On to Long Island!

We waited until about 9:30 in the morning to leave DC.  Lea told us that if we waited until then, we would do better with the traffic. Well, we did okay, but of course, still encountered a bit.  Today was supposed to warm up again, and before long, we could feel the heat.

We made good time getting to Long Island, and the Garmin helped us get there easily.  The biggest surprise to me, was the fact that we paid $38.00 in tolls along the way!  Two of the toll booths cost us $9 each.

It was nice to finally reach the Verrazano Bridge, and see New York City in the distance.  I couldn't really get a good picture, thanks to the bridge railing.  

Before long, we arrived at our rental for two nights, located at Lookout Point, on Long Island.  It was in a small town, just two blocks from the beach, and about a block from a waterfront with a few restaurants.  

We met our hosts, Alicia and Gavin, a young couple, who also shared our love for adventure.  Gavin had hiked in the Himalayas, and they were about to leave on a vacation to Cape Cod, followed by a trip to Thailand and Burma.  Unfortunately, they are leaving tomorrow morning on their first trip, and we will not get to visit with them much.

We headed to the waterfront restaurants and had dinner by the water. 

We took Saleen and headed down to the beach, and she enjoyed running back and forth in the beach sand.  

There was no one on the beach, and so she was enjoying running around with no leash on.  The sign at the beach made me laugh though.  Apparently, they really do not want you having any fun on this beach.

Note:  Ball playing and frisbees strictly prohibited!!!

Tidal Basin Monuments, Blue Crabs, and the Arlington Nat'l Cemetary

For our very last day in DC, we decided to visit three very important monuments that we were yet to see - what's referred to as the Tidal Basin Monuments, because they all three sit on a big looping path along a tidal basin.  They consist of the Martin Lutheran King Memorial, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, and the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.  This path is also where the famous cherry trees are that bloom so beautifully in the spring.

We met Elise at the Lincoln Memorial, and along the way, enjoyed the views.   

There are just so many things to see in this area!  Before we met Elise, we found a place to get stamps for our National Park Passports.  Usually when we visit a park, we are used to getting just one stamp, but there are so many things all located here, they had like 25 stamps!  We used almost everyone of them!

We began walking around the pathway, and first encountered the Martin Luther King Memorial.  It was really nice!  On the monument, it says, "Out of a Mountain of Despair, a Stone of Hope," and apparently comes from his "I have a Dream" speech.  There was also a wall that had many of his quotes engraved in it, and you couldn't help but realize that he had so many wonderful quotes, I bet they had trouble deciding which ones to use for the memorial.

Then we proceeded on around the path, and came to the FDR Memorial.  This was in four different sections, all with waterfalls.  We all decided, that FDR got a REALLY nice memorial!  Great design.  I think the four sections represented his four terms in office.

As we continued on around, we had beautiful views of the other monuments across the water.  There were nice benches underneath the shade of the cherry trees to take breaks as we made our way around.  

Soon we arrived at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.  A Ranger was there, and showed us something we would not have noticed otherwise.  She pointed out that some trees had been removed that had once blocked the view of the White House, and that was because FDR had them removed, so he could always view the Thomas Jefferson Memorial from the White House, as he drew a lot of inspiration from Thomas Jefferson. 

After this, our plan was to eat lunch, and head over to the Arlington Cemetary.  Our host, Lea, had told us about a great place in Arlington to have blue crabs, and so we headed there for lunch.  It was quite a walk, and the day was quite hot, but we finally made it.  Keith and I split a dozen (medium sized) crabs, and it took us FOREVER to eat them.  None of us minded though, because we were all sitting down, and we were all in air conditioning the whole time.  The crabs were good, but Keith and I both agreed, that there was not enough meat in them to make it worth the the money or the time.  Maybe next time, if there is one, we'll get larger sized crabs.  Keith said, he will stick with lobster.  Elise was wise and ordered a crab cake sandwich - the better deal by far. 

After the crabby lunch, we headed on to the Arlington Cemetary, and along the way, got to see the Marine Corp Memorial.  It was really beautiful!!!

We walked on to the Arlington Cemetary, and then proceeded to JFK's grave, and then on to the tomb of the Unknown Soldiers, where the guards change every 30 minutes.

When we left JFK's grave, we were surprised to walk past a grave off to itself, with just a small headstone.  It turned out to be Bobby Kennedy's grave.

Then to the Tomb of the Unknown Solder.  There was quite a crowd gathered.  As we all waited, a single, solitary soldier marched back and forth in front of the tombs.  He marches exactly 21 steps, then pauses 21 seconds, turns, pauses anothe 21 seconds, and then paces back across another 21 paces.  When it was time for the changing of the guard, about half of the crowd stood up, and then a soldier addressed the crowd, explaining in an loud, very authoritative voice, what the ceremony was, what it represented, and that the crowd was to remain quiet and STANDING throughout the ceremony.  At that point, the other half of the crowd wasted no time in standing up.  They went on to do the ceremony, and it consisted of one senior officer checking the rifle of the guard that was taking over the watch, and then checking the rifle of the one that was coming off of watch.  The two with rifles then swapped places. 

 It was all very precise and regimented, and interesting to observe.

After the changing of the guard, we walked out to the Metro (not far, thank goodness), and headed out to the Metro station near our place we were staying at, where we all went for gelato.  At this point, we had to tell Elise goodbye, but we know we will see her again in a few weeks!

Smithsonian Museum of National History, the Capitol, Library of Congress, and Supreme Court

Except for the day we drove to Mt. Vernon, the 65 Mustang has remained in a driveway, totally covered up.  This made Keith very happy, as he really didn't want to have to drive it around DC.

We planned our last two days in Washington DC carefully, hoping to see as much as possible that was left on the list, without totally exhausting ourselves.

We began our morning by meeting Elise at the Smithsonian Museum of American History.  Daniel had already let us know that it was one of his favorites, and so we were really looking forward to it.  Elise had also hinted that there was something there that I was going to REALLY enjoy!

Wouldn't you know it, one of the very first things we saw when we walked in was this:

Wasn't expecting that in the American History Museum!  Turns out, this exhibit had to do with the 1964 World's Fair, and that's when Ford introduced the Ford Mustang to the world.

The museum is divided into different wings, and one wing may have to do more with American culture, but another may have to do more with the history of our country.  It was hard to know which direction to go, because it all sounded so interesting.  We saw the actual flag that was flying over Ft. McHenry, which Francis Scott Key saw when he penned the Star Spangled Banner.  It was enormous!

In another section was a collection of the inaugural gowns of the First Ladies, and also a collection of the china used in the White House.   They even had Martha Washington's dishes.  The showstopper was the red gown that Michele Obama wore at the last inaugural ball. 

Another section, that had to do with the history of American food, contained a replica of Julia Child's kitchen, with all of her actual kitchen stuff!  (This was the thing that Elise knew I would enjoy).  Of all things, that actually made me teary-eyed, for some reason.  Out of everything I was seeing, this was the thing that made me emotional.  Kind of unexpected.  The other thing, was the Constitution earlier in the week. That was pretty amazing to see, and to stand there and realize how much had come from this one document.

There was just a lot of cool stuff that was a part of our American life that was nice to see -- Archie Bunker's chair, Dorothy's ruby red slippers, Harry Potter's caped uniform, Apollo Ono's skates. 

And now, JULIA CHILD's Kitchen!!  (get your tissues!)

We ended up spending so long in the museum, that we had to forget about visiting the National Art Gallery on this trip.  It will just have to be on a later trip.  Instead, we had to grab some lunch, and head on to the Capitol, as Elise had booked us on a 1:40 tour.

We showed up just barely in time, and while we were waiting to pass through security, we found out that no water bottles, or food of any kind was allowed in.  Unfortunately, I had thrown several granola bars, and an orange, and other snacks in my backpack that morning, and it all had to go in the trash.  I was kind of bummed over that, but it was totally worth it to see the Capitol building.

We ended up getting a rather humorous tour guide, and spent about 30 minutes touring what must be a very small part of the building, because it was an enormous place, bigger than I expected.  But what we saw was very impressive!  We all wore headphones and listened to his nonstop monologue as we walked. ("I will now be the annoying voice in your head for the next half-hour." ). As we entered the rotunda, full of statues, "And this man here is my personal favorite, the Father of Air Conditioning.   While we stood and admired some figures carved on the rotunda walls, "And now, a few history questions for you -  how you answer will determine if you get to remain with our group, or get immediately deported."  He was good for a few laughs. 

Unfortunately, the top of the rotunda was being renovated, so this is what you saw when you looked up:

After the Capitol tour, we were able to take a tunnel right into the Library of Congress, which was great, because it had finally heated up in DC, and we were happy to stay in the AC.  We got to view one of the Gutenburg Bibles, and Thomas Jefferson's Library.  The building itself, was truly beautiful.

We went on to the Supreme Court from there, but missed getting inside by thirty seconds.  

(Really, that's what the security guard told us!).  Once again, we decided, we'd just add that to a later visit.  Although, Daniel informed us that you really don't get to see much when you go inside, so that made us feel a bit better.

We then headed over to the metro near Union Station, and went inside to see it.  It is being repaired and renovated since the earthquake damaged it.  They were applying all new gold leaf to the ceiling.   It was an impressive building!

We then met Daniel after he got off work, and went out for Thai food.  It was another delicious meal.  Keith and I then told them bye for the night, and headed back down to the Lincoln Memorial.  We had kept hearing to see the monuments at night, and this was one of our last evenings to do that.  So we sat and watched the sun go down, and the lights on the monuments come on.  Sounds romantic, but apparently this was a very popular thing to do, because we sat and enjoyed it with several hundred of our fellow tourists.  The monuments were just as beautiful as everyone described, and about 9:30, we walked about five blocks up to the Metro and headed home.