Two Days in Washington, DC

We spent two days visiting John & Mandi, who are currently living in Maryland, just outside Washington, DC.

Saturday, 16 November 2016

Saturday was cold, but sunny and beautiful. We joined tens of thousands of volunteers to help "Wreaths across America" place wreaths on graves in Arlington National Cemetery. There were so many people on the Metro that it took almost 45 minutes to get out of the Metro station at Arlington.

John and Mandi at Mandi's Uncle's grave.

Sunday, 17 November 2017

Sunday was warmer, but gray and threatening all day long. We spent the afternoon walking the monuments on the western half of the National Mall, including the Tidal Basin. Lon and I had not visited many of these monuments before. In order, we visited:

• Jefferson Memorial
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial
• Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial
• District of Columbia World War I Memorial
• Korean War Memorial
• Lincoln Memorial
• Albert Einstein Memorial
• Vietnam War Memorial
• Signers of the Declaration of Independence Memorial
• World War II Memorial

Altogether, we walked about 9 miles!

The Jefferson Memorial and reflection in the Tidal Basin. The Memorial is being cleaned to restore its white marble structure to its original color.

The Korean War Memorial is one of the newer monuments on the Mall. The polished black granite wall is etched with photographs from the National Archives and reflects the statues of soldiers that give it a ghostly background.

The reflecting pool between the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument was partially frozen.

Up close and personal with Albert Einstein with the cosmos at his feet.

While we didn't visit the Washington Monument, it dominates all views near the Mall. Here it is reflected in the Tidal Basin.

While many of the monuments have inspiring quotes, two stood out for our current times:

From Thomas Jefferson.

From FDR.