Washington DC trip

My nephew Zack had the opportunity to go to Washington DC for a junior leadership conference. When my sister Kathy told me he was going, I told her I would be happy to escort him out since I have a few friends there that I really wanted to visit. Then we decided it would be even more fun if Kathy and I escorted Zack together. One of my good friends from college, Courtney lives in Virginia, but was unfortunately out of town the same week we were there. I was so sad not to see her, but don't worry Court, I will return!

Mike was so sweet and supportive of my little get away. I told Tommy about the trip the night before I left. He was very sad. I told him I was going to help Aunt Kathy. He asked why she couldn't find someone else to help. I hate leaving the kids and this is really the first time I have left just to go have fun. It broke my heart to make them sad but in the end, they were OK with it all.

We flew into Baltimore and rented a car. Has anyone else ever seen a hot dog vending machine? Well we did. It was at the rental car place. Now, hot dogs are pretty disgusting in general. We all indulge when it is cooked over a campfire, or at a football game or from a street vendor. But out of a machine? How long has it been in there? Sure the sign boasted "Sizzling hot weenies" but I can't imagine how hungry we would have to be to find that even remotely appealing. So we got our car and we were off. I would like to take this opportunity to recommend to everyone that when you rent a car in an unfamiliar city, you get the GPS. We didn't.

We stayed at Andrews AFB and we were having dinner with my friend Alex that night. Our first plan was to stop by Andrews, check in to our room, freshen up and buy a gift bag for the present we brought for Alex's brand new twin baby boys. Well after a crash on the interstate slowed traffic to a crawl, we decided to go straight to Alex's. Now, I hadn't gone there completely unprepared. I had my google map directions to Andrews and then to Alex's. Fortunately, I called Alex as we were on our way and discovered she had moved. She gave me great directions to her new house which wasn't too far away from the address I had.

As we were parked on the highway, I mean driving along, Kathy found many Photo ops. Like a beautiful tree which had red and gold leaves. In fact, all of the trees there are so beautiful and there are so many of them! She also saw a semi with very cool hubcaps with six inch spikes. "Take a picture, take a picture!" She would shout at each amazing find. There was a guy driving in front of us with his arm resting on his head. "Why is he driving like that? Take a picture!" We finally reached the accident which was a fully loaded tractor trailer. The trailer was bent in half and all the cargo was in the median. The front of the truck was bent inward and the windshield was shattered. There were no other cars around so I'm not sure what happened. After we passed the accident, traffic sped up.

As we got closer to Alex's, we missed our exit. Well, I don't know about your home towns, but where I am used to driving, if you miss your exit, you just take the next one and get back on to come back to your exit. That is not the case there in Virginia. Here, if you take the next exit, you are on a different highway altogether and there is no chance you will ever get back. So we finally called Alex again and thankfully, her husband Marty is a navigator so he was able to direct us to his house. He mentioned a strange looking intersection we would encounter. After executing several u-turns in order to get a look at this thing from every possible angle, we finally made it to Alex and Marty's. Their house is beautiful! I met Alex in pilot training and we were in the same squadron at Little Rock AFB along with her husband Marty. They are such wonderful people. I hadn't seen them in six years so this was such a great visit. I was so happy to meet their twins, Max and Teddy. They are beautiful! I loved holding them. We also got to meet Alex's mother. We all just had a great time together.

Marty was kind enough to print us out some maps so we could find our way to Andrews. There was a barricade in one of the roads which helped us get lost for a bit. Even though we kept getting lost, we had a great time. Kathy is hilarious and we decided it just added to the adventure. Here's Kathy asking a policeman for directions.

The next day we got an early start. We quickly mastered the Metro and started exploring. We went to the Air and Space Museum (of course).

Kathy waiting for the MetroI wish I could have brought this aircraft carrier model home to Tommy. We went on the Midway in San Diego last year and he still talks about it. I did bring him home a little carrier toy from the gift shop.

Our next stop was the Holocaust Museum. What a magnificently well thought out museum. I think it is so important for everyone to see this. It is so important that we never forget this enormous tragedy, that it never be repeated. The museum is absolutely silent. I don't remember even seeing any signs to remind you to show respect. Everyone just does. When you first enter the museum, you are ushered into an elevator that looks kind of like a train car. They pack as many people in as they can. When you reach the fifth floor, you begin your journey through the holocaust.

You learn about the events leading up to this horrific time in our history. I remember learning about this in school and we usually just watched a lot of disturbing videos of very emaciated people walking around camps. I'm afraid to say that the victims almost seemed less than human. I don't know if that is because that is how they were treated and portrayed or if just made it easier to watch. Whatever the reason, this museum reminds you just how human each of the victims of this evil chapter was.

There are two things I learned here which I found very enlightening. The first is this: "The heroic actions of the Danish people during the autumn of 1943 saved nearly all of Denmark's Jews from certain death in Nazi concentration camps. Almost the entire Jewish population of Denmark was rescued and survived the war years, mostly in neutral Sweden and a few hundred in the KZ camp Theresienstadt under the distant but constantly protective concern of the Danes. Denmark is a country of truly blessed memory." That impressed me so much. No one told them to save their neighbors. They just did. At the end of the tour there is a small theater that constantly plays interviews with survivors. The stories are so heartbreaking. The one that touched me the most was the story one woman told. She said that none of the Nazi's would be able to claim they were just doing their duty after the atrocities they committed. There was one woman Nazi in her camp. She saved this survivor's life on more than one occasion. When the woman was sick one day, the Nazi told her she must work. If she didn't work this day, she would be killed. This Nazi woman may not have had much choice in the duty she was given, but she had a choice in the way she would carry it out and the character of the person she would be. If you ever go to DC, you must go here.

Well, after we left the museum, we rushed to the metro so we could go to the Redskins vs Browns game. This was the first NFL game for my sister and I. Kathy's friend Joe hooked us up with the tickets. Thanks Joe! We were on the club level. So, did you all know that some people go to the stadium to watch a game on TV? Me neither. The club level is beautiful. There are restaurants and flat screen TVs every 20 feet. Seriously, some people watch the whole game inside. Not us!
Well, after the game, we had to rush to Union Station for our twilight trolley tour of DC. We were really rushing to make it in time. We decided to get off the metro and walk a mile or more instead of changing trains and waiting. We walked passed the capitol and the Library of Congress which was closed and very dark. There weren't many people around and I told Kathy this would probably be a good place for us to get murdered. But we didn't and we made it to our tour on time. Our tour guide, Mr Map, was fantastic! I loved seeing the monuments at night and learning more about the city. The Korean War Memorial- even better at night!This was our second night back to the room at midnight. When the metro stopped at our stop, which was also the end of the line, it was done for the night. Sure glad we got on that one! Again, I advised Kathy that this is probably where we would get shot. Again, we didn't. I think the city is pretty safe overall.

The next day Kathy's friend Tiffany joined us. She is hilarious like Kathy and we all had so much fun. She lives in Pennsylvania and took the train to Union Station. Our first stop for the day was Arlington Cemetery. We watched the changing of the guard ceremony. Check out this website if you want to learn some interesting facts about this amazing place. http://www.tombguard.org/

With all this rushing around, we had to take time to smell the roses. We went to the Archives on our first day of exploration. We were able to see most of the documents there with the exception of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution because the line was ridiculous. So after Arlington, we decided to try again. It was getting late and I had not yet bought Tommy's aircraft carrier toy from the Air and Space Museum. I told Kathy and Tiffany I would run over and buy that while they went to the Archives. Kathy's primary motivation was to check the back of the Declaration for a possible map. She admits that most of her American history knowledge is derived from the movie National Treasure.

So I cut through the sculpture garden and over the the National Mall to go to the Air and Space Museum. Most of the sculptures are pretty nice and the garden is beautiful but seriously, is this a sculpture?

Because I think it's a black square with rounded edges. Am I just artistically ignorant?

So I made my souvenir purchase and Kathy called to say that if I hurried back, I could still get in line with them. Did I mention that I could barely walk at this point. My feet were really sore and I was exhausted. We had walked...a lot. So I told her I would be sitting on this bench instead.

Pictures I took from my bench.I called Mike and enjoyed the beautiful day for a while. Then I decided to head back to the archives to meet Kathy when she was done. I called her and she said I could still join them in line because even though it had been an hour, they were still waiting outside. They were at the front of the line though. I was hesitant to just walk past a huge line of people who had been waiting for an hour but I figured why not. I walked quickly and purposefully to the front and no one seemed to care. One man even seemed to think I worked there. He asked, "Do you know why the line is taking so long?" I said I didn't and may have even said I would find out though. I guess I looked official with my jacket tied around my waist and my Air and Space bag filled with souvenirs. The people right behind Kathy and Tiffany said they were fine with me cutting in front of them. We finally got to see the Declaration of Independence (just the front though) and the Constitution. The guards wanted to let everyone have a chance to see these documents because it was really getting close to closing time. Some people apparently thought they needed to read and possibly memorize every single line though. I had the decency to just glance a bit and move on. Seriously, it is sad at how faded they have become. I love how just being in DC (this was my third visit to the city) renews my faith in government and rekindles my love for our country's beginnings. As I looked at the fading documents, I thought for a moment, what happens when these words disappear completely?

Our last museum was the Crime Museum. We spent about three hours in there. It is very interesting. You learn everything about criminals from Billy the Kid to Charles Manson. There's a CSI type lab to play in and a lot of info on America's Most Wanted. If the Holocaust Museum made me feel connected to everyone I saw and want to give them a hug, the Crime Museum made me distrustful of everyone I saw and pretty certain I had seen them on America's Most Wanted. It was pretty interesting though.

Bonnie and Clyde's Car