June 4, 2016

Mount Vernon

First – Happy Birthday Dad!  He would be 98 today.

Today a car trip to Mount Vernon.  Well worth the effort.  Of all we have seen so far in our touring and visits in this area this is the best so far.  Very educational and inspiring.  Best museum presentation I can remember seeing.  House and grounds very well done and informative.

Mount Vernon main house

Tomb of George and Martha Washington.  Martha is on the  left. 

 

This is called a ‘Necessary’.  Goes by different names today.  It definitely is not a ‘Porta-…‘

  

Washington denture. NOT made of wood.  Washington was a very healthy man in very good physical shape but suffered from poor teeth all his life in spite of his constant efforts to maintain them.

June 3, 2016

Tours, talks, and Sights

Little later start today.  Had noon appt. to tour Supreme Court.  Tour turned out to be a talk/lecture on building, court room and court.  We arrived early so toured various galleries on our own.

Supreme Court building.

John Marshall.  Fourth Chief Justice but man credited with establishing the roll the Court would play in the young federal government.

 

 

Capitol from steps of Supreme Court.

 

West steps of Capitol.

From Capitol building we worked our way west and north several blocks.

IRS building, saw this along the way.

House where Lincoln died.  Across street from Ford’s Theater.

Presidential Box where Lincoln was shot.

From Ford’s Theater west to White House visitor center.  Had to settle for that.  Our request for a tour was denied because of space even though we put in request nearly six months ago.  ‘

Then a walk west .

White House from South Lawn

Ditto

Boy Scout Monument

June 2, 2016

Monuments

Into D.C. to learn the Metro and start sightseeing.  Out of the Metro station, walked a few blocks, and saw we were next to the National Archives so that was our first stop.  Joined the line (lots of high school kids here too) which moved quite quickly.  Through security, cameras stowed and we are in.  Two floors of displays including the rotunda with the big three.  Lots of visitors but managed well making a pleasant and informative time there.

Out of the Archives and catch the Circulator, a neat bus line run by the Metro that runs a route circulating the National Mall and Monuments. Cheap, easy to use, not crowded, and busses come by every few minutes.  Takes much of the walking out of the long day.

  There is still a lot of walking.  We did over 15000 steps today

Washington Monument.

Lincoln Memorial and Reflecting Pool from Washington Monument

Washington Monument from Jefferson Memorial

 

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial from Jefferson Memorial

 

Jefferson Memorial

 

 

FDR Memorial.  Actually quite well done.  It is a series of statues and FDR quotes engraved on walls with water features interspaced.  There are four sections tracing his four terms.  The whole complex stretches 20-100 yards.  Well done.

 

Korean War Memoral

 

MLK Jr Memorial.

 

Reflecting pool, Washington Monument, Capitol Building in distance.  Taken from in front of Lincoln Memorial.

 

Lincoln Memorial

Spot where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.

View from Lincoln Memorial

 

Inside Lincoln Memorial

 

 

Viet Nam Veterans Memorial.

June 1, 2016

Arlington National Cemetery

Moved in to Cherry Hill Park this morning for our extended stay in Washington D.C. area.  Checked in early which gave us time to do some sight seeing.  Park staff recommended that Arlington was best done by car as Metro to there would take a long time.  So off we went.  Not a bad drive.  About 30 minutes on freeways and parkways.  Pretty.  No buildings seen.  Parkway puts you right at entrance to Arlington Cemetery.  Right away we realized what week it was – first week in June.  Traditional high school senior trip to Washington D.C. week.  Group after group after group of teenagers, each group in a different but distinctive t-shirt.  Pretty chaotic at first but seemed to thin out some by late morning and into afternoon.

We spent over three hours wandering among the grave stones and historical sites.

Arlington House – home of Robert E. Lee prior to Civil War.

JFK and Jacqueline

 

This man, an Army private, went on to become a Supreme Court Justice. 

Crypt of Robert Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln’s son, his wife and their son – Abraham Lincoln II.

President Taft

Grave of first person to be buried on Arlington grounds – long before it became a national cemetery.

Washington D.C. Mall from Arlington House.

Tomb of the Unknowns.

Amphitheater behind Tomb

It was just after Memorial Day.  Flags had been removed from all the graves but remembrance flowers had been left in place on these.

I saw one other Medal of Honor grave stone in our wanderings. Simple marker. Name, rank, dates, and ‘Medal of Honor’.

May 30, 2016

Memorial Day

Have spent the last couple of days wandering south central Pennsylvania marking time before going to Washington D.C. area.

Yesterday we drove to Pottstown to shop for a mattress.  Long way to go for a mattress but we were not far away and the factory has a showroom where you can try out everything (I know most mattress stores have that but they do not then custom make your mattress to your specs).  Ordered mattress, will have to go back after D.C. to get it.  We then headed south to the heart of Amish country.  Middle of holiday weekend so had a little difficulty locating a camp spot.  Finally did find spot in a nice but pricy RV resort.  On the good side, they had an ice cream social that night. 

Today we did some sightseeing and shopping in Intercourse, PA (Don’t ask how it got its’ name.  Even the locals aren’t sure) 

Large Amish population.  Most of the surrounding farms are Amish and many of the homes in town are Amish.

It must have been wash day.  We saw lots of full laundry lines everywhere.

When we drove we shared the road with many horse drawn buggies. 

Many Amish communities are forbidden to ride bicycles.  They do ride these.  Pretty cool.

 

Wandered through several quilt stores and one quilt/fabric/souvenir store.  Quilts are machine pieced and hand quilted.  The stitches are so regular they look like they are done on a machine.  Bed sized quilts range from $1500 to $3000 or more.  Would turn your bed into a display piece never to be used again.

the RV park we are in tonight is surrounded by Amish farms.  Our site is on the road and about half the traffic is buggies.

Tourist