Washington DC

Over the past 30 years both Carol and I have been to Washington DC on numerous occasions for meetings.   Taking a few hours or an afternoon to see the sights... I recall one afternoon I literally ran around the Mall taking in all the monuments and another afternoon running through several of the Smithsonian buildings.

Carol and I have been planning this trip since before I retired, getting a chance to leisurely stroll through our nations capitol taking the time to stop and smell the roses.

Monday: Our first adventure was a 3 hour Segway tour of the Mall with Capital City Segway Tours.  There were 4 couples in our group, a younger couple from Singapore, another couple from England about our age and then another couple maybe 5 years older than us.  Carol thought that I would learn to ride easily because of my good judo balance and she was right, it was pretty easy for me.  It was pretty easy for everyone, and in a few minutes everyone was riding like a pro.  We took off down the sidewalk and into the street where we took up a full lane and off we went to see the White House.  Contractors were installing some additional security equipment when we got there.   Our guide was a political science graduate student and he was great.  Then we took off to visit the Capitol building and stopped there for some pictures.  Then we headed down the Mall with stops at the WWII Memorial and then the Lincoln Memorial where we got off for a 15 minute stroll.  Carol and I visited the Vietnam Memorial... it always brings tears to my eyes.  We mounted our Segways and headed back to Capital City Segway Tours.

Walking back to our vacation home rental by owner apartment we walked past the Albert Einstein memorial just off the Mall.  It is one of my favorite statues and he is one of my heroes.

Tuesday:  We took a tour of the White House.  I got to see the East Room where Teddy Roosevelt set up a Judo mat and practiced Judo.  I will have to say that as a mansion that the White House is quite elegant.  In the afternoon we had a guided tour of the Congress courtesy of South Dakota Representative Kristi Noem's office staff.  Our guide gave us an excellent tour of both houses of Congress, the old Supreme Court Chambers and other special sites.

We got to stand on the balcony overlooking the spot where the new president's are sworn in.

Here Carol poses with Jeanette Rankin, first women in the United States Congress, one of Carol's early heroes.  This is one of hundreds, if not thousands of statues in the Congress.

When we were shown the House Chambers, where the President gives the State of the Union speech, the hair on the back of my neck stood on end.  It is a heady experience to be standing in the same place that the work of our nation is conducted.

We strolled down the Mall and had a leisurely walk back to the apartment. I was just fascinated with all the architectural detail everywhere you looked.

Wednesday we toured the Smithsonian.

I have been fascinated with space travel and aeronautics in general since Commando Cody: Sky Marshall of the Universe (I guess that tells you how old I am!).  Carol was surprised that I could point to almost any rocket and know that it was a V2 or X1, and know when it was flown, who designed it, etc.  I wanted to be a space cadet when I was a child, some may say that I got there and stayed there all of my life!

I also like trains.

Carol enjoyed viewing a recreation of Julia Child's kitchen.

Thursday:  We toured the National Gallery of Art, the National Gallery Sculpture Garden, the Freer/Sackler Gallery.  The Freer/Sackler Gallery display a lot of Oriental art.  That evening we attended a presentation of the play, 'Driving Miss Daisy' at the old Ford Theater.  Sat in the balcony and saw where President Lincoln was shot.

Friday:  We toured the National Geographic Museum, just a few blocks from our apartment.  It was the only museum that we paid for and it is, in my estimation, one of the best museums in Washington DC.  The exhibit was about food, our food supply and our growing need for other food sources.

Saturday:  We took a down day.  We both had sore feet.  Walked around our neighborhood, took a late lunch and just hung out.  That evening we attended a Shakuhachi concert (Japanese bamboo flute) at the Freer/Sackler Art Gallery.  It was delightful.  Rode the subway home.

Sunday: We went to Arlington National Cemetery by the Metro subway.  We watched the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.   It is a very moving memorial to all those who fought for our great nation.  The guard walks very precisely, at a very somber pace, pausing at the end of his walk for about a minute before he begins walking the other direction.

Down the treed corridor, at the bottom of the hill is a fountain that lines up with the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  The water flows from the top of the fountain while the guard is walking and stops when the guard stops and turns around.

Here I am posing with the flags of the United States, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard.  I was in the Army during the Vietnam Police Action.

We walked over the bridge from Arlington to the Mall and visited the Korean War Memorial.  We were in Washington in October, a perfect time to see the trees change color.  It was beautiful.

Carol is listening to one of many radio addresses by FDR.

And I am standing in line trying to get a job, destitute and poor.

The George Mason Memorial is one of Washington DC's least know memorials.  Mason was the author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights and inspired Jefferson during the writing of the Declaration of Independence.  Mason argued to include individual rights as part of the Bill of Rights.

Our last memorial was the Jefferson Memorial.  We particularly liked the following quote by him:

"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."