Escaping the Heat

Another hot one today, so we headed back to Annapolis to seek relief from the heat. We found a mall similar to Old Orchard in Chicago. To our delight, we happened upon a Macaroni Grill, just outside of the mall, where we had a delicious lunch. We hadn't found a Macaroni Grill, since Wilmington, NC, so we were quite happy with this surprise.

After lunch, we went to the mall to find the movie theater. We miss our AMC Barrington 30 and it was lovely to be in a theater of that caliber. We saw X-Men: The Last Stand, a fun summer action movie with luscious Hugh Jackman. If you see it, stay through the credits. There is a surprise that everyone missed except Mel, me and the ushers.

Still, unwilling to face the heat, we strolled the mall and browsed the stacks at the Borders bookstore. Finally, we headed back to the airconditioned RV for which we were grateful.

The photo above is another shot of the U. S. Naval Academy.

This is a photo of the City Docks, also called "Ego Alley," because of the number and size of pleasure boats moored here. At the head of the dock is a memorial commemorating Kunta Kinte, the ancestor of Alex Haley, the author of Roots. Kunta Kinte arrived in Annapolis in 1767. There were lots of school children on field trips visiting the City Dock and other historic sites. We ended our walking tour at an ice cream shop seeking a cool down after our warm walk.
Here is a photo of one of the many beautiful homes found throughout historic Annapolis. The houses are plaqued with plaques of various colors indicating the 18th, 19th and early 20th century styles. Many of these homes have stayed in ownership by the families, who originally settled here in the colony. So they are lovingly cared for.

Here is a photo of another of our favorites. The historic district of Annapolis is on the National Historic Register. Historic preservation is very active here. New construction must stay within the style and character of the area. You won't find any Frank Gerhy buildings here.

Addendum: Last night, I lost this blog due to technical malfunction of the satellite that provides my Internet Connection. Today, June 1, we are having a cleaning and laundry day in preparation for a visit from our friends, Jimmy and Rebecca. This is our last week here so we will be running for the rest of our stay. So with the restoration of last night's work, there will be no new blog today. These things happen.

Not A Sailor In Sight

In an effort to escape the direct heat of the Washington sun, we decided that it would be a good idea to avoid downtown and headed to Annapolis for the day. We figured being closer to Chesapeake Bay may cool us down. It didn't, but Annapolis was a great place to visit anyway. The photo below is of the Naval Academy's chapel dome from the Eastport area, where we had lunch at the Carrol's Creek Restaurant at the Annapolis City Marina. The chapel was built in 1904 at the highest point on the Academy's grounds. It houses the crypt of John Paul Jones, of "I have not yet begun to fight" fame, and the founder of the newly United States Navy in 1779. An honor guard stands duty at the crypt whenever it is open to the public.

In 1845, the War Department established the United States Naval Academy for the training of midshipmen to become naval officers to command the small and large ships of the fleet. Last Friday was graduation for the Class of 2006 and the place appears to be deserted but the buildings and the grounds were beautiful.

I don't know what I did here, but I seem to have fused two pictures together. This photo is of the Maryland State Building. It is the oldest state house, built in 1779, in continuous legislative use in the country. Even the Continental Congress met here from November 1783 to August 1784, where the Treaty of Paris, formally ending the Revolutionary War, was ratified. Early democracy had many homes.

As is our usual course of action when in a new town, we found a trolley tour so that we could see what was to be seen in Annapolis. Fortunately, the mini-bus was air conditioned which made us and our fellow travelers quite happy. Annapolis is a very walkable town because it is small and compact but the heat was oppressive so we confined ourselves to walking at the City Dock area, venturing up the hill toward the state house. We ended our walk with a stop at a local ice cream shop so we could cool off a bit before we headed home.

The above photo shows St. Mary's Church, a Gothic Revival style church, consecrated in 1860. In the foregroud is the Charles Carroll House. Charles Carroll was the only Roman Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence and the wealthiest man in the Maryland colony. Because of his wealth, he was accepted by his Protestant neighbors. Carroll was the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, dying at the age of 96 in 1832.

In 1952, the U. S. Treasury Department had 48 replicas of the Liberty Bell cast for each one of the states that had entered the union. Maryland's replica is installed at the St. John's College, the liberal arts college known for its curriculum based on the great books of Western civilization, including Plato, Aristotle, Einstein, Faulkner and our nation's founding documents. The graduates from this unique program generally go on for their Masters and PhD's.

Plane Crazy

Today, we were up and at 'em quite early. Mel set the alarm for 6:30 a.m. so that we could get Brian to Dulles Airport for his travel back to Chicago. By 7:15 a.m., we were on the road. We had no idea what holiday traffic would be and found that we were virtually alone. We had Brian to the airport by 8 a.m.

We had plans to visit our friend, Pam, in Arlington, VA, just 25 minutes from the airport. But it was way to early to begin visiting so it was back to the RV. Mel is still suffering from his head cold and confessed that he was exhausted. So I ordered him back to bed for rest, but then I ended up falling asleep, too. I suddenly awoke at noon, feeling panicked that we had missed our visit with Pam. So, I called her to explain what had happened and she was understanding and forgiving. We made plans to meet later in the week.

Mel awoke quite out of sorts so I knew he was feeling really bad. We agreed that we just needed to rest so we just lounged around for awhile. Then, our friend, Jimmy, called and we chatted with him, Vince, and Ed, who were at the Blue Angel restaurant for lunch. It is always good to talk to friends from home. I called Michelle, who was in Lake Geneva for the weekend. I enjoyed catching up on the family activities and miss them all terribly.

Then, we decided that we had to stop being sloths and get ourselves into gear and go out for dinner. It was hot as blazes as we left the RV. They said it was 91 in the shade but 101 in the sun. We were in the sun and in a hot car. We sought cool shelter at a sports bar, The Green Turtle, in honor of the UM mascot, the terrapin. The service was quick; the food good and we were satisfied. We returned to the RV ASAP to get into the airconditioning again.

So not too much excitement today. So, I am posting additional pictures from the Air and Space museum visit yesterday. Two great airships are shown in the photo above. The beautiful silver aircraft is the the Pan Am Clipper Flying Cloud. The second is the Air France's Concorde.

The Pan Am Clipper is emblazoned in my memory as my father used to take me to Lindbergh Airport in St. Louis, so we could watch this beauty take off. It was all so romantic to watch from the chain link fence surrounding the airfield as passengers would walk from the small red brick terminal, cross the tarmac and ascend the metal staircase into the sparkling ship. I never thought that I would someday get to go on such a vehicle. Going to the airport to watch planes take off was such fun. I feel sorry that my grandchildren will never have the freedom that we and our children had of just going to the airport for fun. Now, traveling by plane is such a hassle thanks to hijackings and 9/11. Tell me that we are freer today than yesterday.

I never got to ride in the Concorde. Now I never will as they have been grounded, but they, too, were a romantic flying concept, another beautiful plane.

Here is another sample of passenger aviation, the Boeing 707. It was huge at its time. Who knew that planes would get bigger and bigger but not necessarily more comfortable.

Here is another bit of space history, the Space Shuttle Enterprise. This aircraft was built as a test vehicle for NASA. It was meant to be a launch vehicle for the orbiter that would be launched from the space shuttle into space.

As promised here is the photo of Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon. This the photo where Dr. Aldrin stopped everything and posed so I could take his picture. A nice man!

Come Fly With Me

Today was a full, exciting, yet sobering, day. We got up early with three of us to shower and dress. We drove to a nearby IHOP for a fortifying breakfast because it was going to be one long day of touring. We timed it just right and got seated before the motorcylists and church goers arrived. We wanted to be at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Center when it opened. Above is a photo of the museum. We were impressed with the quality of this relatively new museum.
The Karasek luck continues to run golden. As we entered the museum, there was a sign saying that Buzz Aldrin, the 2nd astronaut to walk on the moon, would be at the museum to sign his children's book, "Reaching for the Moon." With him was Lonnie Jones Schorer, the author of "Kids To Space: A Space Traveler's Guide," with a publishing date of today. Upon seeing the sign, I walked right into the book store and bought both books, so I would be prepared when they arrived.

I was so excited I couldn't stand it. I never buy anything at the beginning of a day of touring. Who wants to carry stuff around all day? But I broke my own rule by spontaneously acting upon our arrival. Mel just shook his head but he knows me too well to object.

Once the books were bought, we went to the Observation Deck (the oval structure on the tall pedestal in the picture at the beginning of this post). Basically, we could see the control towers at Dulles Airport with planes landing from left and right, always lovely to be looking down on the rest of the world (kind of like our old condo). When we descended from the tower, an IMAX movie, The Fighter Pilot, was starting so we purchased tickets to see that adventure. IMAX movies are always so much fun with breath taking views.

Then, we got down to the business of looking at planes. Brian always astounds us with his knowledge of aircraft. When he was a little boy, he loved to read factual books. He was never too much into fiction. What I missed was that he was retaining all of that information. There were guides in the museum to tell visitors about the aircraft. We didn't need to go on those tours. We had Brian. It amazed us as we would read the one paragraph explanations of what we were viewing, then Brian would add in what was happening in history at the time or where the aircraft was on a historic timeline or what battle it had been used in. Yikes! A regular walkng encyclopedia.

Finally, it was time for Buzz Aldrin, who was set up in the Space area of the museum. There was a long line, but we slip right to the front because we had already purchased the books. The line was for those who were buying the books before seeing Buzz.

What a gentleman! He is a vibrant, cordial man, whose manner belies his 76 years. Not knowing if we would be able to actually see him to sign the book, I circled around to the signing table and stood back to get some photos of him, while Mel and Brian got into the line. He spotted me and stopped everything so that I could get a good photo of him. I will post that photo in a future blog. Then, we realized that we didn't have to wait in the line because we already had the book. So we marched right up to the front and had the books signed by Ms. Schorer and by Buzz. We got to shake his hand and recognizing me, he said, "Do you want to take some pictures together?" Can you believe that? He was so gracious and aware that we would be thrilled to have our picture taken with him.

After we walked away, I asked Brian, if he remembered the photo of Buzz Aldrin, on the moon and saluting the American flag. He did. Because Brian was born on Flag Day in 1972, I had decorated his room with a flag motif that included that infamous picture of man on the moon. Maybe, I vaccinated him that way, considering his interests and work today.

The photo above is the best of the shots that Mel took. This is one for the history books, at least our history book. Brian recalled that when he and the twins were younger that they got to meet Gregory "Pappy" Boyinton, World War II Marine flying ace in the Pacific theater. Black Sheep Squadron was a hit television show at the time, but there here was the real Pappy Boyington, right in front of the boys. We were at the EAA Fly-In at Oshkosh, WI, an annual trek for our family. I bought Boyington's book and the boys stood in line to have him sign it. Shortly, after that adventure, Pappy Boyington died at age76. Brian still has the book and probably has that memorized, too.

Please note the shirt that Brian has on. It is one from his collection of NASA tee shirts that he just happened to wear today. As for the books that Buzz Aldrin signed, they will be winging their way to Ryan and Daniel, our future astronauts, as Buzz intended in writing the book. Buzz is promoting space travel for ordinary people and serves as Chairman of the National Space Society.

So, we finished the Space exhibition and continued our trek through what is basically one huge hangar. Above is a photo of the museum's latest aquisition, the Virgin Airline's experimental GlobalFlyer. The GlobalFlyer was designed by Burt Rutan (of the Voyager fame), financed by Richard Branson, owner of Virgin Airlines, and flown by Stephen Fosset for a record breaking longest flight by a single engined jet plane in February, 2006.

Anyone remember Magellan's cicumnavigation of the globe that took two years. In February/March of 2005, the GlobalFlyer, piloted by Stephen Fosset, flew a non-stop solo trip around the world. It took Fosset 4 days. Now, it has been retired to the museum and arrived just two weeks ago. It was sitting in a lonely corner with no identification but Brian was able to inform us of its feats.

As we continued up and down the aisles of the museum viewing incredible historical aircraft, we turned a corner and there it was, the Enola Gay. We did not know that this historic B29 Superfortress bomber was in the museum. It is just sitting with other aircraft surrounding it. Nothing particularly impressive about it. But when we realized what we were seeing an eeriness set upon all of us. All of our giddiness about Buzz Aldrin quickly quieted as we stood in awe of this aircraft. As Mel said, "This is creepy." I looked around me and there were several Japanese tourists surrounding us. How ironic! No one was saying anything, just standing awestruck and understanding that this was more than a gigantic airplane.

For those of you who may not know, the Enola Gay was the bomber, piloted by then Col. Paul Tibbets, that carried "Little Boy," the first atomic bomb ever used in warfare, and dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on August 5, 1945, a turning point that brought about the end to World War II. There is much controversey surrounding that decision and today we are living in a world that any little country wanting one has the capacity to build one. But it is very hard to second guess the decision given the circumstances of the time. We do live in a dangerous world, thus our love of Disney World, a place to forget about danger for a little while.

We still had much to see and were not ready to go when they announced that the museum was closing at 5:30 p.m. We left the museum fully satisfied and happy with our day. The traffic back to Maryland was quite light so we drove to Laurel, MD, just north of our campsite, and had dinner at a 50's style diner, The Silver Diner. We had traditional American fare, hamburgers, fries and chocolate shakes. Yummy!

We had been very careful not to listen to news or see TV's as we had taped the Indy 500. When we returned to the RV, we started the tape to watch the big race. It was such a great race and had the best finish in years with Sam Hornish, Jr. surpassing Marco Andretti in the final sprint of the race. How exciting! We all were briefly cheering for the Andretti team, hoping their Indy curse would be broken. But great driving is great driving and Hornish earned the win.

We were very tired campers, as the day ended. But we will always remember this Memorial Day.

My Son, The Pilot!

This is the first day of the Memorial Day weekend. Because Brian, shown above, was coming in late in the afternoon, we decided to go to lunch and a movie. From there, we would drive to Dulles Airport to pick up Brian.

That was the plan. But the best laid plans... First thing in the morning, we did a thorough cleaning of the RV in preparation of Brian's visit. When finished, I took my shower. As I dressed, Mel went to take his shower, when I heard him say, "Oh no!" It so happened that the toilet broke. Fortunately, there was no spillage, but it was not savable. So, off we drove to an RV supply place that we had seen a few days ago. It was about 3 miles away. But it was already after noon. What if they were closed--and on a holiday? With our fingers crossed for good luck, we arrived at the RV dealer. It was still open and they had what we needed. We were so happy, even $200.00 later. We returned to the RV and Mel proceeded to re-install the toilet. But, alas, the connector hose was a bit too short. So, it was back to the RV store. Another $20.00 later, we were back to the RV and Mel was able to finish the job.

All Hail to Marvelous Mel and his Mechanical Fingers! That is why I keep him around (or at least one of the reasons). What was so good about the situation was that Mel stayed calm and cool and worked quickly and efficiently. Minus the travel and buy time, he had the old toilet out and the new one installed in 20 minutes. He can do the job when he puts his mind to it. He is very proud of himself, as am I.

Once Mel finished his work, he showered and it was off to Dulles Airport-no time for lunch and a movie. The airport has a 13 mile dedicated highway that leads to the terminal. They have a nifty feature, a cell phone parking area, where you can park until your passenger calls that he/she has arrived. Then, you drive to the terminal and pick them up. So efficient.

When we had Brian in the Jeep, we decided that we were close enough to downtown to take a ride around the Mall to show Brian the sights. What we had forgotten was that the Vietnam Vet bikers were in town for Memorial Day. Tomorrow, they are having a Mall Ride ceremony, called Rolling Thunder, to honor veterans and Prisoners of War, but they started today. So, there was absolutely no parking available to pull over and visit some of the memorials. We drove around the Lincoln Memorial, the White House, the Washington Memorial (pictured above) and then we headed toward the many Smithsonian museums and finally, the Capitol.

As we circled the Capitol, pictured above, Mel said, "Let's go to Union Station and have dinner at the restaurant, "America." Somehow, I managed to get us on the right streets and we drove right to the garage. We were able to quickly park and while the station was very busy with travelers and tourists, we were seated immediately. Once we were on the road, I was able to get us to the right streets to get us to I295 and back to the RV park. Basically, we made a circle around DC, known as the Beltway.

And I end this blog with a photo of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a memorial that is perfect to depict the reason for this holiday. While visiting Arlington Cemetery, the guide told us that during the week, they average 25 funerals a day, mostly World War II veterans but with more and more Iraqi War soldiers. Since last Memorial Day, 810 men and women have died in the Iraqi confilict. My hope for next year is that all of troops will be home safe and sound. Have a happy and safe Memorial Day!

Down Time

Today was a down time day. Mel woke up sick as a dog and I was achy and had a bit of a sore throat. So we decided to lie low and take time to heal ourselves. Actually, it was a good thing that we did do that. Our plans had been to visit the U. S. Capitol Building.

When I turned on the local news at noon, the entire broadcast was filled with news that the Capitol Building and the Sam Rayburn Senate Office Building were in lock down. A House Representative had reported that he had heard gunshots in the parking garage of the office building. The police responded immediately and e-mails were sent to offices in both buildings that ordered staff and visitors to remain in their locked offices until the police checked on them. It was also reported that the Washington, DC schools were ordered into lock down.

The upshot of the whole story was that there were construction crews working in the parking garage and something that they were doing made it sound as if gun shots were being fired. Better to err on the side of caution, I guess. But people here are really nervous wrecks since 9/11 and other traumatic incidents. I talked with our friends, Dennis and Marilyn, today and their daughter, who works in DC, happened to be at the Capitol Building when all of this was going on. She was able to e-mail them that she was okay so they were relieved to hear that she was safe. By 3 p.m., both buildings were re-opened and the business of the day continued.

Because we weren't able to tour today, I am posting pictures from our tour yesterday at the National Gallery of Art. The photo above is of the "Cascade" waterfall outside one of the art museum's cafes. This water feature was a stunning amenity of the Gallery.

I believe that this is a Toulouse Lautrec painting. Isn't it grand? I wonder what she is thinking or day dreaming about. And here is a wonderful sculpture from the Sculpture Gallery of a woman reading. Since I am so fond of reading, I wanted to include this photo. Although I know many of my women friends read, I don't believe that they are attired nor disrobed as this one, but perhaps I do not know them well. One of my few accomplishments today was to finish another installment of the "No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" by Alexander McCall Smith, In the Company of Cheerful Ladies. This series is light, but delightful, summer beach reading.

Here is a portrait of another woman reading. Just wanted to keep the theme going. Another series that I enjoy is the Miss Julia books by Ann B. Ross. I recently finished Miss Julia's School of Beauty. Again, this is light summer reading and these books are humorous as well as friendly. The characters that have been created are people that you'd like to know.

Now I don't want you to think that my mind has turned to mush on this trip. While at home for Easter, I finished two challenging books that Michelle's book club was reading. One was The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini about the tragic life of a boy in Afghanistan. The other was The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon about a boy with autism (fascinating how the author could place you inside the mind of someone with this disease).

So many books, so little time!

Art & Ideas

We put in a long day of touring today. Poor Mel woke up with the beginnings of a head cold. That explains why he had no oomph yesterday and we just lazed around the area and in the camper. But he was determined that we do some touring in downtown DC.

First, we started with a bus ride to the College Park train station and then headed to the Navy Memorial-National Archives stop. As we ascended from the station, the Navy Memorial was in the plaza and is pictured above.
Since we hadn't eaten breakfast, we decided to go to National Gallery of Art, where we had an early lunch at the Cascade Cafe. We watched the waterfall as we ate our lunch and enjoyed people watching as tour groups of school children passed from the East Building of the Gallery to the West Building and vice versa. Then, we got busy and followed a map with the top 12 paintings, recommended by the gallery staff. This was like a treasure hunt and took us through many different galleries of American and European art. While I took many photos of my favorite artists, the photo of the painting above is one of my favorites. How precious is that? This was in the French Impressionists gallery and the painter escapes my memory now, but I wanted to include it anyway. According to Mel, I only took photos of religious art, but I can't help that so much of the paintings by great artists had religious themes. Oh well! All of this art was on the Main Floor of the Gallery. Before we left the Gallery, we made our way to the Ground Floor of the Gallery that houses special exhibits and the Sculpture Gallery. There was so much to see and somehow we kept circling around and revisiting some galleries and missing others, so someday we will have to return as we didn't even get into the areas where Modern Art was displayed.
After we left the National Gallery of Art, we headed to the Sculpture Garden for a much needed rest before entering the National Archives that houses the originals of the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, and the the Bill of Rights. I couldn't wait to see these documents. To think that a mere 3 documents form the basis of our democracy is amazing. We spent 3 1/2 hours in the Archives. We attended two movies that explained the work of the archivists with the documents. This museum was just fascinating. I plan to try to do some research through the archives on the web to see how much I can find out about our families without having to actually meet with an archivist. Mel particularly enjoyed the special exhibit, "The Way We Worked." The photo above shows the exterior of the National Archives. In the foreground is the sculpture, "Aurora" by Mark di Suvero. This is one of the many sculptures in the Sculpture Garden.

Of all the sculptures in the Sculpture Gardens, Claes Oldenburg's "Typewriter Eraser," was Mel's favorite. It is basic and easy to understand. With his cold, Mel was in no mood for nuances and subtleties. As we viewed the final exhibit in the Archives, Mel turned to me and said, "Take me home!" Poor guy was pretty miserable. Between the commute, a quick dinner and some minor food shopping, we didn't reach the RV until after 8 p.m. While we talked about taking in the U. S. Capitol Building tomorrow, we will have to wait to see how Mel feels in the a.m.

More From Baltimore

Today, we decided to take the day off. Both of us were tired from our many adventures in Maryland and Washington, DC. Above is a photo of the Baltimore skyline from Inner Harbor.
There was a bit of whimsy in the harbor, where so many historic ships are moored as part of the Baltimore Maritime Museum, but these charming fiberglass sea monsters tickled my fancy.
In College Park, Md, the home of University of Maryland, we saw a number of these terrapins. But when I saw one at Inner Harbor, I decided to snap it and try to figure out what is going on. The diamondback terrapin is the Maryland's state reptile and Testudo, the Terrapin is the UM mascot. Maybe they are doing the "Cow" thing with the terrapins that I do not know.

Here is a photo of historic John Hopkins Hospital, opened in the 1899, a world renowned biomedical research and medical facility. This building is just one of the many hospital facilities lining many streets in Baltimore.

Home of the Orioles

We spent the day in Baltimore, visiting my good friend, Angela, her husband, Steve, and their 3 year old son, Kyle. We had so much catching up to do, but Angela made sure that we saw some of the city. So we gathered up Kyle and headed to Inner Harbor, a waterfront area similar to Chicago's Navy Pier. It was a spendid day to spend on the water. In the foreground of the photo is the 1930 Lightship 116, the Chesapeake, from the U. S. Lighthouse Service and part of the Baltimore Maritime Museusm. The glass building is the Maryland Science Center and the triangular-faced building is the National Aquarium. We walked along the harbor to Harborplace, where we had a wonderful seafood dinner at the renowned Philips Seafood Restaurant. This is a photo of the USCG Taney, the last ship afloat able to fight during the attack at Pearl Harbor and continued to serve during the Korean and Vietnam War. The Taney is now a part of the Baltimore Maritime Museum.
Fort McHenry, named after George Washington's Secretary of War, James McHenry, was the site of the battle for Baltimore in the War of 1812. It was on September 14, 1814 that the British were bombarding the star-shaped fort. From an American ship out in Chesapeake Bay, Francis Scott Key could see the 40' by 30' American flag, which was commissioned by General George Armistead and sewn by Mary Young Pickersgill, flying over the fort, thus inspiring the song, "The Stars Spangled Banner." This photo of the fort was taken from Baltimore's Inner Harbor.

The state bird of Maryland is the Baltimore Oriole. The Baltimore Oriole baseball team, named after the state bird, plays in Oriole Park at the Camden Yards. The Camden Yards were originally railroad yards and the stadium is pictured above. Do the names Babe Ruth or Cal Ripken sound familiar? Both played for the Orioles.

The Capitol Is Capital!

We spent a beautiful Sunday in Washington, DC. Our morning started with our friend, Kendra, driving to the RV park from Columbia, MD. Kendra recently moved to Maryland and hadn't been to DC, yet, so in a sense, we were her tour guide. She picked us up at the campground and we drove to the nearby Greenbelt Metro station. We rode on the Metro to Union Station, where we had a fortifying breakfast before we boarded the Tourmobile Tour Tram. One of first sights was that of the Capitol dome that is shown in the above photo. There was so much to see that we didn't know if we should look left or right first. Right on the Mall, there were stages and tents for the George Washington University graduation ceremony, where the President was giving the commencement address-boy, the security.
Our first stop was the Jefferson Memorial. The various memorials on the Mall are spectacular buildings built to honor the great men and now, women in our country's history. Since Thomas Jefferson is one of my favorites, it was wonderful to visit the memorial. It is interesting that visitors to any of the memorials and museums truly honor these majestic places with respectful, almost reverential behavior. Nice to know that there are manners and courtesy still practiced, as appropriate.
Another of my favorite Presidents is Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Here, he is depicted with his dog, Fala. His memorial is another impressive, yet low-keyed, exhibit that honored his many achievements as President. It has been awhile since we have had a President of his caliber. It would be nice to have a statesman, leading the country. Ah, but I can only dream.

The best part of the day was spent at Arlington Cemetery, particularly, at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It was getting late in the afternoon and our last stop of the day. One cannot help but be moved by the constant sentinel posted at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where the remains of three unknown soldiers, one each from World War I, World War II, and the Korean War, are interred. There used to be one from the Vietnam War, but a few years back, by using DNA processing, the remains of the Vietnam War soldier was identified and returned to his family.

Anyway, we stayed for the changing of the guard that is always impressive. However, there were so many people that it was hard to see everything. So, Mel suggested that we wait for the next ceremony and move up to the front. That was fortuitous because in adddition to seeing the changing of the guard ceremony up close and personal, we were able to see the changing of the wreath ceremony sponsored by the 29th Infantry from WWII, in which "Taps" was played, bringing tears to many eyes, including mine. Then, a second wreath ceremony, sponsored by a grade school, was accompanied by "Taps," also. As we left the area, the survivors from the 29th Infantry were assembled on the amphitheater steps for a group photo. Many of us took pictures of them, including me, and were able to thank the men for their service to our country. All of this was quite touching and we were so happy to have been part of it.

We finished our tour back at Union Station, which is an impressive building, also. Since we are all Chicagoans, we decided to have pizza at Uno's. Ahh, pizza!

Addendum 5/22/06:

Today, I was so exhausted from our past two days of activities that I begged Mel for a day off of touring. So, we did lunch and a movie, Art School Confidential, a strange little artsy-fartsy movie (as Mel would say) with John Malkovich but appropriate for a college town. Mel, bravely, drove US 1 right into the middle of DC at rush hour. The man has no fear (and doesn't listen to his navigator). But we made it home safely, even though we ran into a traffic jam three miles from the RV park as the University of Maryland's School of Communication commencement ceremonies ended. Yikes!