Washington DC

We had good luck with the weather in DC. It was hot but not stifling.

The camera partially croaked so almost all outdoor pictures were badly exposed. Bad timing, that.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been in DC. It seems like each time yields a couple of distinct moments. And they are always unexpected.

For instance, I remember from the first visit as a teen the wow feeling when standing inches from unrecognizable brush strokes of a famous painting. And I remember Eric and I running up and down the Washington Monument.

The last time there left only the memory of how poorly signed the roads and streets were. To be fair, a lot of roads were being worked on at the time.

This time around it was an amusement park ride and two memorials that hit the spot.

The ride was in the Air and Space Museum. Heather and I went on one of the flight simulator-ish things. The idea is you’re flying a fighter jet of some sort. The machine has a target you can shoot at. Oddly enough, we scored no kills (enemy kills, that is) with our full-speed, tree-top barrel rolls.

The plan for the last day in DC was to wander on down to the Lincoln Memorial. But I’ve seen it. Nothing new there, right? And, the big-deal, tourist things in DC had already given me a feeling of stand-off aloofness. The feeling was enhanced by people in the hotel elevators polishing their pitches for largess from the Royal Court government.

Right.

Ah, but this was enough to make the last day’s walk worthwhile:

Abe Lincoln - taking a break from skateboarding?

Toss in the 2nd inaugural address etched in the wall of the memorial. Here, we have a major presidential speech given in the middle of the Civil War and it’s shorter than current politicians introducing public relations photo-ops. Bobby and Mr. Carpenter seemed quite nearby.

Then there was the Korean War Memorial. What was the deal? Someone screaming how much he hated the US side of the war? This thing was truly baffling.

Every figure seemed dejected. Zombie sad sacks. Defeated.

Korean War Memorial zombies

And no wonder:

Shoot the sculptor, not your buddy!

All in all, though, it was a good trip. The wedding was great. Fascinating on many levels. Visiting David was also great: Terabyte data sets that are more complex politically than technically. Egad.

We really should have hit the road with the kids when they were younger.