Sunday, October 6, 2013

Washington DC, Part 3

7, 8 September 2013

From Little Bennett Regional Park, we made two more trips into Washington DC. On Saturday we drove to Shady Grove Metro Station and rode the subway from there to the Smithsonian Stop, right on the Mall. We found the locations of the metro stations somewhat elusive and not necessarily accurately marked on maps; otherwise we might have found the Smithsonian Stop earlier in this vacation, and used it more. Oh well.
  • American History Museum     Whistling Son wasn't impressed with this. Maybe it was a bit too random in its offerings. We saw the original Kermit the Frog, made from an old green coat that had belonged to Jim Hensen's mom. And I enjoyed seeing the kitchen of Julia Child because the counters and walls seemed very cluttered with pots and pans and all her other equipment, and it was far from the pristine look of magazine kitchens. I'm sure it met her needs.
  • National Museum of Natural History     With not enough time to see all the possibilities in the various Smithsonian museums, we did a quick job on the National Museum of Natural History and were there to close it down. We saw the Hope Diamond (there's no curse), lots of other gems, minerals, and rocks, and then had a little time amidst the Egyptian mummy displays, including mummified cats and baby alligators.
It ain't easy being an old green coat.

Julia Child's kitchen
Early on Sunday we drove our own car boldly into the heart of Washington DC, following the Cabin John Parkway adjacent to the C & O Canal, which was very scenic and had little traffic at the time. We had no parking nightmares, partly because we found our first spot before Mass at 9 a.m. At church we happened to meet a man and his wife who have a Nebraska connection--he is the legislative director for our Senator Deb Fischer, and he formerly worked for Senator John Kyl of Arizona.

After Mass we were unintentionally swept up in traffic that took us to Arlington National Cemetery. Arlington was much larger than I would have guessed, plus very hilly. It took a lot of walking to get to the Tomb of the Unknowns. Great Husband was especially moved by the changing of the honor guard, and the visit of a large group of WWII veterans in wheelchairs. Interestingly, there is no longer a soldier of the Vietnam era among the unknowns buried at Arlington because those remains were disinterred in 1998 and identified with modern methods, and then returned to his parents in Missouri.

After Arlington, we drove down Constitution Avenue, happened across Georgetown by dumb luck just so we could get a taste of it, and finally found parking by the DC Court of Appeals so we could walk to see the National Archives. The founding documents can be seen there but they are so faded that they are unintelligible.

It was sad, but we knew we were counting down the last minutes of our big trip with these two sons. We soon had to drop off Whistling Son at Union Station to take a return train to Williamsburg, and then had to drop off Tall Son by Gallery Place Metro Station to head for his flight at Reagan Airport. After that, because we were in our own car, we got to drive northwest out of the city and saw a lot of interesting places that we wouldn't have seen on the Metro--many handsome, enormous and expensive-looking apartment buildings, followed by very posh houses in Chevy Chase, MD. There must be money there!

We spent one more night at Little Bennett, before heading west for home. Our fire ring looked so forlorn without the boys!


Veterans visiting the Tomb of the Unknowns

Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery

Robert E. Lee home in Arlington National Cemetery,
confiscated by the Union at the time of the Civil War, but
his family was ultimately paid for the property.
This house was oddly pink and ugly on the outside, and
we didn't have time to go inside.
Our campsite at Little Bennett Regional Park







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