Washington trip

Here's my photobucket album, with all the photos I took on my whirlwind trip to our nation's capital.

The purpose of my trip was to bring Becca to Washington for her NYLC conference. Here's Becca preparing for the conference (click on the photos to enlarge):



and mugging for the camera on the plane:



and her ultimate destination:



Becca met up with the program cooridinator in National Airport (I refuse to call it "Reagan"), and I was free to explore DC for an entire afternoon. I've been to the District several times, and I knew exactly what I wanted to see. I majored in History in college, and I have always had an interest in viewing the monuments and memorials to our Presidents and war heroes. My touring plan was very ambitious, do-able only because I was alone and motivated, I think.

I took the Metro (I am always amazed at how clean, quiet and efficient the trains are) to Smithsonian Station, then walked towards the Washington Monument.



Didn't go into the Monument. Instead I headed down towards the Tidal Basin and the Jefferson memorial.



Alas, the cherry blossoms haven't bloomed yet, but the view from the Tidal Basin is magnificent.




Next it was the FDR Memorial. the memorial is divided into 4 "rooms", each representing one of Roosevelt's terms. Since I came from the Jefferson Memorial, I actually started in 1945 and worked my way back to 1933, but since I know quite a bit about FDR, it didn't really matter.




Next I walked over to the Wrold War II Memorial. this memorial sits on the mall, at the end of the Reflecting Pool across the street from the Washington Monument.




I walked down the mall to the other end of the Reflecting Pool. The Korean War Memorial is on one side of the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial on the other side, so fo course I visited all three.

Korean War Memorial:






Vietnam Memorial:



and, of course, the Lincoln Memorial:





Then I walked back up the mall to the Washington Monument, looked for the bullet holes but couldn't find them, so I walked back to the Metro station and hopped on the Blue Line back to the airport. I spent maybe 4 hours touring monuments. I know I've given it very superficial treatment here...but I was truly moved by the sense of history, by the wisdom of our leaders and by the sacrifices immortalized in our war memorials.