Day Two: Washington DC

Happy Day!  Our daughter and husband have given us a trip to DC -- all because they are so grateful that we have "helped them with the kids."  What do they think grandparents do?  Still...it's our good!

So...here we are, sitting in the Pavilion Cafe at the National Sculpture Gardens having an excellent pizza and a Mediterranean salad, watching the fountain among the green trees.  Sitting outside a bit later finishing a refill of iced tea, we had our excitement for the day.  Two guys came along in blue shirts with trash barrels and a trash pickup tool.  We saw them jump back and look down under a table.  Another one came with a small broomstick and beat at the table.  Then the two men jumped backward as a mouse raced across the sidewalk.  The third guy broke his broom without really trying to hit the mouse.  He said he saw "Mickey" in his mind's eye and just couldn't do it.  It looked like they were all afraid of the mouse, who got away in the bushes.

Earlier we toured the National Archives saw the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and felt good about being Americans, living under law and justice, even if it isn't always perfect.  We also toured the FBI building, going through their museum with one of the agents.  Great experience!  Proud to have people like that looking out for our rights.

And the National Gallery of Art was a thrill -- all those Impressionist artists -- Monet and Manet and Pissarro and Renior.  Many years ago when my Mom was still alive, I bought her a copy of Renior's "girl with a water can."  Today we saw the original!  And his "Dancer."  And one of Monet's lily garden paintings from Giverny and several of his paintings of the Waterloo Bridge at different times of day.

The Air and Space Museum is also inspiring!  Makes me want our government to put greater emphasis on space travel and for industry to get deeply involved in reaching the stars.  I remember doing a study of the Saturn rocket in ROTC at Oklahoma University back in 1961. I remember setting our one-week old daughter down in front of an old Sylvania TV the day Armstrong took that one great step for mankind.  We love the Wright brothers displays and all the rest of it, especially seeing that one small piece of Sputnik that is still in existence.

This morning we had breakfast buffet at the hotel and enjoyed talking to one another over a second cup of coffee.  It has to be a mile walking underground in the Crystal City shops to the metro station.  Last night there was only one thing open in the shops when we returned to the hotel - a Subway - so it was a sandwich for dinner.  When we went to the metro to get our Senior Smartrip cards, the man down at the trains said we couldn't get them there.  We needed to go up into the shops -- "when you get to the top, go right, then right, then left and right again, and you're there."  So we went up into the shops, but that didn't sound good enough to us, so we asked a man at an information desk about it.  I thought he said "comptuer shop," so he emphasized "commmmmuuuttter shop" - "go up there, turn right, then turn left at Starbucks (Starbucks!!!) and right at Smoothie Joes -- to the commmuuuttterr shop".  We actually found it.  Perks to being seniors!!

We watched "Night at the Museum" again before we came, and yesterday we went through the Natural History Museum.  Great to see the dinosaur and the squid and the "Dum-Dum" guy (Darlene took a picture of me in front of it).  It not only feels good to be an American; it feels good to be a child of the God who made all of the things that are -- what incredible variety of dinosaurs existed on the earth!  And it is incredible to see how many forms of quartz there are.  The Hope diamond was pretty good too.

Another thing we did was walk all the way down the Mall to the Lincoln Memorial...and back.  It was worth it -- to look at the memorial and wonder who the finest president of the US has been and to think that many good men (and some day women) have held that post.  And on the way back we walked along the Vietnam Memorial Wall and read the names and thought about all the young men and women (and some older ones too) who have died in war.  Sobering...but sometimes the war has to be fought. We are proud of people who stand up to wrong.  Makes us want to stand up for something eternal and good and true.

So...be good, be true....charles