Remembrance

The National Holocaust Memorial Museum was the highlight of the day for me. I'm still processing it all.

Right now there's still only one thing to say about it: Wow.



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Two More War Memorials

After two days of vacation, we had mostly pretty much seen a lot of wealth being shamelessly flaunted. People walking around like they should get whatever they want whenever they want it. I had the thought, "No wonder everybody hates Americans."
My time walking through the war memorials, first the Vietnam Memorial, and then the Korean War and WWII Memorial, gave me a new thought. I realized why the United States is the best country in the world. We have people - men and women - who have been willing to put their lives on the line so that the rest of us can be free. Not only that, we have dedicated special parks and monuments to these great people so that we never forget what they have done.
There were so many people from foreign counties walking around DC, and I could tell they were in awe of the history and the greatness that is the USA. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.
The Korean War Memorial was striking.






I hear it's better at night. I especially love the way the statues are reflected in the black granite wall:



The World War II Memorial was interesting to me because that's the war that my father served in. Thanks dad.



Dad was from Wisconsin, just like his grandson:





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Location:Blake Rd,Hagerstown,United States

The Lincoln Memorial

My favorite president has always been Abraham Lincoln. His memorial is one of the few places I distinctly remember visiting as a boy of ten, which was the last time I was in DC.




It was as breathtaking as I remembered. This time around, I actually read the inscriptions on the walls. One, The Gettysburg Address, I am quite familiar with. The other wall had part (or all?) of Lincoln's second inaugural address. I had never read that one before. The Civil War was clearly taking its toll on him. You can read the text here.

I was really looking forward to seeing the reflecting pool. You can imagine my disappointment when we walked up to the memorial only to find the reflecting pool empty! Not only empty, but not really there at all! There was just a bunch of dirt where the pool should be. So much for doing my Forest Gump impression: "Jenny! Jenny!" while splashing my way across the reflecting pool. Not quite the same photo op.



If you look really close you can see the reflection of the Washington Monument in the DIRT!

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A Solemn Stroll

One of our "must see" attractions was the Vietnam Memorial. I've seen pictures of The Wall, and I have always wanted to see it and feel it for myself. It was everything that I imagined. It was great how all of the people around it were solemn and respectful. I saw one lady sitting on the ground next to it, looking at a name that I'm going to assume was a husband, brother, son or other loved one. Here's Dave looking at the wall:



At first I thought it would be pretty cool to know someone who's name is on the wall, but then, when I saw that lady sitting there, I realized that it is pretty cool that I don't know someone who's name is on the wall.

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My Dream Job

I think I finally figured out what I want to do with my life. While strolling the streets of DC, I saw people doing all kinds of things. Picking up litter, driving taxis, opening doors for people, serving me beer, etc. But out of all the workers I saw, I was most jealous of this guy:



Can't see him very well? Here's a closer look:



Now...if I can just get over my fear of heights!

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The White House

We saw so much on our day trip into the city, that I feel the need to create a separate blog entry for each thing that we saw.

Donna drove us in to her office, right in the heart of the city, on Pennsylvania Avenue! We walked down a few blocks to the White House to see if Barack could come out and play. There is a lot of security around the White House, and it didn't seem like we were very close. Here's Dave with the Executive Mansion over his shoulder:



Soon after I took this picture, a police officer came along and herded us and all of the other tourists out of the area. Perhaps someone important was coming from or going to the White House?

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Colonial Williamsburg

Ten things we learned today while on our trip to Williamsburg, VA:

1. Patrick Henry was the first and sixth governor of Virginia. He lived in the palace shown here (after the last loyalist Governor, Lord Dunmore, high-tailed it out of there in 1776.



2. Horses poop anywhere.
3. A GPS is only as good as they guy using it.
4. Brick-making is an art. Wood-fired brick-making techniques developed in the seventeenth century are still sought after, used and appreciated today.
5. The minuet is a dance that should only be attempted when sober.
6. If you snuck out of the Governor's Ball early, there was a good chance you would not be invited back anytime soon.
7. Gas is much cheaper in bum-#%#&@ Virginia than it is back home. The cheapest we saw was $3.29. That was just after we filled up the tank at $3.57.
8. The College of William & Mary, located in Williamsburg, is the oldest public institution of higher learning in the country.
9. Thomas Jefferson was the third Governor of Virginia and the third President of the United States. (I knew the second part already, but I just thought it was a neat coincidence.)
10. If you believe in the authenticity of colonial period re-enactors, The Revolutionary War must have been a cakewalk, because most of the British soldiers were old, fat, bumbling fools that liked to talk smart in dreadful accents.




11. Our nation's founders were even smarter and braver than I thought. Apparently, most colonial Virginians thought Jefferson, Henry and Adams were crackpots. I'm glad those men stood up for what they believed in, even if public favor wasn't always present.

OK, that was eleven things we learned on our trip to Williamsburg. There were lots more. We learned a lot and had a great time. My ticket was 50% off because I'm a teacher!

We took the scenic route home, and stopped at a restaurant called Buster's Place, in Port Royal, VA, right on the Rapahannock River. Good beer, good burgers, crummy service.

I didn't take this picture, but lifted it from their website:



All in all, it was great day.

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