Monday, January 05, 2004

Further Adventures In Homeland Security...

I got very adept at undressing during my trip. Security precautions now mean that every time you want to go into a building at the capitol, you have to submit to an airport-style security check. They're more like what airport checks used to be like before you had to wear sweats and bunny slippers on the plane to avoid setting off the metal detectors. Underwire brassieres do not set the metal detectors off, but I did make the mistake of leaving a nickel in my pocket at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. That held me up for bit while I got wanded down. All cameras, jackets, and the contents of your pockets have to be X-rayed or visually inspected before you enter any building. Unfortunately, I decided to wear my camera pouch on my belt to leave hands free, so every time I went inside, I had to undo and partially take off my belt to get the camera off for the screeners.

Waiting in line for our tour of the Capitol building, toward the end of our last day of sightseeing, I had a revelation: they just want the camera. Why have I been stripping at the Smithsonian for the last two days? As my father once said, if there was an easy way and a hard way to do something, I would find a third even more difficult way.

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