Fun with Kathy and Bob - part 2

After a leisurely Saturday morning, Bob suggested we drive out to the Udvar-Hazy Center, part of the National Air and Space Museum.  We're so glad we did!  It was spectacular, a huge hanger with all sorts of planes and spacecraft, and a totally engrossing tour.

It started off in a big way, with a close-up look at our 2nd space shuttle sighting of the year (Enterprise being our first)!  We got to meet Discovery, the first one we have seen that actually went into space.  It completed the most missions of the shuttles, 39 in all.  Quite an honor to stand in front of it.

A model of Up Goer Five (the subject of one of my favorite xkcd comics ever)

A real piece of Up Goer Five:

Another great view of Discovery, along with a model astronaut doing a spacewalk overhead:

Back in time a little - an older model flying machine:

A Wright Brothers plane:

The Enola Gay - in awe, although rather difficult, to see this:

A "Top Gun"-type fighter plane:

A Huey helicopter:

A Messerschmitt - I assembled a model of one when I was younger, but it didn't look quite exactly like this nor did it fly as well, so it was fun to see the real thing:

Another Discovery view:

Looks like a crazy dogfight in the hanger:

A plane you can park to drive the front part around... curious:

Part of a Goodyear blimp:

An external shot of this wonderful museum (and observation tower where you can watch planes taking off and landing at Dulles, at least when it's not a fogged-over day):

Sunday we got up early for an easy drive into downtown DC.  Good morning!

The quest for the day was to spectate at a complicated "move in" of several items into the new National Museum of African American History and Culture that is being built.  First we watched as a convoy approached Constitution Avenue with a prison guard tower on board:

The star of the day was a shrink-wrapped Pullman car from the segregation era:

The cranes worked all morning, hoisting items from the trucks and over the wall into the giant pit where the new museum is being constructed.  The guard tower and train car are too large to be added next year, so they had to go in early in the building process.

The stand for the guard tower:

Two large cranes, one of which is bringing the guard tower in:

The train car waiting its turn:

The underground levels of the museum, in progress:

Straps lifting the train car before they added a couple blue beams as bottom supports:

The amazing part was watching two cranes acting in tandem to lift the train car, each holding one end:

Even more incredibly, they had to rotate the train car enough for it to fit in between the cranes.  This was done so smoothly and flawlessly, we were all fascinated for several minutes:

About to lower the car into the hole:

A temporary resting spot before the train car is moved into place in a couple weeks:

I snapped the above shot from a vantage point over the top of the construction wall - also captured Bob and John looking up at me:

John's turn for the best viewing location outside of the wall:

Huge thanks to Bob for finding out about this historic event, and to whoever scheduled it such that we could be there to see it  :)

Fun with Kathy and Bob - part 1

We have been having a super time with Kathy and Bob.  They took a couple days off work to spend a long weekend with us, and we packed in some amazing activities.

We started with a day of learning about Freemasonry, with a nice tour of the Scottish Rite temple:

The inside of the temple was beautiful, and there were many interesting books and donated items from famous people such as George Washington and John Glenn.  A look at the inside of the temple:

We took an excellent mid-day break in Alexandria for pizza-eating and gallery-looking, including a neat exhibit on Dr Seuss and his many hats.

A look-out dog on the steps of a gallery:

Then up the hill to the George Washington Masonic National Memorial, for a photo with Mr Washington himself:

In the history hall - nice hat!

Another nice hat:

And yet another...

The highlight was the view from the top, with lovely scenery in all directions and a beautiful day:

On our way home Bob graciously detoured to the DC high point so we could find the actual marker this time.  Another successful high point!

More DC high point photos here:
http://www.kipley.com/marcy/highpoints/dc.html

The next day we had a really interesting visit at the Cryptologic Museum - so much to see and read about.  Kathy's Dad worked in cryptology in the Marines, so that made it more personal.

Exhibits on early computers, code breaking, spy satellites, the role of cryptology in various wars, it was a lot of information to pack into a small area.

One of the code machines on display:

Then on to Ellicott City to check out the cute shops and back to town for dinner with some friends.  A lovely day, to be sure.

Day in DC

John and I are very lucky to get to spend 2 weeks with our friends Kathy and Bob in Maryland.  Part of this time we are playing tourists in the DC area, something we have been looking forward to for a while.

We started off on the right foot yesterday, heading directly for the Supreme Court where there would be several sets of "arguments" that the public could attend.  Our timing was perfect, arriving just in time to snag tickets to wait in line to get in.  It was windy and chilly but we were just happy to be there:

The Capitol across the street:

We had to leave all electronics in lockers, so I've got no photo documentation.  However, we did get in, we saw the nine justices, and we listened to two full hours of oral arguments where the justices grilled several lawyers on the details and hypotheticals of two cases in front of the court.  It was fascinating, easier to follow than I expected, and sometimes hard to believe we were sitting "right there" watching it all.

A quick tour of the ground floor after the sessions were over... President/Chief Justice Taft:

Marshall statue:

Looking up at the spiral staircase:

On our way to lunch I spotted some Britto art which reminded me of Danny and the cruise:

Next we wandered over to the Capitol Visitor Center and immediately got the chance to jump into a tour, what the heck:

The old Supreme Court room with a really old clock that still runs:

In the crypt:

Each state contributed two statues - e.g. AJ from Tennessee:

Inside the dome:

Old Senate chamber, I think:

Mr. Ulysses:

Where Abe Lincoln's desk used to be:

One of the few non-Americans honored:

Our own Vermonter, Ethan Allen:

Our excellent tour guide, with Rosa Parks behind him to the left:

Ronald Reagan, with a piece of the Berlin Wall in the base:

We were also lucky to get passes into the House and Senate galleries, so we unexpectedly ended up in the House chamber, looking down at, well, nothing was going on at the time.  But it was still cool.  Again, no electronics allowed, no photos.

So we ventured over to the Senate where there were at least some people working.  We heard something would happen in a little while, so we hung out and waited.  In return for our patience we were treated to a speech by John Cornyn where he threatened to filibuster a judiciary appointment by President Obama.  He left, and a while later Dick Durbin came in and waxed eloquently about how the Republicans are trying to keep women out of positions for which they are fully qualified.  He left, then Patrick Leahy (from Vermont!) stood at a podium and expanded on Mr. Durbin's position with stronger, more emphatic language about equal rights for women.

Not long after that, there was a vote on the issue and all the Senators came in to record their vote and apparently have a big informal gab session on the floor while the votes were eventually all registered.  It looked all unorganized but eventually the votes were gathered and counted.  There was a majority of "ayes" but not enough to overcome the filibuster threat.  But no actual filibuster.

They had another vote that passed easily (one dissent) and gradually they all left until it was just a few people hanging out working on laptops.  It was all quite interesting, and we certainly got our money's worth for the day!