Thanksgiving in Utah

We didn't get a chance to get home to recharge, as our two trip segments blended together. We flew across the country on the 20th and changed planes in Seattle, flying BACK to Salt Lake on the afternoon of the 20th for Thanksgiving week. However, it turned out great, as we had an enjoyable time with family stuffing ourselves, watching football (BYU beat Utah!), watching Jazz games, going to Church together, checking out the deer and turkeys up East Canyon, visiting, and catching up. We spent some time in Provo with Matt, Megan, Mike, Amy, Olivia, Ethan, and KT, then met up with Mom & Dad at Kim's for Thanksgiving dinner on the 21st. KT and KR had a Friday Thanksgiving dinner with Barry & Sandi and their extended family - I evidently caught a flu bug in DC and tried to stay away from people as much as possible. Rod, Marilyn, and family were in Morgan for a few days, and they teamed with KR and KT to put up Mom's Christmas decorations. Dad is modeling his shirt we gave him from our trip to Michigan, from the college he took classes at during the war. He is an alumnus! We used the Dover van while in Utah, as they were with Mike's family for Thanksgiving, so on Monday night (the 26th) we picked them up at the Salt Lake Airport, had dinner together, and then we stayed at the Hilton near the airport. We flew home on Tuesday the 27th, caught the shuttle express to Jon & Cher's, got our car, headed over Steven's Pass in a major snowstorm, and finally staggered into our home late on the 27th. WHEW! We were so ready to get home. (November 20-27)

I'm Watching You

We are officially worn out. Today was the cleanup day and I headed out early for another walk, this time from the Rosslyn Metro station to Teddy Roosevelt Island and Memorial. It was longer than it looked on the maps....sigh. But......as much as I have read about Teddy Roosevelt, my favorite President, I really wanted to see this place. And as much as one can know about someone from reading books, in my opinion this is the perfect memorial for him - very well done.

KR came into town on the Metro later in the morning and met me at the Spy Museum. Impression: borderline tourist trap, state-of-the-art museum, popular, crowded, nice cafe, nice museum store, and not overpriced. It took us three hours to get through it - there is so much to read, it is not a place you can skim and hurry through.

KR and I again split up (I think she was about tapped out on the historical front) - I went exploring for several historical sites on my long list (this trip has really made a dent), mostly relating to African-American history, while she was going to tour the Supreme Court and then head back to the hotel. The plan was for me to hit the Supreme Court Building also as my last stop. Amazingly, as I was trudging up the front stairs of the Supreme Court Building (my feet were killing me), KR was coming down, having concluded her tour. Great timing! She took me on a short repeat tour and we headed home together - having completed every Washington DC stop on our list - WOW! Mission accomplished.

The Long Walk

We attended church this morning at the Crystal City Ward, which meets in an older building in Alexandria. The hotel front desk was nice enough to shuttle us over there. A very large ward with lots of young families and kids.

After church and a long walk back to the Metro, we rested at the hotel for a spell, had some lunch, changed our clothes, and headed out for our planned "long walk". There are a number of things that are outside the convienent Metro or tour bus grid, and we decided to take them in through a long walk from the Arlington Cemetery Metro station, down the west side of the Potomac, east across the river on the Pentagon Bridge to the Jefferson Memorial, then north along the east side of the Potomac to the National Mall. Now ain't we the walking fools!

About a mile down the west side of the Potomac is the Lyndon B. Johnson Memorial Grove (and picnic table - I think Johnson needs some more historical fluffing). KR wasn't impressed, but you know me, I had to have my picture.

In my personal opinion, the Jefferson Memorial is the best of the bunch. In terms of design and location, wow.......not that he is my favorite "founding father".

Between the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials sits the new FDR Memorial. Impressions: VERY different from the others, darker materials, very spread out over a much larger area than I envisioned, and more water features. But I was surprised. I liked it a lot. A very serene and soothing place. The leaves were wonderful with the newer, smaller trees. The dog is a hit. Everyone was taking a picture with the dog.

As we finished our walk, crossing the National Mall, we took advantage of our proximity to the Smithsonian to finish the floor of the National Museum of Natural History that we had missed earlier. The gem and mineral collection is very cool. How about the Hope Diamond, the Star of Bombay, and the huge Eureka Nugget all in the same place!

The White House

What a long, but eventful, day. Thanks to Rob, we were able to get White House tour tickets on relatively short notice (we should have thought of it six months ago). We had a few hours before our tour time, so we visited the DAR Headquarters, just across the street from the White House. They have some exhibits, which need some refurbishing, and a wonderful old library room which has held its share of events, such as hearings and treaty negotiations, over the years. Its proximity to the White House and relative size made it a useful early meeting place. I am one proud HODAR (husband of a DAR member).

The White House "tour" was also short and sweet. Despite the tightest security of our trip (you cannot take ANYTHING in), we moved through the preliminaries pretty quickly. There is no actual tour guide - you merely shuffle through some corridors and the first-floor rooms of the House itself, where they have a few written materials for informational purposes and security guards that will answer some quick questions (they were no-nonsense types). You get the impression they do not want you to linger, but move quickly through the experience. I was surprised at how small the footprint of the White House really is and how "uninviting" it seems as a place to live. It would be like living in a museum, I suppose. The SWAT guys with the heavy weapons and the muzzled dogs patrolling the grounds were a little unnerving.

We were able to see the Library and the Vermeil Room on the lower floor, and all of the rooms on the next floor up.

We had some lunch in the brand new Ronald Reagan Office Complex. It is just a block or so down Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. A very nice place to take a break and enjoy their food court.

A little further down the Avenue is the Old Postal Building. It has recently been refurbished and has a small mall inside with continuous live entertainment. Its big drawing card is its tower - the highest vantage point in the area. One of our best pictures of the trip, in my opinion, was taken here by KR. It is the view of the Capitol below. I love this picture.

We continued our stroll down the Avenue, past the FBI Building, then north to Ford's Theatre and the Pedersen House, where Lincoln was taken after the shooting and where he later succumbed. The scene has been preserved nicely.

Our last visits of the day were to the National Archives and the National American Art and Portrait Gallery. The Archives building was totally redone on the inside a few years ago and is a highlight. That is when they put in the protection mechanisms for the original Declaration of Independence and Constitution that are featured in the movie National Treasure. We were preceded by several busloads of school children that just beat us to security, so it took us quite a while to see the exhibits as they kids had to work their way through the lines. The documents themselves are a little disappointing, since little ink is left. They look like blank pieces of paper. The two buildings below are shown in the order mentioned above.

The Capitol

We are becoming quite the Metro users. I am impressed with it - clean, efficient, and cheap. Hope Seattle's version is this nice and is this well used.

We headed up to Capitol Hill and got our tickets for the Capitol tour. They have elaborate security for those entering the building. The tour was short and sweet (my kind of tour), but informative. What a building! One thing that has impressed me is most of these famous buildings have evolved, and have gone through many expansions, redesigns, remodels, and use changes over the years to the configurations that are familiar to us today. They were not always as we know them. And as you can see by all the cranes and construction, they are in a constant state of renewal. We were able to see the Rotunda, the newly-restored former Supreme Court Chambers, and the Senate Chambers. KR ran over to Doc Hastings' office before we came in and we were able to get tickets to the Senate Gallery. They hadn't yet adjourned for the Thanksgiving break, so we were able to see the Senate in session. Note the picture below of KR in the Capitol Rotunda.

Across the street from the Capitol is the Library of Congress. It has a very impressive outer "great hall" and a multi-storied main reading room. Probably my favorite building so far - but then again I do love reading and libraries. Below are pictures of the hall - absolutely stunning.

Another observation - these buildings are SECURED. Security everywhere. We walked through the National Botanic Gardens as we came down the hill in front of the Capitol. They were putting up their Christmas decorations. Several of the wings that I would like to have seen were closed for renovation.

Tired, very tired. We walked a long way today. I wanted to get off at the Pentagon exit and see the building. A Metro station is right on the edge of it and you can see one section, but they won't let unauthorized personnel get much closer than that. How 9\11 changed things..............