After grabbing a bit o' the Starbucks (Thanks sis Deanna for the gift card!), I Metroed it right to the National Mall. (It's funny... this Mall doesn't have a Cinnabon. Mall of America must kick your bootay!) At the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History I saw my childhood in front of me. The Muppets are real. 'Nuff said. I took better pics, but there was just something spontaneous about this shot of Kermit and I. I saw the Harlem Globetrotters in their heyday – Meadowlark, the Geese, Curly, all on a trip I won for being a really good paperboy. Sweet Georgia Brown, indeed! And Minnie Pearl's hat brings back great Hee Haw memories. I had some of those overalls. And the Bunkers' chairs and Dorothy's slippers! The costume Anthony Daniels wore as C3PO in Return of the Jedi! And just to show that my interests don't completely lie in pop culture... the microphone that brought the country FDR's fireside chats and the desk on which Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. Someone really needs to do 1776 again.
Heading west on the Mall, I spent some time with the Washington Monument. These are the tame photos. I got a little "junior high" with some huge pee pee pics. Sue me. All joking aside, I was incredibly moved by the Vietnam memorial and witnessing a fellow reconnecting with some 40 year old emotions. Thankfully his family had his back and how fitting it was to hear drone of a piper on a nearby hill. There's something primal about hearing the pipes, like feeling the roots grabbing hold of the ground. As I headed up to the Lincoln Memorial, I was in need of some humor and somehow found it in the cautionary signage on the steps. And I liked visiting Abe too. That's a pretty amazing monument.
I headed around the tidal basin to the FDR memorial. Roosevelt had noted that if a monument were ever to be built to him, that it be no bigger than his desk. This came to be... check it out near the National Archives. BUT someone ignored his wishes and created an amazing tribute. Here he is, obviously performing miracles once again. And I had a great time with Eleanor. Forgive me, Mrs. Roosevelt! And I particularly appreciated this FDR quote as chiseled in this stone.
Further around the tidal basin and past the low-hanging cherry branches was the Jefferson Monument. The views of the Mall from a spot on the way were just stunning. I found that when positioning the Jefferson and Washington Monuments near the horizon, that the lens fish-eyed them a bit. Fun! And once at the monument, I found some of Thomas' words to be particularly prescient.
Heading back to the Mall, I landed at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. I'm not such a huge fanatic about the air travel (except much gratitude for the technology that shuttles me around the country on my various adventures). But how can you not be in awe of such monumental pieces of wood and metal and dreams as the Wright brothers' actual Kitty Hawk flight contraption? Or Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis? Or the charred command module in which the Apollo 11 astronauts returned to this blue marble? Wow!
My barkin' dogs then took me to the Capital. I shuffled in from the south and chilled a bit with the U.S. Grant Memorial before climbing the steps. Once "on the hill" I spent some time taking artsy photos and singing tunes from "Schoolhouse Rock." Once I was on my way in a northerly direction, I stumbled upon a whimsical little grotto with little stone seats and water a-flowin' and a-spurtin'. It was a random little respite that I found out later was designed by the Capital's grounds designer, superstarry legend of urban landscape design, Frederick Law Olmsted. He also created Central Park in New York City among many other fab accomplishments.
At Union Station, while admiring some great architecture and brilliant cloud formations, I bought a ticket for the Twilight Tourmobile to see DC all lit up, but alas, my shutterbug syndrome throughout the day had depleted my camera's batteries. I figured that the purpose of the tour was to get some amazing photos, so I'll be taking that tour tomorrow evening. The weather is supposed to be wonderful and I'm counting on it. So I'm here in my hotel room soaking my feet and updating my blog. Tomorrow will bring more schlepping and snooping, and I can't wait. P.S. My neurotic eye for detail brought me to YouTube to look up video footage of the Reagan assassination attempt. I've found a few frames that show my hotel in the background of this tragic event. It's sort of surreal. I'll try to get over there and get a shot of the same angle. Anyway...
Take care, all! Peace and love.
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