Day 13 Washington

Up and out early this morning for our first day of exploring in Washington. True to Barb’s description the subway system in Washington is awesome! The parking garage is five minutes away and the instructions were perfectly clear – we don’t have a trailer attached now, of course the driving is easy! The stations and trains are spotlessly clean and all air conditioned. Despite the fact that we travelled down during rush hour, there are plenty of seats. NYC subways were great, but clean with cool stations and a guaranteed seat were not descriptors there if you remember! As we moved through the stations on our way downtown I wondered if the creators of Hunger Games had been on the Washington subway system? It really did feel Hunger Game-esk as we pulled out of each station with their platform red disc lights, high rounded concrete ceilings and trains that suddenly speeded up at they left the station! In no time we were downtown, had made our subway transfer to the line with the Smithsonian stop and we were on our way above ground to Jefferson Avenue on The National Mall.

Our first view of the Washington Monument.

Although we had information from the campground we decided to start with the Smithsonian Castle. We thought The Information Center for the 19 museums and galleries was a good place to begin. The center not only employed very friendly and helpful folks (who had honeymooned in Nova Scotia!) but also housed a collection of artifacts that gave us a taste of what the Smithsonian was all about. It sometimes appears quite random but displays a collection of American artifacts that also catalogues at least a partial history of the world.

 Smithsonian Castle

 The remains of James Smithson.

Bobby Orr's skates - hey, don't they belong to us?

A piece of the Hindenburg.

The guitar belonging to Les Paul - I said it was a little bit of everything!

Following our hour long ‘short’ visit to the Information Center we decided to start at the Air and Space Museum. On the way there though, we were distracted by the outdoor gardens. Honestly I think you could spend a week here just roaming through the gardens!

 Beautiful little places to sit everywhere.

 The variety of plants is incredible.

 Plants everywhere you look.

These were so cool but about the only plant that wasn't labeled!

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden was the next distraction. I have to admit, as happens so many times in art exhibits, we didn’t ‘get’ many of the displays. It was very cool to stroll through Rodin art...but I still didn’t get it!

 This was art by Yoko Ono called Wishing Tree. There were tags provided and you wrote what you wished for and carefully tied it to the tree. When the tree becomes full they are all taken down and sent to Yoko. One of the tags read, "I wish you hadn't broke up the Beatles."

 The Burghers of Calais by Rodin. Some unhappy dudes!

Crouching Woman by Rodin???

 Looks like construction material fell over and were abandoned but what do I know - apparently it's art!

 Pictures of the reflective sculpture!

A McDonalds food cart - never seen one before. Everything is cool at Smithsonian!

I mentioned earlier that the Smithsonian wasn’t exclusively US history. That was well summed up by a quote I discovered as I entered the Air and Space Museum. “Unlike the boundaries of the sea by the shorelines, the ‘ocean of the air’ laps at the border of every state, city, town and home throughout the world.” L. Welch Pogue – former chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Board.

Finally though, the National Air and Space Museum! Remembering that there are 19 of these museums, we figure we can quickly move through the displays and move on to get in a couple every day. After all, it’s free so how engaging can it be? Very engaging, that’s how engaging – 22 different display areas and 3 theatre areas! Spending the rest of the day here, we don’t come near to seeing everything! The history of flight and space travel was only dealt with in a couple of the displays. The rest of the museum explored the consequences of those discoveries.

 Marking the entrance.

 The benches are different widths and labeled to identify the widths of various airplane seats! Clever comparison.

 Thought provoking quotes, questions and thoughts everywhere.

 The pictures of Mars were amazing! To see how far our ability to photograph since the Moon was cool.

Another shot from Mars and the detail is incredible.

Created from Di Vinci's Ornithopter Model sketch!

The influence of flight on the WWI and WWII could have taken an entire day on its own. It was interesting to see how both overestimating and underestimating the influence of flight had such a great affect on both wars. As always, my favourite were the personal stories from decorated veterans who were ordinary people who had experienced extraordinary things. Throughout the War displays, video footage recounted the human experience – powerfully! Reading about the awarding of Medals of Honour and how the criteria have changed over the years, was interesting too. Originally begun during the Civil War the standards were lax. This led to more than 900 medals being revoked. I’m sure than wasn’t awkward at all!! Even with the more stringent requirements, as of 2008 more than 3,000 medals have been awarded. The most amazing thing to me though was learning that 19 people have been offered a Medal of Honour twice. Listening to the examples in the displays, I’m pretty sure I could not have made the same choices that led to the award...let alone have done it all a second time!

 Entering the re-creation of the London bomb shelter - the subway!

A sign from the London Tube.

The story of the Wrights was an entire study itself. In the centre of the large hanger style room, is the actual plane that took the Kitty Hawk flights – large and impressive but astounding to think of two handymen (essentially) without formal education, managing something so monumental.

 

Closest as I'm likely to get him to a hot air balloon ride.

Information and presentation on aircraft carriers was fascinating. The scale model of the US Enterprise took someone 12,000 hours to build! That alone was amazing even before you realized the size and capacity of the carrier! 

Just look at the number of planes to get an idea of how big it was!

Looking at space, satellites and scientific advances that enhance our understanding of our universe is clearly a presentation of global proportion – literally! I have already decided that a week here is not enough. I also regret that I didn’t discover Washington when my kids were little. What a great family vacation! The cost of getting to and staying in Washington is the end of the expense since most everything else is free! 

 Stupid GPS satellites!!

This was really funky stuff. It's called Stardust Aerogel and was created to collect space dust! It is the lightest solid ever created, is 99% empty space and only slightly denser than air! And it looks as weird as it sounds. Looks like a ghost!

 



By late afternoon we realized that our original thoughts to do several museums a day were silly. The air conditioning inside had been quite chilly so we thought we could take some outdoor time and strolled The National Mall toward the Capitol building. The Reflecting Pool, the Capitol, the grounds, the statues, all very lovely until very dark clouds moved in and it was apparent we should take cover. Running to the nearest building (any port in a storm!) we arrived at the Botanic Garden. Thank God for rain! This stop hadn’t even been on our radar, but the next hour was delightful as we took refuge in the dream of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. First established in 1820 this ecosystem reserve has more than 60,000 plants, some dating back to 1842! Divided into gardens that display medicinal, primeval, adaptations, deserts, orchids, jungle and rare and endangered species, the gardens stress the importance of these plants to the well-being of the planet. As a side note, another great exchange with a local – rushing in from the storm, we were greeted warmly, offered maps and welcomed to explore. On the way out an hour later (it was still raining a little, but the lightning had stopped) the man we met on the way in came over to us to ask if we had enjoyed the visit and claimed since I was clearly such a nice, friendly girl I deserved an expensive, designed rain cover and he would arrange it! Sharing a laugh, I left moments later covered in a clear garbage bag and left behind, what I believe was a favourable impression of Canada...even if he won’t claim we come prepared!

 The Capitol.

 Here come the nasty clouds!

 Looking down into the jungle.

 Even the supports and plumb are covered in plants.

My designer rainwear!



Wandering back down the Mall the world looks as if it has been washed clean by the passing storm. Against the dark backdrop of the retreating clouds the white stone buildings appear as if lit, the verdant green of the many gardens and trees slick with rain. Washington is a very clean city but the hard downpour has washed away even the dusty footprints on the stone walkways and everything appears shiny and new.

The walk to the Washington Monument obelisk opposite the Capitol is about a mile. By the time we arrived at that end of the Mall, the air conditioned interior of the museum is such a distant memory that it’s easy to doubt your ability to recall ever feeling cool! Time to fill the tank! Beginning north toward the White House we recall Barb (back at Cherry Hill) telling us about a great restaurant on the south-east corner of the White House lawns). We spotted Old Ebbitt Grill before we even saw the White House.

Established in 1856 it claims to have been a favourite of Presidents Grant, Cleveland and Theodore Roosevelt! Whatever else might be said about them, they had excellent taste. The roasted beet salad (disappeared before pictures were possible!) and the lump crab cakes (a house speciality) were exceptionally delicious and the atmosphere was just what one might expect of spot to accommodate the movers and shakers. Arriving just before 5:00 was ideal and we were seated and appropriately fussed over. By the time we left after 6:00, the place was hopping. I didn’t see anyone I recognized, but truth to tell, unless Barack walked in I wasn’t likely to recognize anyone else. It was interesting to watch as the crowd morphed from tourists to locals, from shorts to long pants. David and I did note that the clientele could have been the bus drivers from the hundreds of tour busses littering the city but it was far more fun to imagine them as movers and shakers! I do really think they were the men and women from the National Treasury across the street and of course the White House and Capital staff, some meeting spouses (or not, after all this is the land of Monica Lewinsky!), others meeting colleagues for a business dinner! Dessert was a thoroughly enjoyable people watching experience. 

 A happy boy in Old Ebbitt Grill.

This one is for you Anna Marie! Sorry about the beets.

Wandering around the White House and by wandering around I mean up and down Pennsylvania Avenue, was interesting! The security, while discrete, was extensive and I couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for the family literally trapped inside their own home! There is a price to be paid for leadership! It appeared as if something was about to happen as security presence increased and Pennsylvania Avenue gained a line of police cars down the centreline. Whatever it was didn’t happen while we were there! Given the security we decided to keep the “Canadian” thing to ourselves this time...not a great record of us showing up at the White House unannounced! At one point, as we heard a fire truck in the surrounding neighbourhood, we quipped, “They know we’re here!” 

 Eisenhower Office Building next to the White House.

Check out the snipers on the roof!

The sky was once again beginning to threaten and not willing to tempt fate another time we set off for the nearest subway. The trip home was as smooth as the trip in but we arrived back at the parking lot to a deluge of rain. Digging out my designer rain gear we were across the parking lot and back at the trailer lickety-split!

Once again 10,000 steps on the FitBit is not a problem. I got an email from FItBit tonight congratulating me on walking 40km last week! Not bad when you remember we spent two days travelling, caught in the truck!