Our DC Excursion

Having 4 days off is always a special event so we decided to go up to the Temple on Friday and then go into DC on Saturday. As an added element of fun, we decided to spend the night in Silver Spring and take the Metro into DC the next day.
1st, here is a Temple picture. A nice lady asked if we would like her to take our picture so here it is!

I lived in this house in Silver Spring Maryland until I was in second grade. We lived here when Ricky was born and it was in this house that we received the news that my Dad was being made the manager of the first Penney Store in Richmond VA.

I learned to ride a bike on this street and the spot where the speed bump now is(next to the tan car) was where I fell off my bike and hit my head on the street. The bike was Connie's and I was so worried about her bike that as people rushed out to help me I pleaded with them to get the bike just before I went unconscious.



As I looked across the street, there in the bushes, was the symbol my sisters and I always watch for,a male and female cardinal!

We rode the Metro in and got off a little too soon but we enjoyed the walk. Here's the White House.




and the Obama's garden and bee hives



You used to be able to drive by both the back and front of the White House but now you can do neither. They were busy getting things ready for the big 4th of July events and it was also starting to get crowded. Here is the Washington Monument. Dad and I plan to go back and go up inside it in the fall when it's not so hard to get tickets!


The Vietnam Memorial was very important for Dad because he wanted to find his cousin on it. I think it is one of the most impressive Monuments because of it's simplicity in showing the true cost of that conflict.



The Lincoln Memorial has always been one of my favorites. I think it was the first place that I went as a youth where I felt reverence and awe and I really missed that feeling yesterday as it was wall to wall people!

They were preparing the fireworks display which they set off from(or in) the reflecting pool so they had fences blocking people from wading too far into the pool. I was surprised at how in disrepair the reflecting pool is and the monument itself could use a good cleaning. I think I heard that some people are out of work so maybe.....

The saddest "monument" I thought was the consitutional gardens. It is a pond dedicated to the signers of the constitution. The sidewalk around it is all broken up, the gardens aren't anything but dry grass and it is full of Geese and all that comes with them! Is that the 56 signers out there on the water?

Our batteries ran out on the camera so we didn't get any more pictures. The Korean Memorial is very impressive with it's larger than life statues of soldiers walking.

We went to the Smithsonian Castle and saw the display of Madeline Albreights Pins. It was fascinating how she use her pins to make statements while she was a diplomat. A truly fun exibit.


While we were there Dad got a phone call from Uncle Lynn telling him that he is getting married! That was a total surprise and Dad was happy that he had called to share the news.

We finished the day at the American Indian Museum where we slept through (at least I did) a full lenght movie on how being an Indian somehow fits in with people who move a lot. (you'll need to ask Dad what it was really about). We ate some very interesting native food in the cafe and then barely had time to see a little of the exibits. We need to go back sometime and actually see the museum.
The outside of the museum is really interesting with it's plants and art work. They have sculptures that are intented to weather and wear away with time so they will be constantly changing. They also had real crops growing the way the Indians plant them. There was corn with beans growing around the stalks, tabacco, peppers, tomatoes and a few plants we didn't recognize. The building itself is a beautiful piece of art, designed to remind you of the landscape out west.
On the way back to the Metro station we wandered through several absolutely gorgeous gardens that are planted between the buildings of the Smithsonian. Dad was able to identiy almost all of the plants and most of them we had, at some point, had in our gardens in Oregon. It made us both a little homesick for the property.
We had two wonderful days and thoroughly enjoyed our time together and away from work!