Day 3 in the Capital

This post will be the day in reverse. I don't feel like moving the pictures all around to get them in the right order. We ended our 3rd day in Washington by once again having dinner at Union Station, which happens to be one of the stops for the subway (Metro). It is like a large Trolley Square with shops and food court. There are not a lot of restaurants around this town at all and so we just go back to what we know.

This was the last memorial that we went to today. This is the Korean War Memorial and it is sort of an eery one. You invision these soldiers walking through enemy territory in the night. It is quite amazing although it is not as well known as the others.

Another view

This is the view from the Lincoln Memorial looking back over the Mall to the Washington Memorial.

Here is Lincoln in all of his glory. We stayed here for about 45 min because it was such an arduous journey getting there. We just sat out on the big steps with the rest of the crowd. We all needed a rest I guess. As I was walking back down the steps I saw a young African-American women with her baby girl and she was looking up at the monument. She was having this moment, as if she had waited a long time to actually be there and see this special place. It was quite remarkable.

Here is the Lincoln Memorial. If you look close you can see a bunch of school kids in their matching shirts on the steps.

Sorry, a little blurry, but still sort of cool. This is the Vietnam War Memorial. It was not exactly like I invisioned. I thought it was free standing but not so.

Seeing all the names is somewhat overwhelming. There were a few little notes and letters placed along the memorial from family members or friends.

Another view of the Lincoln Memorial

This is at the WWII Memorial

This is the larger view. This memorial is not very old. I think it has been made within the last 10 years. Each of the 50 states is represented along with a few other countries that aided the U.S.

Each state has a small monument. Here is Shelley by hers. Each monument has a wreath atop it

Here is Josh with his state. This was a pretty impressive monument. It had a section representing the Pacific theater and the Atlantic theater and all the battles in each were listed. . We saw a WWII vet there with his daughter and she was taking a picture of him by it. He looked to be that age anyway. I was then reminded of Dad. He would have liked to have seen this.

Here is a view of the Capitol from the Washington Memorial

A different view of the Washington Memorial

Our Leslie with the Memorial

This picture is for Jonas. He wanted to see the "Tower"

Us lounging at the tower. Actually Les was making me do funny things with my hands.

Me with another leaf in front of my face. What is the deal?

We spent the morning at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. We also like to call it "The Aerospace Museum or Aerosmith Museum.

This was one of the manned Apollo space capsules.

Missiles and rockets. Jonas and Gabe would have loved this place, especially the movie. We went to a movie about my favorite subject "Black Holes" It was pretty cool but then I got so relaxed that I fell asleep and then I heard a big snore and I was not sure if it was myself or who it was. It turned out to be Lizzy, who woke herself up from her big sort.

These are pictures from yesterday when we were at the Smithsonian Botanic Gardens. There was actually an area devoted to orchids.

More orchids.

This was in the Jungle area. Les with the Bouganvillea or something like that.


I loved this spot in the gardens. What a tranquil place. I wish I had this in my backyard.