Parents in DC - part 2

We picked up Mom at the airport, yay Mom!  Still can't get over the convergence of all of us at the same place on the same weekend.  Awesome.

We spent a wonderful afternoon wandering around a large hanger, and we'll never get enough of Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum.

Nor will I ever get enough of looking at shuttles:

We had a fabulous tour guide who took us all around the place and told amazing stories.

The Airstream that was also an astronaut quarantine module:

It's hard to see, but R2D2 is hanging out on the edge of the model ship from Close Encounters of the Third Kind - he appears in the movie too:

FedEx, changing the way packages are delivered:

PanAm, an earlier pioneer:

Then it was time for a group supper of Mediterranean food and ice cream, most excellent.

On Sunday Kathy and Bob joined us downtown for more sightseeing, starting with the National Archives and then walking across the street to National Gallery for some art and some lunch:

More airplanes for Jerry - and if we're going to see airplanes, we really have to visit the Wright Flyer in the other part of the Air and Space Museum:

The Spirit of St Louis is flying again!  Last time we were here it was being restored:

The orange X-1 that Chuck Yeager flew as the first to break the sound barrier in 1947:

A brief visit to the Museum of the American Indian and a chance to make funny faces  :)

Intricate beadwork, including names of native American tribes:

Fascinating shape at the top of the open atrium:

Jerry admiring the prism-induced lighting from the windows across the way:

After dropping the Beard parents off at the train station, we went for a walk with Mom to see some things that are new since her stay in DC for Peace Corps training 50 years ago.  We found Kilroy hiding at the WWII Memorial (thank you Kathy for telling us about this)!  Also, John is rocking the double hoodie/hat combo, I just noticed that:

Always great to say hello to Mr. Lincoln:

A closer look at the Korean War Memorial:

Mom hanging out with Fala, FDR's dog:

It was a wonderful few days with family and an unforgettable trip!

Parents in DC - part 1

Crazy coincidence, both my Mom and John's parents ended up visiting DC on the exact same weekend, without knowing the other would be there.  And we ended up with a free weekend on the eastern side of the country (with the cancellation of the Big Dog Backyard) and a chance to drive over to see them and Kathy and Bob.

So of course we went  :)

We started with breakfast with the Beards (Mom would not arrive until the next day) and then John and I went for a run from the hotel near Union Station over toward the Lincoln Memorial.  Running along the Mall is always fabulous.

A beautiful sight on a lovely morning:

The new African-American museum is coming along nicely:

Right about there we got a call from Jerry (John's Dad) saying that a taxicab had hit their trolley bus and they were stuck there for a little while.  They couldn't even get off the bus because the cab was against the door!  At least everyone was OK.  Just a delay.

So we went to investigate the situation with getting tickets to go up to the top of the Washington Monument - recently reopened!  While we were poking around, a tour guide with an extra couple tickets offered them to us.  What?  Why sure, OK, thank you!!

With time and tickets in hand, we were stoked for our first visit inside the tall obelisk.

Hello George!

Spectacular views from the top, this side overlooking the tidal basin and Jefferson Memorial:

Wonderful look down the Mall past the WWII monument toward Lincoln:

On the way down we got a look at some of the plaques sent from all the states and various places around the world, built into the walls of the monument:

Wow, that was special!

Back to our regularly scheduled run, the Beards were moving again, and we reached Lincoln right as they arrived:

Psyched to spend time with the Beard parents in DC!

A park ranger helped with name rubbing at the Vietnam Memorial, this particular name needing a ladder to reach:

John figuring out the technique, our first time trying this:

It was also our first time to visit the Korean War Memorial, now that is really something.  A park ranger told us that occasionally people call at night to report "a bunch of men walking with guns" and the rangers reply "yep, we're on it."  It is quite realistic and haunting:

Leslie joined us as we explored the WWII Memorial:

Wonderful fountains and backdrop:

Over at the Smithsonian Castle, this little tree has an interesting shape:

Entering the MLK Memorial through the "mountain of despair":

To see the "stone of hope" - amazing imagery:

The next morning early, John and I staked out a place in line to get tickets for the Washington Monument for the Beard parents - it was so cool, we wanted them to see it too.

This time I focused the camera on the people instead of the scenery:

Love how this came out:

We were all happy to be up there:

John probably could sleep here, but in this case he's checking out the obelisk perspective:

Time to go pick up Mom and the airport!  The DC Tour continues in the next post...

Gettysburg

It has been quite a few years since I've visited Gettysburg and I've been wanting to go back, so I dragged John to yet another Civil War battlefield.

Roadside America describes this as "Perry Como and Abe Lincoln," a little bit of lightheartedness in downtown Gettysburg before we start on the scenes of people trying to kill each other:

The (relatively) new Cyclorama exhibit is quite something to see, complete with lighting and voiceover effects:

It's a giant circular painting showing Pickett's charge:

Love the 3-D extensions into the circular room we were standing in:

What do you think, Mr. Lincoln, is the beard anything close to yours?

Touring battlefields and admiring large monuments:

Requisite cannons:

Eternal Peace Memorial, we can always dream:

View of town from the top of a tower:

Admiring a tree-like memorial:

An even larger viewing tower (getting our stair workouts in):

View toward the Round Tops:

A different angle on a cannon:

The field below Little Round Top:

Gouverneur K. Warren, hero of Little Round Top for noticing it was undefended and getting troops in place in time:

Finishing the day on a different note - a self-guided tour of a potato chip factory :)

We are almost (at least in "blog time") to our eastern destination, fitting a lot into these 3 crazy weeks of travel!