Sunday, we left Ronks, PA and headed to our campsite outside Washington, D.C., about a three hour drive. We are staying at Adventure Bound Campground, somewhere between DC and Annapolis. It's a full hookup site with a weekly rate of $374, which is a pretty good deal for being this close to a large city.
I looked up the metro stuff Sunday night and it looks pretty simple compared to NYC. Monday was also a federal holiday, so the train was practically empty and the city seemed the same, to some extent. This is about 10:00 in the morning, but I have a hard time believing that it would be this empty on a normal work day.
You can usually stand in line to get a free ticket to go up to the top of the Washington Monument, but the office was closed because of elevator maintenance.
We didn't go to the Capitol Building today, but this is a good view of it from the Washington Monument. This is really zoomed in...it is actually quite far away.
This is the World War II Memorial, established in 2004. This was not here when I came when I was ten, so I enjoyed checking it out.
This wall has a star for every 100 Americans who died or remain missing during World War II, although I don't understand the math on the sign. 405,399 American dead or missing, so wouldn't there be 4,054 stars instead of 4,048? I just googled this for a few minutes and cannot find an answer. It was a pretty moving display to think about the number and explain it to the kids.
I think you get a good sense here just how far the Capitol Building is from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. I bet that's a 45 minute walk.
About this time, the kids said they were starving, but there's nothing to really eat around this area other than food trucks and some cafe, so we headed over to a grilled cheese bar, which I've never heard of before, but we thought sounded awesome. We passed the National Academy of Sciences which has this statue of Einstein out front. Pretty cool.
The Federal Reserve building.
The White House was a little disappointing to me. You can't even approach the fence anymore. This was as close as we could get. There were police and secret service, tourists, and protesters everywhere, so we only stayed there about five minutes. There were police of some kind on the roof looking through giant binoculars, which Brady thought was cool. He is convinced there are snipers up there also.
The Treasury Department which is directly next to the White House.
The back of the White House. The kids asked lots of questions about if President Obama's daughters could play out on this yard. I think they imagined them running around out here.
This is the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. It is on the other side of the White House opposite the Treasury Department. It is not apparent from this picture, but this is an absolutely enormous building. It is at least as deep as it is wide here and four or five stories tall. For many years, it was the largest office building in the world with over ten acres of office space. Ten acres! It houses the Executive Office of the President as well as the Vice President.
The American Red Cross National Headquarters, constructed 100 years ago.
When DC was constructed they also built canals throughout to move supplies, but these proved expensive and became obsolete to the railroad. They were eventually filled in, obviously since there aren't canals throughout the city. Anyway, this was the Lockkeeper's House. It was built in 1832. The Lockkeeper collected tolls and kept records of commerce on the canal.
We are headed back toward the Lincoln Memorial after lunch to see the the other memorials on the west end of the mall, so we walked through Constitution Gardens, which is just north of the Reflecting Pool.
I think the Vietnam Memorial was the most memorable for me when I was ten and the thing I remember best. I think it was the first time I ever had the realities of war staring me in the face. There are books on either end with the name of everyone who died and gives you the location of their name on the wall. There were no Splawns, so I looked for Guerins and there were three of them. I picked one at random and we found the name. I doubt Stacey is related, but it seemed to help the kids relate.
This is the Korean War Veterans Memorial. It was built in 1995, so it's another memorial I have never seen. The wall was similar to the Vietnam Memorial, but instead of names, it is engraved with images of the troops, equipment, and people involved in the war. There are also 19 statues that, when reflected in the wall, makes 38 images. 38 is significant because the war was 38 months long and the 38th parallel separates North and South Korea.
Memorial for service members from Washington, D.C. who died during wars.
I've also never seen the MLK Memorial, as it was built in 2011.
The FDR Memorial which I have also never seen. This one was different as it is a sprawling memorial covering over 7 acres.
The George Mason Memorial. While James Madison largely wrote the Bill of Rights, it was inspired by the Magna Carta, the English Bill of Rights, and, the greatest influence, the existing state constitutions. Many of the amendments were based on the Virginia Declaration of Rights, drafted by George Mason in 1776.
The Jefferson Memorial. I saw this from a distance when I was a kid, but we didn't walk over here. It was a pretty good walk. It's an impressive building and, interesting to me, was highly controversial because it was constructed during World War II and seen as an inappropriate use of funds by some. The statue is bronze, which was unavailable during the war, so a temporary statue stood there until after the war, some four years after the memorial dedication.
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing, which we passed on the way back to the metro station. You can tour this building and see, hopefully, the government literally printing money. They make Federal Reserve Notes (cash), Treasury Securities, and all kinds of other forms of identification and certificates. This is where inflation happens (joking).
Enjoyed seeing pictures and all you guys did.
ReplyDelete