D.C.

My grad-school-bound little sister graduated from college this past weekend down in D.C., and the whole family headed down to watch. It was actually the first time in a long time that the five Copes went anywhere without additional company, and it worked out pretty well.
D.C. is a neat place with a lot of interesting monuments, although basically everyone upon entering the District gets a strong and vocal opinion about all kinds of political issues and isn't afraid to share. Even people who don't normally talk about politics decide it's a good place to start, including myself.
We took a bicycle tour around the city, and that was a great time. We were led along the numerous walking/bike paths to some of the monuments, where our travelling guide would tell us about them. After a few minutes of wandering around we'd get back on the bikes and head to the next one. I forgot how much fun it was to get air off of bumps in the sidewalk and it almost made me want to get a bike to ride to work. Almost.
The graduation ceremony was indoors and out of the rain, and it actually wasn't too bad. They break the students up by school, and we only had to watch two schools' worth get their names read. The speaker was Dr. Vernon Jordan Jr., and he was actually pretty interesting.
I can't believe that my little sister just graduated from college... It's amazing how nobody ever gets any younger...