Sing me to Heaven | |
Adventures in DCThis isn't as long as the first part! You have my permission to be happy.Family Vacation Part Two- Washington, D.C. Day 10- Tuesday  I begin where I left off. We awoke in our new hotel, remembering we had left our friendly ABP behind. We had to scout out a new breakfast spot. So Dad took the other girls and headed out to look. They called us some time later, saying they'd found a Burger King. (We found out that they'd also been in some sort of park, hidden behind the Office Depot across the street.) Normally Burger King is no good, but they had as decent a breakfast menu as anywhere else, I guess. We were bound for the Capitol building, by way of the Air and Space Museum. We took the subway downtown... ick. I forgot to mention that the weather in DC is more in the upper 80s. Warmer than Boston, very unfortunately. And I was wearing a black hat that day, which didn't improve matters. ;-) The Air and Space Museum is decent. I mean, it's amazing if you really like that kind of thing. But I'm not big on airplanes or rockets, unless I get to ride in them. I'd say, overall, that NASA Houston is cooler. We did get to see the Spirit of St. Louis before we left for the Capitol, though. All the Smithsonian Museums (of which the Air and Space Museum is one) are along the Capitol Mall. You know, that looong lawn between the Capitol building and the Washington Monument. Anyways, so we walked up the Mall to the Capitol, hurrying, because we had a tour to catch. Anyone who likes photography knows that it is hard to take good pictures with a point-and-shoot camera when you're walking fast. Consequently, when we came in full sight of the Capitol building, I fell pretty far behind the 'caravan'. It paid off, though! I guess all that running at the last minute was worth the pics I got. After all, it's a once-in-a-life-time experience, says my dad. ;-) He kept telling us to enjoy the trip, because it's highly unlikely of us making it out there again as a family! ;-) We discovered that we had to walk all the way around the back of the building to get to the visitor center. And when we got there we had to wait in a long line for security..... It was hot outside. And security was really quite ridiculous- we'd emptied our water bottles, since they wouldn't let you in with liquids. But they took our empty bottles and threw them away! And we had to take the sleeping baby out of the stroller.... it was dumb. We missed our tour, but got in on another one. First we filed into a theater to watch a 'movie' about the history of the Capitol. But most of it was black, because something was wrong with their projector, I guess. Our guide took us to the Rotunda, Statuary Hall, and the 'Crypt' downstairs. (No one is buried there, but that's what they'd intended it for.) And that was it! It was kind of lame. But it was still neat to be there. After our tour ended, we went to watch the Senate in session. They confiscated our cameras, cellphones, etc., for us to claim later. I guess they don't want anyone texting, 'hey, I'm in the Senate chambers! there's this one weird senator....' They're pretty strict over there. We weren't allowed to point into the chambers. (?) Even though there was almost nobody down there, and they did nothing interesting. We left after about 45 minutes. We'd planned on heading to the Art Museum, but it was closed (it being later than 5 already), so we went back to the Air and Space Museum, ate lunch/dinner there, and saw the Wright Flier. I was ready to head 'home' after that (my feet hurt! =), but we went out on the grass of the Mall to let Alan run around. So I took advantage of that and took pictures of everyone with their finger on top of the Washington Monument. And took pictures of grass. Grass is interestingly inspiring.  I guess now's as good a time as any to explain why D.C. didn't win my heart like Boston did. The best reasons I can come up with are 1). It's more artificial. Not as old. Not as historic. Sure, the museums and everything are great, but the actual city is more... artificial than Boston. Boston grew slowly of its own accord. DC was molded and shaped by and for the government. 2.) And that first reason is why, I think, that the city seems almost stiff. As my friend said, DC just feels stiffer than Boston. The locals seem to consider their city a workplace and not a home. Everything, every building, every bit of landscaping, seems created for a business. Consider the difference between the yards you see in a nice neighborhood somewhere, compared to the landscaping for an office building. Both may be pleasing to the eye, but one is charming and hospitable, and the other is usually just... professional. And stiff-ish. ;-) I don't know if any of that makes any sense, but that's what DC was to me. The pink clouds floating over the Washington Monument at sunset are lovely, though! Sunsets are beautiful anywhere. The rest of the sunset was wasted for us, as we got on the subway to head back. :-( Day 11- Wednesday  Today marks the date of my falling in love with a certain man's estate. The beauty and charm of it! It was incredible. Too bad the master of it has been dead so long. He must have been twice as charming as his plantation! *affected sigh* ;-) We took a bus to Virginia and toured Washington's Mount Vernon. I could gush over it forever. Even the drive there was beautiful. After we got out of the strict city limits and into the Virginian neighborhoods. We drove alongside the Potomac river for a while, and saw plenty of expensive houses. Kind of reminded me of the really nice neighborhoods on Lake Austin, here in Texas. But Mount Vernon was like stepping into a dream or a movie. It was enchanting. I think the estate is around 500 acres now. But get this: it used to be like 8000. The mansion is the crown of the plantation, which has been restored to its original state. It stands grandly on the crest of a hill, overlooking the Potomac. Washington himself wrote of his home: "No estate in United America is more pleasantly situated than this." I agree. We toured the house after standing in a looong line. Inside the mansion, much of the furniture is original, and it's all from Washington's time period. You could film a grand movie in that house. (Side note to myself: the original pianoforte was there!! *happy*) Once through the house, we roamed the rest of the grounds blissfully. The view from behind the mansion is luscious. And the grass is soft (not like Texas!), and there were these low-hanging trees to explore. The outer buildings like the stables and the servants quarters are there to peek into as well. I did some of that. But I loved to just walk among the trees, and sit on the grass, and appreciate the beauty of it all. It was a world away from bustling DC. It was perfect. :) So that is what we did until we realized that we had only an hour until closing. And then, all of a sudden, there was all this stuff to do! Anna wanted to visit the horses, Emily and I wanted to walk down by the river bank, Mom wanted to go to the education center, Dad wanted to see Washington's grave. How we fit all that in, I have no idea. It helped when we split up. I saw Washington's grave, and the river (which wasn't as great up close, naturally), and then Mom and Emily and I headed to the education center. That education center/museum is one of the most well-done exhibits I have ever seen. Whoever designed it was immensely creative! There were interesting videos (like the one about spying during the war!), quotes on the walls, pictures, sculptures of Washington, clothing he and Martha owned, etc. I really liked that part and could have spent much longer there, but I also wanted to visit the gift shop. Which was huge. ;-) We meandered through it for a while, quite contentedly. I ended up buying a couple postcards and a pen in the shape of a rifle. That pen honestly rocks. I'm looking at it as I type. It's just like a rifle, except for the pen tip at the end! Hehe, I couldn't resist. I can't have a real gun, so I went for a fake one. It's cool. Actually, the coolest thing I saw was a letter opener in the shape of Washington's sword. All silver and everything! =) I ended up with time to spare, so I went back into the museum thingy until Dad came looking for me. I couldn't get phone service in there! :-/ Then we got on the bus and took leave of the beautiful estate. I hope I can go back someday, maybe with my kids. I don't remember what we did for dinner. But we got back fairly late, I believe. Because we were 'allowed' to sleep in the next morning! Till like 8:30, anyway. ;-) Day 12- Thursday  I wrote like half of this day and then lost it. Erg! I think writing in such detail gets majorly on your nerves after a while. Anyways, I'm nearly burned out, but we'll see if I can push through to the end. So this morning we slept in.. not a very smart idea for those who have tons to do that day. We realized this later. We hit Burger King at 10:45- 15 minutes before they stopped serving breakfast. I'm glad we made it in time- my idea of a good breakfast does NOT include cheeseburgers. ;-) We had to take the subway (of course, bleh. But still much better than walking.) to the Capitol Mall and the Holocaust Museum. I guess most people wouldn't consider the Holocaust Museum a must-see on vacation. But I'm so glad we went. (As a side note, that building is built like some modern prison. Alan didn't like it at all- he didn't understand why any place should be so dark and depressing. Thankfully he took a nap. I wish I could just fall asleep when I'm in distress!) The exhibit was heart-rending. There they had all the evidence, all the pictures, all the quotes from survivors and others, all the documents, even the shoes of the victims who were gassed. It was horrible. But I'm glad it's there. We need it to be there. Everyone needs to go and witness such evil that humans are capable of, so we can prevent it from ever happening again. Never again. There was so much to see that we didn't get out of there until they closed. 5:00. And we still hadn't eaten lunch. So after being informed by a guard where the nearest place to eat was, we headed down to the Reagan building food court. Which was still about 5 blocks away!! By six we were moving again- now bound for the White House. No, we didn't see Obama. He was in Russia, probably avoiding us. ;-) It was just cool to be there in front of the gate, in front of the house where so much has happened, for good and evil. We took a couple pictures (with difficulty, since there were a lot of people doing the same), and walked on towards the Lincoln Memorial. We stopped at the WWII Memorial on the way. I think that's my favorite memorial in DC. Besides the fact that WWII has always been fascinating to me, it was designed so artistically. I took quite a few pictures there. With the sun going down behind those pillars it was a perfect time of day! The Lincoln Memorial looks like a Grecian Temple. I mean, I know you've all seen pictures of it, but when you're actually there it's kind of eye-opening. It's huge, for one thing. And the steps are very many and very steep. And you're supposed to be quiet inside. I saw a little kid slide down a banister-type thing and get fussed at by a (rather young) policeman for it. I kind of wondered if that policeman wouldn't mind sliding down himself! I saw Lincoln and the quotes engraved on the walls, but there's really nothing much inside, so I spent most of our time there sitting on the steps, watching the light fade gradually over the city. I like the reflecting pool. It was nearly dark when we left the Memorial, but it was still catching the last rays of sunlight. We deliberated on whether to head back to the hotel or walk around the Tidal Basin to the Jefferson Memorial. I was for the latter, and that's what we ended up doing. The Tidal Basin is much wider than it looks. And much more lovely and peaceful at night than I can describe. I tried to capture it with the camera, and failed utterly. Our camera doesn't have a good night setting. But still, walking around that light-speckled water was one of my two favorite things that we did in DC. The other being Mt. Vernon. The only bad thing was that since I kept stopping to take pictures, I kept getting left behind and having to run to catch up. In an idealistic world I would never have minded being lost along the Tidal Basin! Besides, I had my cell phone. But you know, safety measures usually do interfere with the fun. =( The Jefferson Memorial was neat, all lit up in the dark. There was a big cobweb hanging from Jeff's head, though. :-0 And by this time we were all rather bushed. Walking back to the subway station was... long. I don't like endless walking. It's best to break it up with running, skipping, or stopping at intervals. But hey, we made it back... finally found the correct entrance to the station, and waited on the platform for a very long time before a train came to pick us up. It must have been 10 by the time we got off at our stop. And then we went into the corner grocery store for like 30 minutes to buy fruit, cottage cheese for Alan (he loves that stuff! Just like me!), and got very hungry. We ate at a Subway (the restaurant). I think the workers found us amusing. I guess we were. I kept hearing songs on the radio that I'd heard somewhere, and had to rack my poor tired brain to remember where. Things like that bother me- I have little peace until I can figure out the answer. So yep, we had our little Subway party, and finally made it back to our room at like 11:30. Day 13- Friday  Last full day in DC. And very full it was! We spent the entire morning and some of the afternoon gaping in the National Gallery of Art. All I can say is... wow. It was, as my adopted brother said, glorious. =) To see all those classic works of art- all original, all perfectly stunning. It was... let's just stick with the word glorious, shall we? ;-) I saw pieces by Rembrandt, Monet, all the masters. And took pictures! Even though the guards were kind of picky about the WAY you take pictures.. *mumbles*... at least it was allowed! I'm usually faster than my family in things like this, so I browsed alone to my heart's content. There are two buildings to the Gallery. We were in the one with the 'real' art. ;-) We didn't have time to go into the other one anyways. We finished one of the two wings in our building before lunch, and came back for the other afterward! Lunch was crazy-ish. You don't even want to know. Let's just say it involved Alan making a mess. The second wing was better than the first. ( It was all in chronological order.) I love those American landscape paintings! I wish I could paint. I can draw, but painting (especially the evil art of watercolors), has never been within my grasp. I sometimes use acrylics, when I get ambitious. But even then I sketch the entire thing first. And the paint usually makes it look fake. And shading is hard. And skin tones are impossible! I love art. <3 It was like 3:30 or 4 when we left the Art Gallery for the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Talk about logical fallacies! Evolution was everywhere in its full ridiculous garb. Sometimes it was funny. I got pictures of a couple of hilarious (only to us, of course... =P) signs. There were dinosaurs (which have never captured my fancy). There were stuffed animals (which were cool). There were gems and minerals (the best part, to me). We saw the Hope Diamond- the biggest known diamond of the time. And there was a necklace that Marie Antoinette had worn. Plus, all the stuff about how gems are formed (I skipped this part), and info on all the different kinds of rocks (which I skipped too...). I basically just wandered around by myself, taking pictures of whatever was neat-looking, and not reading many signs. That is the classic teenage way to go through a museum, right?? Oh wait, I'm homeschooled. Well, never mind. It was an interesting museum, but Natural History isn't my biggest 'thing'. And I was tired. So there are my lame excuses for not seizing the opportunity to further educate myself. ;-) The gift shops (yes, there were like 4) were spiffy. (I'm having a hard time thinking of descriptive words here!! What do you say about something that's interesting, but not overly amazing? Cool, neat, or fun. Three very useful, but very drab words.) Off topic. Anyways! I went in all the gift shops, but didn't buy anything beside a pencil and a pen. Reason 1). I didn't have much money left by this time. Reason 2). I didn't need/want anything. Aren't I smart? =) We all met up again at the last gift shop, where Emily and Anna got themselves some pressed pennies (which were insanely expensive), and I got that pencil and pen. And then (4th grader phrase) we went to Taco Bell. And then 'home'. And then packed. Day 14- Saturday  I just know my suitcase was heavier by the end of the trip than at the beginning. At least we didn't have to roll them extremely far. Just from the hotel to the subway, and from the subway to the terminal. The DC airport is massive. We got to ride on that sky-tram thing to get to our terminal. Well, we went through security again, and this time I made sure my cellphone was in my purse. The lady looking at the x-ray screen thing (what do they call it anyway?) couldn't figure out Dad's little laptop case. For one thing, the laptop wasn't in it. It had all our Camcorder tapes in it, and when it went through, she just stared at that screen with a puzzled look on her face asked us what it was. But she let it through when Dad told her. Auntie Anne's pretzels are scrumptious. We got a couple just before boarding the plane. The flight home was uneventful. They played some very dumb TV show on the overhead screens. I listened to Charlie Zahm and thought about poetry... the trip... all the emails I'd have to answer... all the Facebook stuff I wasn't even going to try to catch up on... our dog... recording my next vocal album, and the like. We had a short layover in Dallas, and then the flight into Austin. It was good to be back... but it is way too hot here in Texas. Seriously, it's pretty ridiculous. =) Once we collected our baggage (none of it was lost- yay!), my dad went to get the car while the rest of us stood around dazedly. Wow, it's amazing to have your own car. SO grateful for no more subways! We ate dinner at a random Mexican restaurant. Some people don't like going two weeks without Mexican food. ;-) Me, I can stand it. =) And so I arrived home and found my little world none the worse for my absence. Copyright © 2008 by GraceElizabeth Leave a Comment { Last Page } { Page 9 of 64 } { Next Page } |
GraceElizabeth Home My Profile Archives RSS Feed 
Recent WritingsOvercomeDo you dream of escape? "...Happily they're ever after-ing..." Forever (and ever) Food for thought Recommended SitesMy Dad's WebsitePennies from Heaven Christina Hastings Arwen Undomiel Helpful Hints on Feminine Fashion Growing in Grace Every Good Book - an excellent source for the best in literature Your Accompanist ARC Blogs Cross-Eyed Blog and Webzine The Irish Tenors Empowered Traditionalist NCFCA Ben C. ImagiVation Toni M. Communicators for Christ The ICC Blog Alex A. CategoriesAnnouncementsGoings on Music Related Poetry Reflections Tags and Awards Writing 
FriendsBlogBoyEyebright Jocelyndixon mandygrace wonderland21 SincerelyAmanda AuthorElf Rose BrielleCostumes Narniagirl Backyard onedaymore alizona BookLover melarooski nachoaveragegirl cenadunfee musicallyspeaking writer4him pearlsandcoke Altariel christianmusician1 TruthSeeker baruch117 MaidenCapitolaBallot Desi QueenFlora Kantare Penstroke fiddlesticks Meg16 luckyme Hriste PoeticMaiden fiddler4him Rosethorn Anne12 LittleSparow Rachsters 2earringplusgirls maidenofvirtue TheDrawingBlog Jessicritter Ness Ninwaii thegirlizzie Turumbar HighlandLass Anna93 Joshuahammond Tessa EowynDernhelm HSBgathering Erulisse godswings2fly swordwieldingmaiden CowboyKing iEmma Gandalf scviolet narniaexposed AwesomeAlto burnoutkenobi23 weheartmusic Emily94 joshua8822 TheLadyClaire Wanderer KikiMarie
Blogroll
Entry 9 of 64 Last Page | Next Page |
Posted by 
Posted by Hope C.
Posted by 
Posted by 
Posted by 
