Having been to half a dozen European capitals, Ellyn and I decided it was time to visit our own!
Wednesday, March 24th: travel
We departed mid-day from LAX. Car, Plane, Bus, Metro, There! We stayed at a condo right at the Ballston Metro Station. We got settled in at about 10pm, east coast time.
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| From 2010 Washington DC |
Thursday: walking
Took the Metro to the Washington Monument
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Walked to the Vietnam Memorial, which Ellyn found very moving. I certainly appreciated it - we both think it is very well done.
The Lincoln Memorial was pretty great. Ellyn found it much more moving than she thought she would - and so did I.
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The FDR Memorial was nice and outdoorsy. We didn't really plan on visiting it, but we're really glad we happened through. It was a really nice break from the other monuments - it felt a lot less formal.
The Jefferson Memorial is big and impressive. He was an impressive guy.
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The White House. We've all seen pictures. Now we've seen pictures with Kurt & Ellyn!
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We stopped by the National Museum of Natural History just briefly. It wasn't so much our thing - if you have kids, you have to go. If not - eh.
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| From 2010 Washington DC |
And finally we visited the Corcoran Gallery of Art. I suppose my favorite was Renoir's "The Blue Lady". I also like the portrait of George Washington.
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Friday: quick visit to the capitol, then drive to Pittsburg
Union Station was not as interesting as we'd hoped. Kind of like a mall attached to a train station. It's a nice mall, but still.
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The Capitol is very impressive. As an American, it is somewhat disappointing to me that I have better access to the Bundestag than our capital, but I guess that's largely an advantage granted by late 20th century architecture.
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In the evening we left to Drive to Pittsburg. Of course that's when it started to snow.
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Saturday: Visit with Mike, Angela, Katie, and Sophie!
Mike and Angela live on Squirrel Hill. We visited with them for the day and went to the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. The host was very excited about the bird of paradise that was blooming. When we landed at LAX, there were basically fields of 'em. We thought that was funny.
In the evening we drove back to DC.
Sunday: Art & Science
National Gallery of Art. I was really taken with some of Toulouse-Lautrec's oil on cardboard paintings.
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The National Air and Space Museum was way cooler than I imagined it would be. I especially enjoyed the Wright Flyer and history. Seeing the Gemini IV and Apollo 11 Command Module in person gives you a real appreciation for why they were called 'tin cans'. Not a whole lot of elbow room.
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Monday: History (and in the making), Art visit
Started off at the National Archives Building, where we saw the original copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Also on display was a 13th century copy of the Magna Carta.
After that was a visit to the Supreme Court, where we got to sit in on them talking about Enron! The question at hand seem to be the services fraud charge and jury selection for the case. We heard from about page 50 of http://www.supremecourtus.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/08-1394.pdf.
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| From 2010 Washington DC |
Then we headed over to the National Gallery of Art (East Building), which was just about to close for the day.
Tuesday: More Art!
On our last day, we decided to visit some of the museums we had not yet visited, or had just visited briefly. Ellyn really enjoyed the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
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| From 2010 Washington DC |
We returned to the National Gallery of Art (East Building), where I mostly sat and admired Monet's Woman with a parasol and Garden At Vetheuil.
Wednesday: Metro, Bus, Plane, Drive drive drive, Home!
Back in January - the 20th (our 17th anniversary, actually), I went to Morro Bay to see if there were big waves. It was when we were having our big winter storm.
When it's really cold, and the wind is blowing really hard in your face from the ocean, and it looks like this:
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It's time to look for cover. 2 minutes later, I was drenched from driving rain and sleet.
But 8 minutes after these, it looked like this:
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We have had a bumper crop of lizards, this year. I really enjoy seeing them in the yard. We seemed to have one living under our mailbox for a while.
The lizard is at the top of the picture. My toes are at the bottom.
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| From Lizard |
If you look carefully, you can see Ellyn & I hiding behind the sunflowers.
It's amazing to me that they grow to be taller than I am in just a few months.
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| From Hidden | ||
No, we're not anticipating a zombie invasion, but they certainly make me happy.
We (mostly Ellyn) planted a bunch of Sunflowers in front of our house. I'm so excited! The first little one has finally bloomed:
Yesterday, the boys next door left a note on the door announcing they're having a party. They've had 'em before, and we appreciated the heads up - even if it was same day. They said they'd get quiet by midnight. Really, that's when things seemed to start up. That's OK; a little warning goes a long way.
This morning I awoke to my alarm - which is my work cell phone. It has a very mild gong tone that repeats and gets louder. I leave it in the den, usually. But today is Saturday, and my alarm only sounds on weekdays. And the sound wasn't quite right. So I mostly fell back asleep. I remember all this on reflection.
Then the floors in the house started creaking, and I woke up pretty quick. Someone was standing in our hallway, wearing some cloths and one of our blankets. Trying to make sense of everything, I decided Ellyn had had someone crash at our place. Then I decided it was Jaryd - but too short. Then I realized: he was a party goer.
So I woke Ellyn up and sat him down and went next door. I got Billy to come over and come collect the guy (who was pretty wasted).
Note to self: lock the back door - especially when the neighbors are having a party.