House of Leaves

Each time we are in DC, we try to do different things than we have in the past. This proves difficult, as we've been coming to the city for three decades.

Oddly, any of the Smithsonian museums are out for me now. This administration is actively taking down displays that tell our history, but they want to whitewash it. I cannot abide by this. 

While we did one or two new things, we did one thing we always do - stop at Kramer Bookstore.

I have an active liberry card, but I am a sap when it comes to buying books. And I'm back to reading, after taking a break for a few months. I had a list. 

Have a list. I just made a slight dent in it. 

While we were looking around, an attractive young woman came right up to us and goes, "what's your favourite book?"

BOING. 

Talk about being put on the spot. 

She followed up with she's looking for something new and good to read. She then asked "what's your favourite genre". 

I don't like the game "what's your favourite.....".   Movies, music and books are hard to nail down that way. Movies might be best drama, comedy, suspense, etc. But just one?  Nahhhhh. Ditto with music and books. 

But we stood for about 10 minutes exchanging recommendations. She really gave me nothing of note, but she was intrigued by one of my selections House of Leaves.  She seemed like she'd enjoy a very very non-traditional fiction selection, so she went off to find it. 

We both checked out at the same time, but I didn't see what she actually purchased. It was too small to be my suggestion. She seemed happy I didn't buy any non-fiction. All fiction this go-round. 

I crack open one of these tomorrow. 

Song: Poe

a fun note: Poe's brother, Mark Danielewsk wrote the book House of Leaves. She the song. Both were released around the same time back in 2000. 

the Gauntlet

I would say, "I made my decision on a Fall marathon", but that would only be partially true. 

Chicago did not want me. New York City as well. That ended up leaving a few options of which I previously mentioned:

Minneapolis. Indianapolis. Columbus. Philadelphia. Detroit. Marine Corps (DC). 

All promising, but each with challenges. 

Minneapolis is first week in October. That would be a challenge to run with with losing at least three weeks of needed training. Indy conflicts with a wedding which we are attending. Columbus I'd love to do again, but not just yet. Philly is late late, but it conflicts with a half-marathon relay to which I've agreed, Detroit was sold out. 

That left MCM. 

But I fucked around on committing and lo and behold, it sold out too. 

It's one of those things - you weren't sure you wanted it until it was gone. So for both Detroit and MCM, I trolled FB for people wanting to transfer bibs. And lord, people are nuts. Well, not nuts........but nasty and devious. 

Most big marathons have an official bib transfer process (assuming they allow it at all). All warn against scammers. And I had more than a few try to get me.  

As I am smarter than your average bear, I caught on early, and often, to their jive. Each one joining the marathon FB page that same day. You can see how many other people they messaged. And the second you had any credibility in what you were talking about, they ghosted you. 

I did my share of reporting to the site administrator. One poor woman messaged me saying she saw Ms X messaged me and not to deal with her. She had lost $200 in a venmo-like transfer, only to find out there was no bib. Never was. 

But another woman responded to a very specific post of mine, which said, if you're not willing to give me the registrant name and email address to verify with the MCM folks, don't bother me. That kept the scum away. 

Though this nice woman really wanted to swap. I got her 4-1-1 verified at the site. She set forth in motion to start the transfer and kept me up to date. She didn't even consider that I would not just pay the reg fee, but also the transfer fee. It took two days for MCM to do their part, and bing bang boom, I was a few hundred dollars poorer and now registered to run 26.2 with / for the marines. 

FUCK. 

That was my immediate reaction after registering and paying her. Now I have to actually run the 50th Marine Corp Marathon.

710 says it is good for me to have goals, and he is not wrong. It will not be easy, but I know I can finish. If I can finish with a personal record, who knows. 

I have two goals now - three, I guess.  

1. Do the training. Which is going to consist of some 16, 18 and 20 mile runs.   

2. Finish the marathon.   

3. ....and most importantly:  don't get injured between #1 and #2. 

hehehehehe........number 2. 

This will be my largest event yet. 40,000 runners. All doing the marathon. There is no half. So there is no lessening of the crowd after 13.1.  This could be good in terms of camaraderie, as usually you're running by yourself after the half-marathoners peel off. 

It's a bit humbling to know even if I'm in the top half (which has yet to be determined), that I'd still be like the 19,873rd runner to finish. 

As far as I know, I'll know (or know of) three other people doing this race. 40k folks, so I don't know I'll connect with them while there, but maybe we can make a concerted effort for a pic before or after.

This is military driven, which isn't a huge draw for me in best of times, less so now. Lots of flags and shit, and me feeling extremely unpatriotic.  Getting my Gatorade from a 19 year old in Marine camo at Mile 17 isn't the porn origin story I really want.  

.....now, if it was their dad............

Come late October, I expect to hear "OORAH" more than I ever have, and more than I ever want. 

(those in DC, perhaps I'll see you as spectators????)  

Song by: Dropkick Murphys

Words

When in DC, we went to what I kept calling the Word Museum. 

My friends kept asking if we were doing the Excel Museum after that. I laughed, but honestly, it took me like three more days and another telling of that joke to get it. 

It was the Airplane "flying this plane is something different altogether" joke all over again.  

But the place is actually called Planet Word. 

It's a great place if you're a pedophile, since everyone there is on a grade school field trip. 

Even when you included the chaperons and the docents, we were the oldest ones there. 

The building, a renovated schoolhouse, is amazingly well done. The contents have a lot of potential, but for the population they have, it is probably just right. They play with words and different parts of language and speech, and not just from the U.S. 

This wall was interactive, where you could call out a word and they'd tell you about its origins. 

Here, you got to go to other countries and learn about their language. We went to Iceland, where there are only 350k folks there, and their language is insular and protective. They do not use any words from outside of Iceland - they'd make one up, if needed. 

But I got learn how names come about and what I'd be called in that country:  my first name, as is. My last name would be my father's first name + son (as I am his son). 

I thought the elevator alone was worth it. 

It was interesting, I just felt it was missing something. But then I'm not on a 1st grade field trip. 

Go ahead:  guess. 

Song by: the Monkees

Tusk

It's becoming more and more official - there is less and less for 710 and myself to explore in DC that we have not done before. 

Yes, museums change exhibits, but we've been to most - if not all of them. 

Then the other things: Supreme Court - check.  Liberry of Congress - check. Capitol, OEOB, White House - check x3. National Archives?  Yeah. All of the war memorials and presidential ones too.

We've even done Walter Reed's museum of medical oddities. 

This isn't a bad thing. And normally we are fine just walking and exploring. It's just hard to do at 94 degrees and in a heavy plastic boot (though in our last day, I did make it 8 miles of walking in that thing). 

The one things we had not done was the National Zoo. I wanted to go, but mostly just for the pandas. Well, only for the pandas. 

I find zoos to be D-pressing. 

Caged animals just seems cruel to me. And the DC one was no different. Yeah, I get some animals it keeps them safe from being extinct or poached. The above elephant was extremely regal. Those tusks were impressive and no doubt would have been stolen from him if out in the wild. 

The teeny size of the Zebra enclosure was horrific to me. Then I got to see that it abutted the cheetah one, while slightly bigger, could NEVER let a cheetah remotely get to their running speed. Add to that, the cat hung at the back fence, right next to where the zebra was housed. 

The orangutans at least had the ability to climb towers and swing part way across the park to another enclosure - though we didn't actually get to see that. 

But we did get to see the pandas. 

This exhibit wasn't nearly as crowded as one might think, but the entire zoo wasn't either at first. I get that they're giant pandas, but they still seemed huge to me. 

This guy was impressive too. 

This is what I truly expected to see for most of the animals on a day in the 90s. Sleeping. These two lions took advantage of the sun and just napped. 

I was thinking that maybe it best if this lady didn't actually frequent zoos. 

The zoo might have been the last Smithsonian thing we had left to do in DC - and we did the Cooper Hewitt one in NYC a few years back. 

Granted, we'll be back. We love DC. But now we can just take our time and wander even more than we have. 

Song by: Fleetwood Mac

Back to Black

If you have not yet been to the the National Museum of African American History & Culture you should. 

It has been open for a few years, but we've never made the time to go - though to be fair, we usually let crowds die down a bit, and then, well........Covid 19 - then Delta, the Omnicron and now AB5.  

This trip, we were able to snag timed tickets (they're free, just timed). 

Honestly, we did not make a dent in this visit. Museum Fatigue is a legitimate medical condition. And at the 90 minute mark (and it wasn't even our first museum of the day!), we kind of hit a wall......and we weren't even 25% done with expanse of the newest (?) Smithsonian. 

The plan was to start at the top floor (4) and work our way down. But 4 was so packed with so much, one floor took over 90 minutes. Even if we had the energy, there wasn't enough time to do the other three in the time the museum was open. 

I won't lie - it was weird being there. Great, but weird. 

We felt like interlopers. I think we were interlopers. We were. For sure. 

I doesn't mean we didn't get something out of the experience. I didn't mean our liberalism made us feel comfortable being there - quite the contrary. There is a white guilt that is invoked here - and rightfully so. How would it not? 

Granted, I don't think any MAGA folk are coming to visit this museum unless it were to painfully point out their prejudices and for hate mongering. You gotta figure there are the few who'd walk through the doors to posture their faux-superior status. At least we didn't have to encounter that. 

We are all informed on a daily basis the injustices the Black community faces. It's painful when you can seemingly do so little to affect change. It's painful to see it in front of you in room after room after room. 

Of course we did not see a lot, but one of the more interesting things, to me, of what we did see, was a film loop of Black Americans talking about their skin tone and the prejudices or bias they get from it - not just from the White community, but in and amongst their own race.  710 and I talked about it over dinner later that night and both brought up the same part of it, and one fraction of that part. It both hit us separately and together.  Just unknowingly at the time. 

I'm actually looking forward to our return to DC - whenever that may be - so we have the opportunity to visit another floor. 

This one will take time. 

Song by: Amy Winehouse

Wishing

I had very few things I wanted to do in DC.  One, actually.  I don't ask for much. 

Stop snickering.  i don't. 

Laurie Anderson had an exhibit at the Hirschhorn (who knew it had two, well three, H's in its name?). So we trekked out there. Actually, we took the Metro and then trekked. I'm pretty good in the boot, but it is hot here and the shin portion isn't really that comfortable after a while. 

Bummer of all bummers - Anderson's exhibt closed the prior week. 

Sure sure, we saw some good art - though I'm not sure Sam Gilliam's was it. Yayoi Kusama had an exhibit there, and we went, but much of it was already shown in Cleveland over four years ago. 

On leaving, we did go out to their sculpture garden - which is nice, even if it has too many Henry Moore pieces. 

But they had an interactive art project:  the Wishing Tree. 

One writes down their wish or hope and ties it to a branch of the tree.  Simple.  Though they give you nothing upon which to write and golf pencils in which do it. 

Mine wish came early and quick. I scribbled it down and tied it to the tree. 

Yes, I'm petty - but I want what I want. 

710 sees it and goes, - and I'm paraphrasing - "so you didn't wish for the love of your husband?". 

My reply was, "I already have that........don't I?               DON"T I ????"  

And while of course I love 710, I'd be ok without that affection for a while, if that entire family went to jail. 

Song by: A Flock of Seagulls

Sweet Old World

Lord - look at that line.  ....and for cupcakes.

During my day of solo walking, I found myself going all the way from the hotel, to the Liberry of Congress....to the Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial and then down to Georgetown.

It was a hike.

I had not really planned on going to Georgetown Cupcakes, but I was now within walking distance. Three blocks further than I planned on going. And once you've walked 11+ miles, three blocks is farther than one thinks.

When I got there, I wasn't expecting "the line".

Back in 2010 when we got married, the plan was to have cupcakes from here for our wedding. A downpour and no Metro to Georgetown thwarted that plan. I decided to get in line to see how fast it moved to right that wrong from almost six years ago. Worse case scenario, I could hit another shop - Sprinkles - on my way back.

Ruckiry (not Jon's boss), the line was in the shade. Had it not, I would not have stayed 30 seconds.

Je didn't time the wait, but it wasn't that long, though I did start to think about what a potential waste of time this could be if the cupcakes were even just average. I've said before, this is a great business model: ~$3 a pop and by the time you find their iffy you're already out of the store. I've made many a iffy....or downright bad - cupcake.

Yet I remain forever hopeful.

I was also worried with this crowd that there would not be any product left to purchase. Silly me.

And this wasn't even all the racks.....or the huge display case.

I am 99.999% sure I purchased more than I planned (or needed), but fuck it. I was finally there and had walked 11+ miles. I deserved it.  .....or so I keep telling myself.

There was no way to walk all the back to the hotel without fear of them succumbing to the heat - as it was almost 100F.  I opted to take the bus. With none in site, I walked until one caught up with me - so I got another good 1.5 miles in. Still the bus with a/c was nice. I had no idea where it was actually going, but it was headed in the general direction I needed to be.

Oddly, we ended up not consuming one of them while in town. Our last night of vacation dinner was late and we had no desire to eat more. They would keep.

Sunday night - at home - we each had one. I was fairly impressed. It was a good cake to icing ratio. If you're not an expert (like me!), you might not know that most places pile on the frosting where it is impossible to eat the dessert with out a fork and plate. Usually the frosting is too sweet and there is never enough cake - nor is it moist enough.

All the elements of good were here. At least for the one each we sampled.

I got a variety - so we will see if this holds true across the cupcake spectrum.


And while you'll think I'm pathetic to stand it such a line, I'll let you know the line was twice as long to get into Ripley's Believe it or Not.  ....and for what?  A wax statue of Michael Phelps or Ronald Reagan?

Now who's pathetic?


Song by:  Lucinda Williams

Memorial

I'm just posting an image today.

Yesterday was a long and hot one. ....and Blobby didn't wear a hat or sunscreen. I think I'll be ok. I have a nice base from the beach.

The thing with DC is, I've done most of it before. But I was in an outdoor mood. 710 was not. He went to a few galleries, I walked. And walked. And walked.

I ended up at the Lincoln Memorial - which is always a favourite of mine. I wanted to to Arlington Cemetery, but it was sooooo hot, I couldn't do it.

I have taken this shot before on other visits, but the colouring this time was really nice and it was pretty clear.

The image doesn't pick it up very well, but you can see the Capitol dome. Most the scaffolding has come down.



Song by: Michael Nyman

Nothing

I got nothing.

Actually, I have plenty, but as vacation week enters its last few days, it is quite possible that I'm drunk at 22:19.

Being as such - allegedly - I have no desire to formulate a thought out or semi-well written post. Nor could I should the desire be there.

On an unrelated note:  if ever in DC, I recommend Capital City Brewing Company.

The service is fair, as is the food. But the beer....well......I liked. A lot!  Especially the Red, Wheat & Blue.

I fear it might be seasonal - as it has straw and blue berries. And it's not on their website menu. I've had blueberry beer before, but with unfavourable results. This was not the case this time.

And with a high alcohol content rate, well.......it all turned out very nicely..............for me.

Due to nothing whatsoever that we could see, our five hour journey from OBX back to DC took us 7.5 hours. Blobby was very very very unhappy. It made for a stressful trip.

I'm hoping for a better tomorrow and Sunday.....and Monday.

Perhaps Sunday's post (tomorrow) will be better than today.



Song by: Depeche Mode

Disarm

Shortly after the Pulse nightclub shooting, Rebecca suggested we meet up in DC for the newly announced Disarm Hate Rally.

I committed to nothing.

As it got closer, it seemed like we were going to be in DC at that time, but didn't tell Becky. I "thought" (oh yes, quotes!) I wouldn't tell her and that we would surprise her at the rally.

She didn't show - so we were the surprised ones.

It is hot hot hot in WDC.  And out on the Potomac Park, there is nary a tree. So, August....in DC....at 11:30a.....in an open field and not a cloud in the sky.

Disarm the Hate?  Disarm the Stupidity people.

Perhaps it was due to the heat. Perhaps it was due to having this when Congress is not in session (the town and many who work in that arena are not around either), but it wasn't overflowing with people. I also don't know how they got the word out. Had it not been for Becky, I'd have never heard boo about it all.

As it turns out not many others did either. I'm guessing 300 folks in all. Though the organizer's site said 10,000.  As much as I'd have loved for it to have been that many, no one benefits from that kind of fallacy.

That is such a NOM tactic.

There were probably 10,000 people on the Mall......over the course of 6-7 hours, but not where or near the rally was held.

In reality - there was a port-a-john for every 10 people. And that's kind of sad - even if the heat inside had to be stifling.

There were some good speakers (though if you're going to rip off Lin Manuel Miranda's Tony speech, you should at least give him partial credit) and iffy iffy talent.

But it was fun to people watch.

....and this man unfortunately stood outside the rally area.

...and yes, I do mean unfortunately. Besides liking a good debate, I'm 100% sure that gun elimination isn't on the table, and that wasn't even a talking point at the rally. This man's take might have been well formed and interesting.

Gun control, education and mental checks were discussed.

The guy with the cross that said REPENT SINNERS, well, I'm glad he did stand outside the rally area.

Truth be told, the most popular place to be is where they were handing out water. With 100F heat, it was important to stay hydrated.

My most favourite part of the rally was the

The shirt was already soaked with sweat, but the cold water felt good.

I truly think the problem with the rally was timing. August in DC was part of it, but the call to action was too late. The Orlando shooting was almost two months ago. That was a lifetime ago - and you truly need to strike while the iron is hot. Sad but true.

Shootings in Dallas, New Orleans and a bombing in Nice happened since Pulse. People have no attention span.  I totally get it is not easy to get permits, get the word out and coordinate a large-ish event, but you'd have had better turn-out with a quick off the cuff rally than you did yesterday. Still I applaud them for doing it.

I'd say any press is good press.......but I'm not sure there was anyone there to notice.



Song by: the Civil Wars

Would You Believe

....that it has been five years since 710 and I got married?

Sure, you can tack on another 25 to that since we had been together, but today marks our fifth anniversary since getting hitched in DC.

Of course, now everyone can get married anywhere in the U.S. - save maybe one county in Kentucky if all of the other clerks are on PTO.

#5 is Wood.

Yes, the jokes just seem to write themselves, don't they?

So I'm taking the high road - which Magic Mike always wonders how I found that byway. It is certainly not on any map I own, nor could I ever follow there, as he's only 'read about it'.

Ok, I'll take the imaginary high road and no 'wood' jokes. I'm a properly married man now!

We are experiencing the same weather these last few days that we had back in 2010. Blue skies, temps in the 60s (in November!!!), and sun. And somewhere, someone has all my reception and rehearsal dinner pictures.........the bastards. Five years later, I'm still kicking myself over that one. I suspect I will be for another five as well.

And best yet - we didn't wear pastel tuxedos.  We just had simple sport coats and white shirts.

For any would-be groom or bride - I've said it before and will say it again: spring for a good photographer. Don't get an MFA candidate for $60 and hour.  We got 68 shots - most of them unusable. To be fair to Jordan, I didn't confirm that his MFA wasn't going to be in ceramics - so that one is on me. When you break it down, it's less than a dollar a shot. I totally got what I paid for.

I expect to get an email from Ed, our officiant, tomorrow. I was hoping to do a surprise for 710, but that didn't pan out. So I was going to do a special menu of some kind at home, but he'd like to go out - so that is what we will do.

Anything his heart desires.




Song by: the Mavericks

Just a Memory

I am guessing this will be my second to last 9/11 post. Just a hunch.

I figured I'd do one for the 15th anniversary, next year. I don't particularly think this blog will be around at the 20th. I've been known to be wrong, but another six years of blogging seems daunting, at best.

 Anyhooo.........

This last December, we made it to the last of the 9/11 Memorials.

We'd been to the WTC site - any number of times - three weeks after the planes hit, a half dozen times during construction and once so far since that memorial opened.

Three and a half years ago we stopped by the Shanksville site.

Finally in 2014, we got to the Pentagon site. It was an over the river and through the woods things. Well - under the river, until the Metro dropped us at the Pentagon. But it was a long long walk around the building to get to the site.  Lots and lots of signs saying 'no cameras'.  I was not that deterred.

The space is nice. Considering.

The "considering" is that it is built basically adjacent to a parking lot. "Considering" it abuts the Pentagon itself. "Considering" you are under many a watchful eye because you are actually next to the Pentagon itself.

Flight 77, oddly enough, came in such a direction it probably did the least damage it could. Had it come any of the other four ways, parking lots, the Metro, shopping centers and freeways could have all been ruined with many more lives lost.  It went through an empty lots before hitting the building.

The Pentagon Memorial might not get a lot of tourist visitors, just due to the amount of walking one must do to get there. It's out of the way.  We were two of a half dozen on a cold December day. I liked that. I wanted to experience it without the throngs.

I love the meaning behind the design of such memorials.

I get that there are 184 "benches" for each of the military and civilian victims. Benches that seem to be facing toward the building are those of people on the plane. Benches seemingly facing away from the building represent victims in the Pentagon itself.

Benches are arranged from youngest victim (3 years old) to oldest (71). Each bench is marked with the victim's age and name. I'm not sure I liked that methodology, as people traveling or working together are split up, but it is kind of hard to come up with another logical way to represent them all.

There are pools of water underneath each bench - the length and width of the benches - and they are lit at night. I'm sure it is quite a site to see, though we didn't stick around until after sunset.

The surrounding wall goes from 3" to 71" - again, in correspondence with the youngest victim to the oldest.

There are free audio tours (download on your iPhone).

Actually, "considering" they did a nice job with the place, though GWB and Donald Rumsfeld's names are listed in the marble at the entrance, so that's a downer.

Oddly, picture taking wasn't truly prohibited. It's just not what I thought it would be, as it's almost impossible to take pics at the memorial without getting shots of the Pentagon itself.

It was this shot for which I got busted.....

The Air Force Memorial just up the hill, near Arlington.

It's not so much that I took the pic of the memorial, as much as it was I took it from the Pentagon parking lot. THAT is a no-no. The fear (?) is that you get a license plate of an employee of the Pentagon.

In the end, the cop didn't make me erase the picture (though I thought he would), so when he wasn't looking I was a dick and just did this......

I'm not a proud man.


But if you ever find your way to DC, I suggest making the trek to the Pentagon to see this.




Song by: Marti Jones

We Shall Be Free

Tomorrow is Martin Luther King day. I don't have anything so heady to write that it should interrupt My Music Monday.

While in DC last month, we did make our way down to the MLK Memorial. The last time we were there, it wasn't.

A few things struck me about the memorial and actual site. It was simple and powerful. It was very well done (IMO). It was facing the wrong way.

Again, my opinion.

Yes, I get that the space was on the Tidal Basin and to have MLK facing out over its expanse was nice. It was open. It was free.

However, right behind - ok by a few hundred yards - was the Lincoln Memorial.

To me, the link between Lincoln and King were strong. To have him facing the man who helped free the slaves and where King gave his "I Have a Dream Speech" (oh, I hope the King family doesn't come and sue me for using that phrase!), seems the most natural thing in the world.

Yes, I get that it doesn't provide a good entrance set-up for the site, or as good a flow.

I loved entering through the "Mountain of Despair". This itself was much more powerful than the likeness of MLK. 

And I do like how it opens to the Stone of Hope. 

And yes, it is a great view of how it opens up to the Tidal Basin and the Jefferson Memorial. And yes, even if you entered the other way and MLK faced the Lincoln Memorial, there are trees blocking a clear view, but still......

One amazing piece is a quote that was taken off the monument after it had opened. The once inscribed, "I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness". was paraphrased and not actual. I'm not quite sure how they removed it so flawlessly, considering the letters had to be 1.5" deep.

My mother-in-law doesn't like the way MLK's hands are crossed - that he looks too closed off. But when you're on-site, it doesn't seem that way. He's in a thoughtful, reflective stance. Thinking. Contemplating.

If you're in DC, I highly suggest you make the trek down to see it.

------------

Freedom comes in many ways too - though maybe not the way MLK envisioned.

I'm hoping that SCOTUS taking up the 6th Circuit Court upholding marriage inequality and recognition of same sex marriages in certain states (Ohio!) will possibly mean legal same sex marriage for every single state......not that there that many left who do not have it.

It seems we'll know in June, if the case is argued in April (which it looks like April 29th).

I know a lot of folks equate the Civil Rights Act with Same Sex Marriage. There are valid arguments for both and against that analogy, though more for than against (once again. my opinion).

My one regret for the SCOTUS suit is that we are not part of it. Our "case" never got filed and others took up the cause. Allegedly, it was all political depending on what justice would be hearing which case as it was filed, and our judge was not one who looked favourably on the merits of same-sex marriage.

------------

And as for Selma, it is not one of the movies I am clamouring to see. Besides hearing that LBJ's portrayal is buffoonish or the changes to the speeches (thanks to the King family) render them only 'in the spirit of' MLK....I just refuse to pay to see anything with Oprah in it.



Song by: Garth Brooks

Monument

Oh yeah, we went to DC for a few days before the xmas holiday. I said I was going to write about it.....and then holidays and other stuff got in the way.

No worries. Better late than never.

Part of the trip was to just get away, but part was to visit 710's parents who don't live all that far from WDC.

As you know, or probably know, I love DC. I'd live there in a heartbeat if the stars aligned. But it is an expensive place to live - and I have no desire to live in the 'burbs of Maryland or northern Virginia - neither of which are that much cheaper anyways. I was reading the average time on the market for a house / apartment is less than 45 days. Often in the single digits, for the right place. Many times a place may never get an official listing.

We had no agenda. Nothing we had to see, per se, though we wanted to do a few things. Some you saw in my year-end wrap-up of photos. Some you did not.

Now I'll show some more.

The title image was taken on the Mall at sunset. The plan was to go to the Washington Monument to see DC at night. Alas, it was not meant to be - as the tickets were long gone for the last viewing, although no one was actually there to use them. Bastards.

The next morning we got our tickets by 08:30. We couldn't get in until 11:00, so off to breakfast and wandering we went.

I loved this pic. The geese in bad formation going around the monument itself.

All of the geese seemed to be imprisoned here. I don't think they were Jewish geese, but their fenced in camp was right behind the Holocaust museum. Here many were ready for take-off.

For the 228 times I've been to DC, I have never been in the Washington Monument. Nor had I any desire. But after the seed got planted for a night time view, I kind of wanted to see it. But we got day time tickets and that was fine. There were good shots of the entire city to be had, even though it was cold and pretty grey. Had we taken later times, it would have been sunny and blue out.

Below, at the Ellipse, you see the National Christmas tree. We did go at night to see them light the fifth candle on the menorah  - but it was a sad state. The entire thing. It ended up being like the worst county fair imaginable - though seemingly without the funnel cakes. But they did have clogging.....to "Frosty the Snowman". I couldn't get out of there quick enough.

But the monument itself was not bad at all.

As we headed to other memorial sites, we walked past a couple getting married at the District of Columbia War Memorial. It was a really nice setting.

After that it was on to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial (I'll use those images for MLK day in a week or so). Then onto the FDR Memorial - which I think we were the only people there. Then onto the Lincoln Memorial (I'll use those images for President's Day).

As always, we went to the Wall. Like Arlington, the Vietnam Memorial is one of my favourite places in DC. It's quiet. It's reverent. Honestly, unless there are little kids, there is almost no talking at all. It's such a different experience from the other memorials. 

I love a lot of Maya Lin's work, but it must be so hard having your legacy solidified at 21 years of age, as she did with this design. 

The next day we took the Metro to the Pentagon. You saw one of my pics for their 9/11 Memorial. I'll do a separate post on that some time. But from the Pentagon, I took a similar pic of the Air Force Memorial.

I totally got busted taking a pic like the above one from the parking lot of the Pentagon. That was a big no-no and their police force busted me. Taking pics anywhere but the memorial is a no-no, which I don't exactly get.

You can almost not take a pic of anything in the memorial without getting the Pentagon itself. But apparently the parking lot is off limits because you can capture a car with a worker's plates there (that I kind of get). But I was taking a pic of something off grounds.....but apparently that didn't matter.

So as a big 'fuck you', I "accidentally" snapped this.  Sue me.

From there it was a big long walk to Pentagon City to catch the Metro to Arlington. 

View from the Custis-Lee Mansion. 

I always go to JFK's grave. And now Teddy is just down the way from RFK.  

I only hit the Custis-Lee Mansion, which sits just about that site, one every few years. 

I always watch the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
It never ceases to captivate me. Even if just watching the guarding of it, and not the changing, it is still very impressive.


Oddly, right past the Tomb of the Unknowns, is without a doubt the ugliest plaque ever erected. So much so, that I'm making it extra-large so you can see, though feel free to click on to make bigger.

The folks on the Challenger deserved better. NASA has a great memorial to all astronauts who have died in duty. This is Arlington's one big fail. The ghoulish grins and gums on these guys is enough to scare the crap out of any of the dead in this cemetery.

I think I go here each time too hoping to see a new / better memorial to those seven folks. But I don't think that is going to happen.

The one bad thing of using your iPhone as your camera anymore, is that at night, things don't always focus. Certainly not easily. I can easily say I took a dozen and a half pics of the Capitol dome that is under construction. NONE of them came out.

This image is one 710 captured. Even then he took as many as I. It is a neat site - and ruckiry (not Jon's boss), the 113th Congress had just vacated for the term, so getting close to it didn't give me that creepy feeling.

Oh - and one last pic. I think we were at our second day at the hotel when the husband had to point out our room number.

Song by: Depeche Mode