D.C. Trip - Odds & Ends

Of course, since the main reason for this whole trip was to let Youngest-daughter see history with her own eyes (because 80% of what we learn and know is through our eyes), we had to take a day & see several of the Smithsonian museums, Ford’s theatre where President Lincoln was assassinated and Mt. Vernon, President Washington’s home. But there was enough time left to see a couple of places Youngest-daughter wanted to see – The Spy Museum was high on her list, and Great Falls National Park. Earlier in the school year, one of her assignments was to research, prepare a PowerPoint presentation, and give a presentation on a national park of her choice. Knowing we would be going to D.C., she found that park to be the closest to where we would be and so chose that one. Since she went to all of that thinking about it and since she received an “A” on the project, how could we NOT go there?

Connie's tent across from the White House

But first, an interesting side note. For those out there who read the Camel Club novels by David Baldacci, you will know that one of the main characters has for years kept a tent in Lafayette Park across the street from the White House and he has picket signs for and against various subjects, mostly against secrecy in government. What you may not know is this is based on fact. In real life, a number of people picket in front of the White House, but most stay for a short while and leave, going on to wherever they go next, and are soon replaced by someone else. But two folks, William Thomas and Concepcion Picciotto, didn’t leave. On June 3, 1981, Thomas plunked himself down right in front of the White House, put up his sign stating, “Wanted: Wisdom & Honesty,” and there he stayed, night and day, in the heat of summer and cold of winter, through rain, sleet and snow, until he died on August 5, 2008. His friend and fellow protester, Concepcion, known as Connie to those in that world, joined him on August 1, 1981 and she is still there, living in a tent and subsisting on handouts and donations. William’s “Wanted: Wisdom & Honesty” sign still stands. I don’t know about you, but I think after almost 31 years and still no change, I just might start considering a different avocation.

An actual shoe phone in the Spy Museum

We visited the Spy Museum; it was ok. Youngest-daughter and the momma-woman enjoyed it more than I did. There were real, actual shoe phones just like Max Smart used; there were poison pens, belt buckles with knives in them, and a lot of pictures of spies who got caught. Of course, the best spies are those you never hear about. The thing I found most disappointing was the kids who were the employees. Most of them seemed to be more interested in flirting with each other and playing grab-ass. One of them considered himself a real talent I guess and did nothing but sing very loudly and dance around. I’ll pass on this next time thank you very much.

Had a bite to eat in the Spy Café and watched
people walk by in the rain.

The Smithsonian's though were obviously on a whole different plane than the uninteresting Spy Museum. We took as much time as we could in the Air & Space, Natural History, American Indian and Museum of American History museums, but you could spend a full week going through all of them and probably still not see everything. The Spy Museum cost $19 each just to get in, the Smithsonian’s are free. It’s like Mike Tyson in his prime against a high school bully – no contest from the ding.

Space capsule at the Air & Space Museum.

Surprisingly, to me anyway, was how much I enjoyed the National Botanic Garden. Ah, just a bunch of plants and stuff, right? Oh no, so much more! Interesting plants, weird plants, waterfalls, pools, statues made out of pecan shell husks, extremely intricate “fairy houses,” and much, much more. It was a definite pleasure and ranks right up there with the most interesting and enjoyable things we did on the whole trip!

Spirit of St. Louis

We really enjoyed the Botanical Garden.



The Capitol made out of pecan shells -
somebody had a LOT of free time!



 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/1dustytrack/sets/72157629432968583/
 

D.C. Trip - After POTUS & Vice-POTUS

After seeing the Prez flying over our heads, we turned our attention to the monuments, memorials and buildings we originally set out to see. We did a lot of walking before the day was through.

Supreme Court building - 4 guards at this
entrance. Security was like this everywhere.



WWII memorial still under construction, but

 already impressive.





Vietnam Nurses Memorial




Vietnam Memorial sculpture





The Wall - so many names.




The Wall Christmas Tree decorated with cards
mostly from children to grandfathers and
uncles they have only been told about
because they didn't make it home alive.




Honest Abe

Unexpectedly happened upon Albert by the
National Academy of Science building.




D.C. Trip - President & Vice-President

When we returned from our D.C. trip, several people asked me jokingly, “So did you see the President?” And my answer? “Why yes, yes we did.” I assume you’ve heard the phrase, “Do good things for other people, and good things happen to you.” I believe that’s true.

The day in our journey had come to walk around D.C. to see all of the memorials, statues, and a few buildings we’ve always heard about. I especially wanted Youngest-daughter to see the war memorials. She knows an ancestor fought in the Revolutionary War. She has already seen historical places and cemeteries for the American Civil War. She has direct ancestors who fought in that war. I wanted her to see the WWII memorial because that was her grandfathers’ war. One is still alive and she knows and loves him and she’s seen pictures and heard stories of the other. She knows about Korea – she has an uncle who was killed there. And I wanted her to see ”The Wall,” the Vietnam memorial because that was my war. I want my daughter to be proud of her heritage and the sacrifices her family has made throughout the history of our country, but I want her to know war is not a good thing; not a thing to want or glorify.

Big commotion!

So we got up early and headed out after a light breakfast into a chilly, very overcast day. We had only gone a couple of blocks when we heard a siren; then two, then a bunch. Naturally, with all of the security in the city, you can’t help but think about terrorists, so that was the first thing that came to our minds. Who’s done something stupid now and exactly what did they do? As we walked on, we saw a lot of police, firemen, ambulances, and TV crews on the street we were walking down. Nobody had the street blocked off though, so we continued on. We heard from 1 person there was a bomb threat on the train tracks, but then we heard (and later confirmed by watching the news that night) that it was just a piece of a train broke and fell off on the track so they had to shut the train system down for a while. No big deal after all.

Youngest-daughter jumping in
front of Washington Monument

We walked on down to the Washington Monument and hung around looking at it for a while. We couldn’t go in because it is still closed due to damage from the earthquake last year. We were heading toward The Mall and other monuments when we heard sirens again. As I looked toward the sound, I saw it wasn’t emergency vehicles, it was a motorcade with police escorts. We didn’t know who it was, but with all of the police surrounding it and with the SWAT sniper dudes I caught a glimpse of on the roofs of the surrounding buildings, we figured it could be the president so we ran about 20 yards to the sidewalk and got there just in time to see the Vice-President in his Cadillac limo! As soon as I recognized him, I raised my camera, but somebody in the car with him was looking at me and he raised his hand to the window. I got a great picture of a hand obscuring the Vice-President’s face. I’m still not sure why he did that. It’s not like his picture has never been taken.

VP motorcade

After the motorcade passed, we walked back to the walkway around the Washington Monument and once again headed toward The Mall. We came upon a guy and girl taking pictures of each other in front of the Monument so the Momma-woman, being the kind and friendly soul she is, offered to take a picture of the both of them together in front of it. After she took a couple of pics of them, she asked if they had seen the Vice-President go by. The girl said yes they had and she happened to be standing next to a policeman who told her if they wanted to see something even more cool than they should make their way to the White House in the next few minutes. She asked if the President was coming out or something and he told her he couldn’t say, but they wouldn’t be disappointed if they went there. Interesting.

Horse patrol

So we all headed toward the White House, but soon the nice couple stopped to take some more pictures and we went on. As we got closer to the White House, we noticed there were a good number of people milling around. What I really noticed though was the number of Secret Service cars parked along the street. How did I know what they were? Well, all of the cars had “Secret Service” written on them in big letters. I also took note of 6 or 7 “road crew” workers in hard hats and tool belts that supposedly were working on a traffic light. The traffic light was working fine and 2 of the workers were on ladders perched at the top of the light post with a wrench in one hand and walkie-talkies in the other and all of the other "workers" were just standing beside panel vans and watching everyone. Clever disguise guys. No evil-doers would ever spot you!

Marine One lifting off

We hung around long enough to begin wondering if something, whatever it was, was actually going to happen when all of a sudden I heard a helicopter. Then 2 helicopters. As they got closer, I could see it was Marine One, the President’s helicopter. Actually, it was 2 Marine Ones. Then at the last-minute, one of them peeled off and the other one came in over us and landed on the White House lawn. Cool. How many times have you seen the Prez embark on his helicopter on the news? Lots of times. And here it was happening right in front of us! A few minutes after landing, the president came out, boarded, and off that sucker went. This time, with the president on board, the chopper went right directly over our heads. It was quickly joined by the 2nd Marine One and soon they were over the horizon. Evidently they use 2 identical helicopters so if a bad guy is out there, he won’t know which one the president is in.

So yes, we did indeed see the president and we saw the vice-president as well. I’m not saying President Obama is my hero or “my guy” or anything like that, but still, it’s pretty darn cool to see the President of the United States and to see with your own little eyes something you’ve seen a bunch of times on TV. And if Momma-woman had not kindly offered to take a picture of that girl and guy, complete strangers to us, we would never have known to get over to the White House. Karma I guess. In the right place at the right time. Youngest-daughter will really have something for show-n-tell at school!