Sunday, August 16, 2009

DC Day

I think we chose the hottest day on record to visit every out door monument and memorial in the Washington DC area! Geeze Louise--- It was crazy hot today! Must have been a record high of some kind. Must have been... Every time we passed a fountain, I asked Bryan if I could put my face in it.
Here are a few of the places we went:
White House
(never in my life have I had a strong urge to break the law, but as we stood in front of the White House today I had a small desire to jump the fence and see how far I could get if I ran as fast as I could. Bryan said he didn't think the Secret Service would shoot me right away, but he bet I wouldn't even get over the fence before being tackled. I guess I'll never know.)
Michelle Obama's Garden
World War II Memorial
Reflecting Pool & Lincoln Memorial (and a perfectly placed duck.)Lincoln MemorialThe Washington MonumentYou're right-- It does look a lot larger in person than you think it will!
But it's really not that big. See?
The Korean War Memorial-- the soldiers look like they're marching through rice paddies which I thought was neat.
When one onlooker noted aloud how odd it was that all the men were named "Gaylord," (which was carved into the back of each of their legs) his wife sweetly pointed out that Gaylord was the sculptor, not their names. He also noted that these men were obviously twice life size... When in fact, they were each only about 7 feet tall. So bigger than a normal person, yes. But a gigantic 12 feet tall? No. I really wanted to follow him around for the rest of the day just to get his input on the rest of Washington, but they got away from us shortly after this episode.The Vietnam Memorial. Such a beautiful, simple memorial. All of the names on the wall are amazing to see.On a small side note, has anyone ever seen a holly tree? Bushes, yes, but a holly tree? Bryan said they are trees but I thought they might just be really tall bushes.We also visited the Smithsonian Modern Art Gallery, these are a couple of the favorite things I saw there.The Capitol Building, which I think we'll try to visit tomorrow.
and Union Station.
At the end of the day, we got a couple of fortunes with our dinner at Pei Wei.
Pretty appropriate if I do say so myself!

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous17.8.09

    My, My what a tour you are having. You are good planners. Yes a Holly can be a tree. Truman said they cut them on his farm for Christmas trees. Also had a big one at school. Some decorations homemade like popcorn strings, and ribbons and he can not remember what else. Have fun--MaMAW

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  2. Wait a second... I thought the Washington Monument was just down the street on the interstate....

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  3. I see the blogs will get more interesting (and perhaps odd) as the number of people you encounter increases. I would've followed that man, too. Maybe you just didn't "minlge" enough in Jackson, because I know there are some of those people here.

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