Our Nation's Capitol

It really is such a pleasure to visit Washington. It is such a beautiful city, beautifully laid out with the Mall and the Monuments. Most everything is free, too (our tax dollars "at work!") And the newer monuments .... Vietnam, Korea, FDR ... all add so much. What isn't beautiful is the climate .... we listened to (and believed!) the weather report last Monday (Columbus Day) which predicted that it would be lovely 70 degrees. We decided to just go in our T-shirt sleeves in the morning so as not to have to carry our jackets when it warmed up .... boy, were we sorry (see below). It didn't get higher than 55 degrees and was DAMP! But we were still really happy to be there.

MILEAGE:

Buster: 0 (no mileage this week; Buster took a breather this week parked in College Park, Maryland)

Bella: 240 miles

Total for League's Excellent Adventure: 10,725 miles

State count: 18 Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia PLUS the District of Columbia!


FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2009

We set a tour of the capitol as our first agenda item for our adventure in our nation's capitol. We had contacted our representative, Tim Walz' office, Minnesota 1st Congressional District, and his assistant had promptly responded and arranged the tour tickets for us at 10:00. We negotiated the mass transit system taking a bus from Cherry Hill Campground (very well outfitted including life-size cutouts of our President for photo opportunities!) to the College Park Metro Station, and then the green line to Fort Totten, with a transfer to the red line to Union Station. From there we walked over to the Capitol Visitor Center.

It is in the lower level of the Capitol Building and has a number of beautiful exhibits including statues of Americans as diverse as Sakakawea and Gus Grissom. We once again had a very informative guide who shared with us the background of those beautiful paintings in the rotunda. Various statues are present in the rotunda, and just a couple of days before our visit, the State of Georgia (we think) sent a new statue for display: Helen Keller, the first time a child has been portrayed in the Capitol Building.


Our guide then led us to another domed (half-domed, actually) room where statues of prominent individuals from the original 13 colonies were present. I believe it used to be the House Chamber when it was smaller. Now, with 435 members, they need larger digs. The only additional statue is this bust of Lincoln. Sculpted by Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor of Mount Rushmore, it is intentionally incomplete (absent left ear) because "Lincoln's life was incomplete." It is incredibly expressive and we were told that one of Lincoln's son has said that this sculpture represents his father's appearance better than any other likeness.

He certainly looks burdened, doesn't he? As he was.

They had a lovely cafeteria in the visitor center where our grazer, Elizabeth, had a little snack. And then it was time to meet Katie Zimmerman, a lovely middle school biology teacher in Northern Virginia who was Liz' summer nanny when she was two and three years old. Katie picked us up in front of the Capitol, and very expertly negotiated the One Way streets as we made our way to Georgetown where we found some yummy salads for lunch at a market/deli. Then she dropped us off at the National Cathedral. We were so happy to see her (she was getting ready to fly to Florida the next day to meet up with her family on a little excursion).

The National Cathedral looks like a real European cathedral. Built of Indiana limestone, it is the 6th largest in the world. It is an Episcopal cathedral "welcoming people of all faiths." It is gothic with the flying buttresses and long nave. It has gorgeous stained glass windows, as you can see:

We had a very warm day and so decided to walk to the subway station and make our connections on the Metro back to College Park. We ended up with over a mile trek, but took our time and made it. My knees were talking back a little, but it was good for Liz (and me!) to stick with it. We encountered the Breast Cancer awareness runners who were doing the first 20 mile leg of a 60 mile three day walk/run. They were inspiring!

The next day, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10th, we slept in a little and made a visit to Mt. Vernon, a short drive down the Potomac from Washington, our goal. Actually, we were glad to legitimately be back in the car again (at least I was). Mt. Vernon has undergone improvements and enhancements with a beautiful new museum and Visitor Center. We had lunch at the Tavern, and then took our tour of George and Martha's mansion. Gary and I have been more impressed with George Washington on this trip ..... actually we have been watching a History Channel set of DVD's .... Founding Fathers .... and learned a lot about Washington from this as well. He seems, almost uniquely, to be a man who realized when it was best to relinquish power. You will remember he resigned his commission from the military after the Revolutionary Way so he could return home to Northern Virginia and resume his role as a farmer. As alluded to in an earlier post, the fact that he had no natural children, only step-children, made him appealing as a choice for president because the temptation for an inherited succession would be eliminated.

And he was tall ... much taller than his peers. We also learned about some key moments as a General, and after the war, when he motivated his troops to continue for the greater good of freedom and liberty. In fact, there was a near insurrection in upstate (Newburgh) New York near the end of the war. The soldiers hadn't been paid, and they wanted General Washington to take command of the government. He was the voice of reason and was successful at getting the troops to accept that Congress would pay them and that they were, in fact, fighting for the noblest of causes: liberty. He seemed like he had the perfect temperment and leadership ability for the most important job in the new Republic.

Here are some images from Mount Vernon (that's Bo "the Presidential Pup" with Liz!)

I love the view of the Potomac from the Washington's "backyard." Fortunately somebody had the foresight to protect the land across the river (in Maryland) where a state park was developed. Imagine look out across the sweeping lawn of Mt. Vernon and seeing a strip mall across the Potomac! The Donald _. Reynolds Visitor Center was recently completed with many multimedia exhibits. One of the most interesting was an explanation of the scientific method that used images and likelinesses to form a 3-dimensional model of Washington's head, and then they used CSI type techniques to sculpt images of him as a 20 year old and 40 year old, as well as his presidential years in his late 50's and 60's. These full size models of him were placed in beautiful room-sized settings depicting important moments in his life and you really felt you could see the man over his lifetime. Also, there was a presentation about his three successful battles: Boston, Trenton and Yorktown, complete with rumbling and movement of your chair when artillery fired (!), and flashing lights of canons. Finally we saw his teeth: there was an entire exhibit devoted to his teeth. They WEREN'T wooden; they were actually the teeth of other animals. He was troubled by terrible dental health his entire life.

After our visit we connected with John Stinson, a patient of mine who is a consultant in Washington and has lived there many years. After dinner at Indigo, a restaurant in the marina on Dangerfield Island near the Reagan Airport, John drove us around the monuments at night so we could see them lit. It really is a beautiful site. He also took us around Arlington later in the week (see below). I didn't get a picture of him .... sorry, John. I wanted to put you in the blog!

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11

As we commonly do, we (not necessarily by planning) ended up with a looser day on Sunday. I think this is just the natural result of all of us, particularly Liz, wanting a little slower pace intermittently. So we slept in, ate a leisurely breakfast, and decided to take our chances at driving into the District. I had read in a guidebook that you should probably check about demonstrations, etc, on the Mall, but we had the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum as our target. We actually drove right there, and had little trouble finding a parking garage about two blocks away from Air and Space for the Sunday rate of about $10. In we went.

Liz really enjoyed it; we all did. Gary was particularly enthralled with the perpetual motion "art" pieces we saw in the gift shop, and we acquired two small ones. Not sure how they'll work out as we move down the road. He has loved them since he was a boy.

We saw the IMAX movie on the Space Station, and the various aeronautical displays. I didn't take a picture of the Mercury space capsule as it was encased in lucite, it seemed, and I thought it would just reflect. Here's a picture of the Spirit of St. Louis, Charles Linbergh's lovely little plane that took him on his transatlantic flight.

It was a great visit, and we planned to drive out near Dulles Airport to see the new extension of Air and Space where actual planes and rockets are displayed in a hangar (unfortunately, we didn't get there!) It was PACKED in Air and Space and on the Mall, but we found a bench, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves as we watched America go by. Young, old, gay, straight all were out enjoying the Sunday afternoon in their capitol city. I say the "gay, straight" thing as it was clear there was a rally going on the Capitol steps for Equality, and ending bigotry and harm based on sexual orientation discrimination. Perhaps it had to do with equal rights in marriage, we weren't quite sure.

Also, on the Mall, was the Solar Decathlon. I actually had heard about this from our dogs' gracious hostess, Gael Entrikin, who is an environmental and solar advocate in Rochester. We were able to see the about 20 entries of model solar houses from a number of U.S. universities and some foreign ones. Minnesota was represented, and we went through their house which wasn't the most beautiful, but the systems made a lot of sense, and were very well described by the young people. One could vote for the "winner", and I subsequently have gone on line and learned that Germany won! It was very gratifying to see the interest people had in this, and the lines of people waiting to walk through these demonstration houses.

We walked back by and through the Smithsonian castle, and through it's lovely garden. We had in mind to try to find the Old Ebbitt's Grill for dinner, but it eluded us (we think it is near the Willard Hotel but couldn't quite find it), but decided to go into the Hay-Adams where we found the basement bar, "Off the Record." We tried to explain to Liz what this meant! As is often the case in a nice hotel, they had excellent food. I had sea bass to die for, so we were pleased with our substitute find.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, COLUMBUS DAY

Our plan for this day was to use the TourMobile and see a number of the monuments. It was another day to take the Metro in, and we had no parking fee at the College Park Metro station as it was a federal holiday. We got off at Gallery Place (named for the National Gallery of Art) and WERE FREEZING! This was the day predicted to be 70 degrees, but it never reached a degree over 55 I am certain. As we walked to the front of the National Gallery, where we could board the TourMobile, we passed the Spy Museum, a place we wanted to come back to. Fortunately, I think, the Museum Store was already open at 9:30 in the morning, so we looked for wraps. I got this Deny Everything T-shirt and Liz and Gary both got sweatshirts. We were much more comfortable!

We picked up the TourMobile and rode down the Mall to the Washington Monument. It was about 10:30 by this time, and unfortunately the daily tickets to ride the elevator to the top of the Monument were gone. They are available starting at 8:30; so we resolved to get there earlier the next day (and we did!). We rode to TourMobile to our first monument stop: The Jefferson. It is elegantly beautiful with it's columns and a beautiful statue of the man in the center. I hadn't remembered that so many of the selected quotes inscribed at the monument had to do with religious freedom. It's setting in the tidal basin is really very lovely.

The FDR Memorial, just a short distance from the Jefferson along the Tidal Basin is beautifully done. It was dedicated in 1997 by Pres. Bill Clinton, but somehow we missed getting this on our radar screen. It is designed as four rooms .... each one devoted to one of the terms of FDR's presidency. There are beautiful, lifelike sculptures of FDR and scenes (like a bread line) from his time, inscriptions, etc., set among beautiful fountains, rocks, and plantings. It is spread over about 7.5 acres, and lends itself to ambling through and reflecting. We loved it. Here is one of the pretty fountains, and a picture of Liz with FDR and Fala (with whom, of course, we had become acquainted when we visited Hyde Park 2-3 weeks ago!).

By then it was about 12:30, and time for lunch so we called Chloe Dybdahl, the very accomplished daughter of friends Judy Rittenhouse and Tom Dybdahl, who is an attorney at the State Department. She handles any legal questions about visa's for applications from Africa, Russia/Soviet Union countries, and related to children's issues. We met at the Lincoln Memorial, and then took a taxi for lunch at Clyde's in Georgetown. It was simply delightful to see her. Gary said one of the reasons it was so enjoyable is that she has all the intelligence and savoir faire of an young adult, with all the enthusiasm and charm of a child. We loved her! She also is strongly reminiscent of her mother, my friend Judy, and it was clearly the highlight of the day to spend some time with her .... and there were lots of impressive things that day!

Somebody (a stranger) did come up to me while I was at the Lincoln Memorial and said, "The first rule is: Admit Nothing!" I got a lot of interesting looks all day, and felt like I was communicating a more anti-social image that I really wanted to, but heck .... I was a lot warmer!!

After lunch we resumed our Monument experience and visited the Korean War memorial .... another one I had never visited. It is also very well done .... my cousin, Don Schuld, who lives in West Linn, Oregon, is a Korean vet, and I hope he has seen this. We plan to visit with them next spring when we make it to the West Coast.

As many of you know, the Vietnam Memorial is soberingly beautiful. The long stretch of black granite with every name of the lost etched into it is extremely. Earlier in the day, I had told Gary of the young man from my high school Glendale Academy in California, who had been drafted right after graduation and sent to Vietnam. I didn't know him well ..... Kenny Martin. And I learned that he had been killed. I was walking down the length of the monument, and decided to stop and actually read some of the names, and in the second panel I glanced at, I found the name of Kenneth Martin. I didn't confirm that this Kenneth Martin was from Glendale .... it seemed too coincidental to question. It is a beautiful monument to a great group of people who perished in the service of our country .... it's so hard because it is so difficult to say that they perished defending our freedom, as so many of their predecessors in other wars can be remembered!

The wind had died down a bit, and we had a comfortable walk up the Mall to the World War II Memorial which we had not seen before. It is beautiful .... and in my mind reflects that "Greatest Generation" (to recall Tom Brokaw's label) and what I imagine is their appreciate of order and symmetry. There is a column with a flag and wreath to represent every state, as well as other fighting units such as Puerto Rico and Somoa. On one end of a tower representing the Atlantic theatre, and the other end has the Pacific, with names of pivotal battles inscribed at the base. In the middle is a large beautiful fountain, and other inspirational inscriptions on the rock which encircles. I was particularly happy to see it as I have learned about the generous efforts of folks at home (in Rochester and elsewhere I imagine) to raise funds to take WWII vets out to Washington to see this. I believe 2 or 3 chartered planes have travelled from Rochester to carry these heroes out to Washington over the past couple of years ..... all funded by donations. It is such a tremendous thing to do for them, and I hear it means the world to them.

It was so fun to see the professionally inscribed "Kilroy was here" just to the side of the Pennsylvania monument in a stairwell going down to the base of the fountain! We finished the afternoon continuing our walk toward the Washington monument. Looking back was this great inscription at the entrance to the WWII Memorial:

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13

This was the morning we were DETERMINED to make it to the top of the Washington Monument .... and we did. We left Cherry Hill Campground about 7:45, and had steady traffic into downtown Washington, but it wasn't bumper to bumper. We knew they started distributing same day tickets to ride to the top of the Monument about 8:30, and Gary and Liz hopped into line about 8:40 while I circled. They got three tickets (yeah!) and then we set about finding a place to park, literally for the day. We say a capital P (for park) sign at a beautiful new office building where we had to show ID and have our trunk searched before we could enter. It was the Ronald Reagan Building for International Development. It is a gorgeous building.

We had an hour or so to kill before our 10:30 ticket time, so we had breakfast in the Chez Park at the Willard Hotel. Fairly pricey, and not really better than IHOP.

The Washington Monument is 555 feet, 5 1/8 inches tall. You may remember (I didn't) that plans for it were developed in the early 19th century (Washington died in 1799, I think), and the cornerstone was laid in 1848. But that it was only built about 1/3 of the way initially due to lack of funds. It was completed to its total 555 feet and dedicated in 1885. Nothing in Washington can be taller than this. The Capitol dome is at the same height I believe. This makes for a relatively flat skyline it such marked contrast to New York City, for example.

My good friend Carolyn Madsen Hebbel, formerly of Glendale, California and now San Diego, reminds me that we climbed up all the steps when we were about 15 years old. Carolyn, my brother Jim and I were among about 90 Glendale High Schoolers that traveled the country for 6 weeks in two Trailways busses in the summer of, I'd say, 1964. We went MANY places (from Hoover Dam to Texas to Miami to Washington, New York, Chicago, the Bad Lands, etc) and she remembers we climbed to the top. I think I did it again when I was a senior in college visiting Juli Ling a college friend in Takoma Park, Maryland. Anyway, you can't climb up anymore. Apparently, too many people thought they climb the 500 feet (I guess 900+ stairs), but really couldn't, had chest pain/heart attacks, calls to 911, etc. So now you must take the elevator. The view from the top IS spectacular. See below looking toward the Capitol (with the Solar Decathalon exhibit in the foreground), and then the Lincoln Memorial below and on the right with the WWII Memorial in the foreground:

I was particularly pleased to see this quote at the Washington Monument as it seemed to capture what of the greatest attributes of Washington that we had come to appreciate after our visit to Mt. Vernon.

We spent the rest of the Tuesday visiting a couple more of the Smithsonian Museums and vowed that for future planning we would allow at least a full day for each museum. The Museum of American History and The Museum of Natural History are simply marvelous.

In American History we saw Dorothy's ruby slippers, a fantastic transportation exhibit (sponsored by Ford, I think), a printing demonstration (see below), the Inaugural gowns of selected First Ladies (Michelle Obama's wasn't on display, yet), a very interesting exhibit about the contribution of Jews to our history and nation, among the myriad of diverse and interesting exhibits. In Natural History Liz and I viewed another IMAX-3D movie, this one on the Wild Coast. It had amazing footage off the southeast coast of Africa where there are no inhabitants and, consequently, the sea life is unaffected by man. It is truly wilding active and thrilling to see with hundreds of birds diving into the water to compete with dolphins, and sharks, and turtles and some whales, and zillions of little sardines. They swarm in enormous schools and dart and turn in nano seconds to escape their prey. The photography was breath-taking and was so frenetic that you could hardly believe we were watching to much LIFE taking place. Again, there were so many terrific exhibits we felt we were just running through!

Liz and Gary wanted to leave time to visit the Spy Museum and so they headed over there about 3:00. I deferred and instead went to the Smithsonian's American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery which I thoroughly enjoyed. It has the portraits of many of those historical figures you've heard about so you can put a face with a name. One of the newest portraits is of Tommy LaSorda, the Dodger coach. We met up about 5:00, and had a low key dinner of pancakes at IHOP (which is how I can compare The Willard to IHOP!). Lizzie had never eaten at an IHOP. When she was about 3 to 4 years old, she didn't like pancakes (she's never been too much on breakfast), and we used to tease her when she misbehaved that we were going to take her to an IHOP to eat. She would fuss and be upset at the threat. But now, she LIKES pancakes (especially chocolate chip!), and was keen to go there to eat and try it. We all agreed, once about every 5 years is enough!

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14

We decided to extend our stay another day so we could finish up with visiting some friends and seeing Arlington National Cemetery. Again, my patient and friend, John Stinson, has a driving pass into Arlington as he has family buried there. This allowed us to drive right up to Arlington House (I think it must have formerly been called the Custis-Lee Mansion, former home of General Robert E. Lee) and to the Tomb of the Unknown and the Kennedy graves. They are refurbishing Arlington House, and we got a glimpse, as well as some more exhibits about Robert E. Lee. Gary and I agreed that he is kind of a tragic, flawed figure. His early Army career after graduating from West Point was certainly distinguished. But he really didn't have the courage of what seemed to be his convictions. Writings suggest that he did not really support slavery (though he had slaves), and he was clearly opposed to secession of the South. But, to my reading, he couldn't separate himself from his family and friends. His dear ones held so strongly to their beliefs about state's rights to continue slavery, that he resigned his commission in the United States Army, and commandeered the Army of Northern Virginia in order to continue to align himself with them. He suffered greatly for this, of course, with his home and land being taken and made into a national cemetery where many of those whom his troops had slain are buried. He is buried in Lexington, Virginia, where he was associated with a University there in his final years.

But the scenes in Arlington National Cemetery are sobering and inspiring.

The two markers at the right mark JFK and Jacqueline Kennedy's graves, and you may remember that their two infant/premature children are buried alongside. RFK and Teddy (recently interred) are set a little farther away and marked by a simple small white cross. As we walked to the eternal flame, Gary happened to notice Harry Blackmun's and Thurgood Marshall's tombstones. We are always interested in Harry Blackmun .... he was a Minnesotan, of course, and was on the staff of the Mayo Clinic in the legal department before he entered the judiciary. I actually met him once .... I had been invited to an event at Buena Vista College in Iowa by its president (the event was a lecture by Margaret Thatcher, in fact), and Justice Blackmun was also invited. We had a little reception before the lecture, and I was introduced to the Justice. Then I circled the room and chatted, and ultimately made my way back to him. He had remembered my name (I think he was about 85 at this point), and then said, "I don't think 'Abbott' is the first name in the Mayo Clinic directory. What about Leonard Aaro?!" Obviously, I was amazed. I guess when you have a really keen mind, even when you start losing neurons, you've still got a lot left!

We really appreciated our visit to Arlington, and are so appreciative of John Stinson for arranging his time and taking us on an "insider's" visit. Liz didn't go with us, though. She had wanted to, as she has an somewhat curious interest in cemeteries. When we were in Gettysburg she wanted to make sure we went to the soldiers' cemetery there. At that time, I think she wanted to look for "Leagues", as Gary had told her about the large (>75) number of known Leagues who fought in the Civil War. But, she had a stronger pull at Cherry Hill Park. Over the few days we stayed there she had become acquainted with Alec and Riley, a 7 year old boy and 5 year old girl, and had played with them after our explorations each day. The Johnson's, from Colorado, are on a similar year-long odyssey around the country. We had gotten acquainted and were quite comfortable leaving Liz with them for the morning while we went to Arlington. She had such a good time, and so enjoyed being with the kids. It was definitely a good decision for her. As it started to drizzle she actually spent the early afternoon after we returned watching a Harry Potter movie in their motorhome.

About 3:15, I picked her up, and we found our way just a few miles to Spencerville Adventist Academy where we visited Becky Koeppen, their fourth grade teacher. Becky and I became friends during the year I was at Andrews University in Michigan, 1971-1972. She is originally from the Washington D.C. area, and returned there and has worked as a teacher her entire career in a couple or three Adventist schools I think. She is married, and has a grown daughter, and continues to have the brightest eyes and most engaging laugh. I've always enjoyed her company and was really happy to see her again. You can see her sparkle in this picture Liz snapped when we went for an after school milk shake:

It was a day for reunions from long ago. After having been born in Columbus, Ohio, while my father was on the neurosurgery faculty at Ohio State University, we lived in Worthington, Ohio, for 10 years until 1958 when my family returned to California. My best friend in the church grade school was Debbie John (now Rawson) and we stayed in some touch for a few years, but over the last 20 years had lost touch. But I was able to track her down through a Christmas card from her older sister Liz, and we met for supper at Sierra Cafe near Silver Spring, Maryland. Debbie is a nurse in the pediatric out-patient procedures area at NIH, and is just as quick and bright as I remember her. She has three grown children, and she brought her son to join Liz and me for supper. He has just finished a graduate degree in international finance (I think) at the University of Edinburgh, and was had SUCH a nice visit. It is always remarkable how easy it is to pick up with people you have known well from the past .... We loved hearing about Debbie's other two daughters one who is in pediatric residency in Virginia, and the other who is in California studying speech pathology. Ed, Debbie's husband, is a risk management expert for the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Even though our joint past goes back 50 YEARS!!, we visited just like we did on the first sleepovers back in the 50's. Loved seeing you, Debbie!

(Liz cam! Pic a little blurry!)

All in all, our visit to the DC area was wonderful ..... personally, socially, historically, patriotically. Cherry Hill Park turned out to be a great base of operations, and though we didn't see everything, we felt our visit was definitely an Excellent Adventure.

Now we turn Buster and Bella south, where we fill focus on beautiful scenery and family visits. More Excellent Adventures!

Julie, Gary and Liz