Ya know . . . . the House and Senate office buildings are open to everyone.

[Stinky The Clown]

To get in you need only pass through a magnetometer and maybe empty your pockets. No need to show ID or state why you're there. You can't go into offices and wander, but you can roam the halls pretty freely. There are a few elevators reserved for Members you can't use. You can't harass or cause a scene, but if you mind your own business and stay quiet, you are free to be there.

Stay on your best behavior, ALWAYS keep your mouth shut, and be polite and you can watch to see which Members scurry about pretending to be reading their iPhones or some "memo" and which smile if you make eye contact.

I only ever got glared at twice and both were Democrats. Jesse Jackson Jr. gave me one hell of a nasty stare when I (quite unintentionally) got into a Members Only elevator with him. He was near indictment at the time. The other was Barney Frank, who was heading for an up escalator as I was on a down escalator between Cannon and Rayburn. I smiled. He glared daggers.

Every other Member I ever encountered either politely ignored me or gave a pleasant enough look, sometimes an actual smile.

I dare say the atmosphere there these days is quite tense.

[csziggy]

1. The one time I ever visited the Senate building

Was as a kid with my family. Dad had made an appointment for us to visit Senator Spessard Holland (my grandmother was a friend of his wife, Mary) when we were headed to the New York World's Fair in 1964.

First thing in the morning we went in through the regular halls and sat down for a short visit with the Senator. It turned out that it was Sen. Holland's turn to open the session and he invited us to go to the Senate chamber with him. He led us to the Members elevator, took us down to the tunnel between the Senate Office Building and the Capitol.

As our group (Dad with the Senator preceded by four girls and Mom) approached the Members elevator to go up into the Capitol, the page at the elevator started asking us to make way for the Senator. I felt bad for the page - he had no way to know that we were with the Senator, who was just being a polite Southern gentleman and letting the females go first.

The Senator told the page that we were with him and we all went up in the Members elevator. Then he told us how to go up to the gallery and we watched while he started the session, and introduced my Dad as one of his constituents. It was pretty cool to see the "secret" parts of the Capitol complex and to be treated as VIPs by a senior senator!

[Stinky The Clown]

2. Another honor is to be invited to lunch in the Members' Dining Room

Which is an unbelievably crowded space with largely crappy food. But the feeling when you enter the lobby and then the room is truly awesome. Stirring. In an inner sanctum of the seat of power of the greatest nation on earth.

You've remembered your visit for 53 years, so far.

Visiting the seat of our government gives one a new, fresh perspective. The history of it all. Standing where the greatest leaders our country stood.

I wish I had as wonderful a memory as you. I don't. But I can certainly appreciate yours.