November 12, 2012 – A Fun Day at the Museum of Natural History

When I was a young girl (~10 ish), I came to the Museum of Natural History on either a school or Girl Scout Trip.  The one thing I remember about that trip was finding jars and jars of creatures and embryos of all different species (including man).   And I was just FASCINATED!!  Soooo… I just had to come back and find them.  :-)))

Well, we did not find the jars but we did find Henry:

 

 

And oh so many other creatures:

 

 

Can you imagine meeting any of those creatures in the wild – Yikees??

Haddonfield, New Jersey – never knew that!

 

Some really cool artifacts:

And a great section on gems and minerals – WOW!! 

The Smithsonian Museums in Washington, DC is actually a collection of HUGE buildings based on a theme – Air and Space Museum, Native Peoples Museum, American History Museum, etc.  Each museum is an adventure in itself and one day will never cover it.  In 1998, Andy and I spent two days at the Air and Space Museum and still didn’t cover it.  One of the items on my bucket list is to cover every one of the Smithsonian Buildings on the National Mall – and not get overloaded with all that information.

Most of the buildings also have an IMAX theater with a few films running every day.  We decided on the IMAX film on the Arctic (narrated by Meryl Streep; music by Paul McCarthy).  Wonderful film about the polar bears and the melting ice.

The inside of the building:

And one last look at Washington DC:

   

And that concludes our Washington, DC trip – we are pooped!!  Tomorrow we head east to Delaware so stay tuned and…

ENJOY TODAY!

November 11, 2012 – Veteran’s Day at Arlington National Cemetery

We decided to spend Veteran’s Day in Arlington National Cemetery.  Every year they have a ceremony and the current President lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns.  They are a number of groups that attend but they also allow a number of the general public to attend.  So when we got there, we stood in line.  The line snakes it’s way along the visitor center and down thru the parking lot.  We started down by the parking lot and moved along.  Just as we round the corner of the visitor center and we could see the end of the line, that was it – all full – Bummer!!!   But we were able to see and do other things just not be at the ceremony or see the President – :-(((.

There were a lot of ceremonies throughout Washington D.C. but this is where I wanted to be on Veterans Day to say my own thanks for our freedom.  As we travel by RV and see this incredible country of ours, I realize just how many freedoms we do have and enjoy.  Our thanks to all who served and sacrificed.

 

The Kennedy Graves with the Eternal Flame:

This is the Arlington House.  The house and all this property once belonged to General Lee.  During the Civil War, the Union took over this property and buried some of the Union Soldiers around the edge of the yard.  Thus, making it hallowed ground.  Once the war ended, this became a National Cemetery.  General Lee and his family never returned here.

This is the view from the Arlington House Porch.  Notice how close he was to Washington.  Once the Cemetery was established the bridge in front was built and called the Peace Bridge.  It connects the north with the south and the Lincoln Memorial with General Lee’s property.

 

Ceremonial Gun Salute:

The Tomb of the Unknowns:

We were able to watch the ceremony of the many groups presenting wreaths to the Tomb of the Unknowns:

  

And what a treat to be there for the changing of the Guard – Hope you can get to this video:

Changing of the Guards

Andy did a great job – :-)

Memorials dedicated to the Columbia, Challenger, and those who died in the attempt to rescue the Iranian Hostages in 1980:

One last look at the Tomb of the Unknowns and Amphitheater:

Another AWESOME and EMOTIONAL day!

November 10, 2012 The National Mall in Washington DC

We wanted to spend more time today at the Mall so we took the Metro downtown. 

Once off the Metro we strolled down Pennsylvania Avenue. 

The National Archives Building:

 

The FBI:

 

The Old Post Office:

International Trade Building:

 

And the most famous of all:

 

 

Many of these building offer tours but we did not do them this time.  There is so much to see and do here that we made a list of some of the places we want to see and hopefully we will be able to do it all.  One thing I did not know though – if you contact your local representative before going, you can get some great tours not offered to the general public – the White House being one of them.

Just an FYI – since the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, which closed the White House to the public, and the 9/11 attack, which closed a number of other places to the public, security is tight.  Because most of these buildings really belong to the American people, we can still get in, although now some of them require background checks.   What a change from the previous times I have been here.

The Eisenhower Executive Office Building (almost looks like a castle):

We turned down 17th Street – this is the Organization of American States Building:

 

This is a Gate Keepers Building at the corner of Constitution and 17th Street.   Constitution Avenue use to be a canal and there are a number of gatekeeper buildings still intact.  This particular gatekeeper raised 11 children in this house – can you imagine?

And we arrived at our first destination:

 

 

The World War II Memorial honors the 16 million who served in uniform, of whom over 400,000 gave their lives.  It also honors the many millions who supported the war effort on the home front and celebrates the American spirit, national unity, and victory.

This is the entrance to the memorial.

 

On either side is a huge pavilion symbolizing that the war took place on two fronts.  This is the Atlantic pavilion:

 

On each side of the Pavilions are pillars – there are a total of 56 pillars for the U.S States, territories, and District of Columbia.  This is known as the roll call of the nation.  They alternate right and left of the field of stars based on when they entered the Union.

The Pacific Pavilion:

 

At the base of each pavilion is inscribed the major battles of the war.

 

On each side of the entrance walkway are 12 bas-relief sculptures that recall scenes of America at war.

And the Field of Stars:

We spent quite a bit of time here talking with one of the ranger volunteers and he gave us so much insight into this memorial.  Gosh, we could spend 2 days just here taking all the programs.

We did learn about the location of Kilroy (FYI - behind the Delaware and the Pennsylvania pillars):

  

Kilroy was not part of the original design of the Memorial, however, as they were building it, a number of WW II Veterans would visit and ask about it so this is where it was placed.

The waterfalls on each side of the Field of Stars:

 

  

The World War II Memorial is situated between the Washington Monument:

And the Lincoln Memorial:

  

A few pictures of the Reflection Pond as we continued our journey:

 

This is one of the approaches to the Korean War Memorial – you can see the statues in the background:

   

“There are nineteen stainless steel statues, created by WWII veteran Frank Gaylord, that depict a squad on patrol and evokes the experience of American ground troops in Korea.  Strips of granite and scrubby juniper bushes suggest the rugged Korean terrain, while windblown ponchos recall the harsh weather.  This symbolic patrol brings together members of the U.S. Air Force, Army, Marines, and Navy; the men portrayed are from a variety of ethnic backgrounds.”

This memorial gave me the goosebumps – it gave us the feeling that we were there in Korea with this patrol – I want to say AWESOME but truly, no words can describe the feelings.

  

Read this tribute – WOW!:

Next stop:

One of my heros:

 

The states are listed as they came into the Union:

The view from the Lincoln Memorial:

 

 

Our last place to visit was the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

The Three Servicemen:

The Wall:

  

 

The names are still being read. They finished on Sunday, 11/11, after 2000 volunteers from all over the USA, read over 58,000 names in 65 hours – what a tribute. This is the fifth time that the names have been read.

There were so many groups of veterans at all the memorials – emotional.   This gentlemen came with a group of WW 2 Vets from Ohio.  They all had this shirt and this veteran kindly let me take a picture.

The Vietnam Veterans Women’s Memorial:

 

And one final look at the Washington Monument:

We made our way back to the Metro – past these two historic buildings – bank and insurance company.

What an incredible experience and emotional day!