Our Personal Tour of the White House

Ethan wants to be a chef when he grows up and it turns out that the chef at my husband's hotel knows the chef at the White House so he arranged for us to get a tour of the White House and of rooms behind the scene with the White House chef herself!  It was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!

Here are the kids with the White House Executive Chef, Chris Comerford.  She is the first woman to be appointed White House Executive Chef and the first representative of a minority group.  The kitchen is surprisingly small.

This is Ethan with another one of the chefs.  They were preparing duck for the Governors' Dinner which will be this Sunday in the State Dining Room.  Chef Comerford gave Ethan one of their chef hats and Ethan got the chefs to sign it.  So cool!  They told him to hold a knife in this picture, like he was working alongside them.  He LOVED every minute of it!

We've been on the regular White House self-guided tour before.  See our page here.  That was cool but this was a million times better!!!  I can't believe we got to do what we got to do!  We went in rooms that you aren't allowed to go in on regular tours.  We touched the curtains and furniture and stepped on the carpets that are all normally roped off.  We even went to the restroom in the very restroom that is for the famous, important diplomats when they come to visit the White House and the President!!!!!!  Strange way to think of it, but how cool is that????

When we arrived at the White House, we took our picture in front and then looked for the entrance gate we were supposed to use.  We were thrilled to find that it was the "White House Appointments" gate.  We checked in and went through security and were given identification badges to wear.

We met Executive Chef Chris and Sous Chef Adam in the security building.  I figured that we couldn't take in any cameras since you can't on the regular tour but she said we could but that she would have to take the pictures.  Awesome!!!!

They first took us into the Press Room but she couldn't take any pictures in there.  It was so neat to see all cameras and the actual room where it all takes place.  It's actually a very small room.  It just got a major makeover and used to be the swimming pool room.

Then they took us through the Palm Room and opened the door that leads to the Rosa Garden so we could get a peek at the Oval Office.  The light was on in the office but she said President Bush wasn't in there since there weren't Secret Service people at every doorway.

Next, we went into the Diplomatic Reception Room. Click the link to see all the important pictures of things that have happened in this room. This is the official front door room of the White House.  All Diplomats and Dignitaries enter the White House through this room.  Here we are in the room.

The next room we visited was the China Room.  Here we are in the room by the painting of Grace Coolidge.

Here is the Vermeil Room.  This is used as the Ladies' Parlor while the men sit across the hall in the Library.  It is also where the important people restroom is that we used LOL.  This is the painting of Jacqueline Kennedy.

We were the ONLY "regular" people in the White House.  We had it all to ourselves.  The only other people we saw were some people vacuuming, a guy watering plants, and various secret service guys.  How cool is that?!

Next we saw the Library, which is where the men hang out and is where the important people's men restroom is.  As we were leaving this room, we were told to go back in and stay because the First Lady, Laura Bush would be passing through.  She had gone out to lunch with someone and was returning to the White House and was being ushered through the front door and into the Diplomatic Room where we just had been on her way to her residence upstairs.  We were hoping to get a glimpse of her passing by but she didn't come our way.

Then we went upstairs to the East Room.  Large parties are held in this room.  This is also the room where the large, famous painting of George Washington is hung.  This painting was saved by Dolley Madison when the British burned down the White House.  We're standing in front of the painting of Martha Washington.  Abraham Lincoln and John F Kennedy were laid in state in this room.

Then we moved into the Green Room.  We're standing below the painting of Benjamin Franklin.  President James Madison signed the nation's first declaration of war (the War of 1812) in the Green Room and the body of young Willie Lincoln, President Lincoln's 11-year-old son, lay for the viewing, and his mother Mary Todd Lincoln avoided the room ever afterward.

Then we went into the Red Room.  It was my favorite room.  We looked out the windows and saw Miss Beazley, one of the First Dogs, playing out on the front lawn.  She was chewing on a chew treat and playing with a soccer ball. We also were shown two busts that had been vandalized once by a woman on one of the regular tours.  She brought in a can of spray paint and spray painted the two busts!  Can you believe that?  What was she thinking?  She went to jail and the busts have been cleaned up. Somehow, we forgot to get a picture taken in this room.

Here we are in the State Dining Room under the painting of President Abraham Lincoln.  This is the room that will host the Governors' Dinner tomorrow, Sunday, Feb. 24th.

 In the Cross Hall, we were shown the painting of President John F Kennedy.  His portrait is the only Presidential portrait in the White House that was painted postmortem.  Robert Kennedy, his brother, pose for the painting and, because the eyes of a person are so true to that person, he was painted looking down.

Then we got to go to the highlight of the tour for Ethan - the kitchen!!!  We went down to the ground floor and to the kitchen.  There were three sous chefs in the kitchen preparing food for the Governors' Dinner.  While we were in the kitchen, the Executive Pastry Chef, William Yosses came in and introduced himself.  He talked a lot to Ethan about "chef stuff" then he took us to see the refrigerated chocolate room.  The chocolate chef was in there making chocolate eagles and colored sugar flags to serve as centerpieces for Sunday's meal.  It smelled very yummy in there!

Next we got to meet Rear Admiral Stephen W. Rochon who is Director of the Executive Residence and Chief Usher. He is the man who runs the White House and the Executive Residence.  As you can see, he is a very important man in the White House.  He was very, very nice.  He is from New Orleans and was telling us all about their recent Marti Gras staff celebration.  They made lots of yummy Louisiana food and even Mrs. Bush asked if she could join in.

We also met the White House Chief Butler.  Everyone called him "Big Time".  I can't find his real name online.  He was wearing a tuxedo, which I figure he must wear everyday at work.  He told us that he's been the butler since the Carters were in the White House.  He's seen a lot!!!!  I'll bet he's got some great stories.

While on our way out of the building, Chef Chris showed us the closets on the ground floor and how the portico was added to the front (or really, the back) of the White House and so now the original front windows are the inside walls of the storage closets outside the kitchen.

We also saw the original scorch marks left on the stone door archways from when the British burned the White House.

What an AWESOME day!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's Emily with our box of Presidential M&Ms.

Here is one of the boxes of M&Ms and Ethan's most-prized possession chef hat.

He couldn't resist wearing it this morning and making us some breakfast muffins.

toadhaven.com