipped on a pretty black dress, put on a pearl necklace and curled my hair. Our group met up at a coffee shop near the White House before the tour began. Not that I needed coffee, because adrenalin and excitement were pumping through my body. I felt like a little kid on Christmas Eve, counting down the minutes until the tour began. Finally it was time to meet up with our “tour guide”, Travis. He met up with us beside the Eisenhower building. After showing our ids and going through security, we were on the grounds of the White House.

The incredibly beautiful Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EOB – a little DC abbreviation!) was on our left as we walked to the West Wing.

As we entered the West Wing, we were strictly instructed that no pictures were allowed inside the building. The thought crossed my mind to try to sneak a picture, but I decided that the West Wing of the White House wasn’t the place to mess around. Once inside the building, we were greeted with a secret service agent. Travis signed the group in and we started strolling about. The entrance was filled with photographs from the official presidential photographer. The photographs are changed out weekly (unless there’s a picture that the president is fond of).

Since everyone in the group lives and works in D.C., we thoroughly enjoyed learning about the history and fun facts about the West Wing. The president and first lady get to select the art work for the West Wing. This administration is the first in history that’s had art work in the Oval Office from a living artist. (Apparently it’s controversial because it shows favoritism towards the artist).

The Oval Office was awe inspiring.

I stood at the door for about 15 minutes, simply observing the room. We weren’t allowed to go in the room, but it didn’t matter. I was standing outside the office of the most powerful man in the country. The Oval was smaller than I expected, but gorgeous nevertheless. Sunlight was pouring through the windows, casting a beautiful glow in the office. Out one of the windows, you could see a play set that Obama had installed for  his girls, when they were younger. A beautiful paining hung to the left of the president’s desk. It’s called, “Avenue in the rain” by Childe Hassam. 

After spending ample time at the Oval, we headed over to see the Roosevelt room, where the famous Rough Rider painting hung. My friend and I managed to sneak off to the bathroom to snag a picture. I think the following pictures does a good job capturing my excitement.

Once outside the West Wing, we all took turns taking pictures in front of the Presidents seal.

The group picture (above) is my favorite of the day. It encapsulates everyone’s personalities to a T.

Next it was time to explore the Press Room. Thankfully we were allowed to take pictures in there. We took full advantage of that 😉

Hard day at work 😉

The entire afternoon was absolutely wonderful, and I am beyond thankful to have had the opportunity to visit the most powerful offices in the country! This experience definitely goes on my “Top Five Moments in DC” list!

Fun Fact: I can never be president of the United States, because I wasn’t born in the America. Even though I’m now a citizen, you have to be a natural born citizen to be POTUS.