That's What She Said: Inauguration in DC

The long "jaw ordeal" is finally getting to be less of an ordeal. I'm eating just about anything I try, with only the hardest foods remaining as a challenge (raw carrots, e.g.). Happy mouth! My body and brain did so well in trying to ignore food and cravings for a couple months. I appreciated that. Now that things are mostly back to normal, I'm in such a better mood :) Sushi, pizza, pears, eggs, pasta, sandwiches, popcorn. Yep, very happy.

Soon it will be just a couple dental details (doctor's appointment upcoming to confirm). And this subject will hopefully disappear from my blog updates.

In the meantime, we took a mini-vacation to celebrate with friends! Kathy and Bob invited us to DC to experience our 2nd Obama inauguration in 4 years. This time we would hang out somewhere warm instead of freezing our tushies on the Mall. We got tickets to the event at the Newseum, which was great for watching and exploring the museum itself.

More on that in a minute.... first we had a whole weekend with Kathy and Bob to explore and enjoy ourselves.

We started in downtown DC, and on the way to the Renwick Gallery we happened upon the presidential viewing booth for Monday's parade:

Another fun detour to get a glimpse of the White House:

Kathy and Bob introduced us to an interesting book store that is packed to the max with used books, all the way to the windows and in every space they could fit them. Crazy.

Next stop = Library of Congress, beautiful:

And a quick photo shoot at the back of the Capitol:

Love this shot (thanks Bob!):

We finished the day wandering through a couple memorials, including the new one for MLK - impressive:

I really like FDR's memorial too. It's a quiet walk-through with waterfalls and quotes and displays. The man himself near the entrance:

On Sunday we went for a nice run down the Capital Crescent Trail from Bethesda to Georgetown. A bit of lunch, then across the river to see the Iwo Jima memorial:

We spent the afternoon walking around Arlington Cemetery:

This hawk greeted us near the entrance and followed us partway up the hill - Hi!

JFK's Eternal Flame:

Up on top of the hill we toured Lee's house, with views of DC across the way. What a beautiful day, and not too cold for wandering around outside.

Tall Bob:

We saw a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier:

On the way home we walked over to Roosevelt Island to say hello to Teddy, who is "this tall!"

Monday - Inauguration Day!

While in line for the Newseum, we were standing next to the Canadian Embassy when they rolled out the NASA lunar rover called Artemis Jr.:

Hanging out with friends:

The big screen inside the huge atrium of the Newseum:

View of the Capitol:

It's good to be green:

My favorite room - the display about fake news, including Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart:

Including the sword that Viggo (aka Aragorn) gave to Stephen as a "sign" that he should run for president. As a fan of both the LotR and Mr. Colbert, this is pretty dang special:

One of several auditoriums where they were showing the live feed of the inauguration ceremony:

People watching the big screen from different floors:

I enjoyed listening to the happenings while watching the crowd over at the Capitol (binoculars would have been helpful!):

We discovered the ABC studio where Diane Sawyer, George Stephanopoulos, and Cokie Roberts (along with 2 other people we couldn't figure out) were reporting live:

Another view of the various levels of the Newseum:

Looking at our building as the presidential motorcade goes by at the start of the parade. This is from a camera on a building across the street, displayed on a monitor inside the Newseum, captured by my camera and now showing on my blog... imagine Kathy and Bob watching the parade from just inside the windows on the lower left: