Washington DC -Part 1

Thursday - 11/5 - Arrived at Cherry Hill RV Park in College Park, MD.  This is a beautiful campground, with every amenity possible, even a bus stop within the park to take us to the Metro.   We are parked close to the showers and they two fenced dog runs, one for the little dogs and one for the big dogs.  Of course, Lucky thinks he is a big dog, so it works out just fine.  The ladies at the front office loaded us up with pamphlets on all the tours, maps, etc of  DC.  They set us up with George, the maintenance man, to come to our RV and help us with the TV, which we cannot get any reception on.

Our friends from Colorado, the Warren family with two little girls,  are here also (on our recommendation), an the ladies told us that they were asking about us.  We met up with Jeff (the girls were at Arlington today) and made plans to have breakfast with them before they leave on Friday.  George showed up and reset the TV cable and menu.  It all worked, and we now have 4 sources to the TV; antennae, cable, satellite, and internet.  He really liked our coach and especially the TV.

It was still early in the day, so Tom and I headed into College Park to find a nail shop.  We did find one, but appointments were required (no walk ins) and they could not take us until tomorrow.  I was surprised that they only had 2 nail stations.  We headed back to the RV and the skies looked like rain, even though the weather report said clear skies through the weekend.  When we went to bed, it started to rain.  That means we have been in 22 states so far, and it has rained in 16 of them.  I guess we brought the rain with us.

Friday - 11/6/15 - Had breakfast with Jeff, Anne, and the two girls.  They are such a nice family and the girls are so well-mannered - a joy to be with.  They were heading out this morning for Williamsburg, VA and said that 3 days in DC  they had was just not enough time.  Abby (the 10 yr old) said she really liked Arlington.

Tom and I went to the nail shop for our appointment.  We were there almost 3 hours (only one person there for both of us).  I had a great time and did a lot of talking with Bonnie (the manicurist) and another client.  We had originally planned to spend the rest of the day cleaning and getting the RV ready for Jeanette and Dave, but neither of us felt like it, so we didn't.  I love this slow pace.  We still have tomorrow.  Spent the evening watching the last half of 'Breaking Bad', season 6 - the final.  Wow - this series really captured us.

Saturday - 11/7/15 - Finally did our 'clean up the RV' day.  It rained on and off lightly through the night, but it really came down hard this morning.  It's OK - we are getting used to the rain.  Jeanette and Dave land at Ronald Reagan Airport in DC at 5:30 pm.  Picked them up about 10 minutes late as we got lost.  They had a nice flight - about 4.5 hours.  Got them to the RV and settled in.  Jeanette managed to pack in only 2 carry on suitcases - I was very proud of her.

Sunday - 11/8/15 - First day into DC, and we had a beautiful day with no rain.  Since this is our first venture out, we are learning the Metro rail system as well as the bus, and the trolley.  We took the Metro to DC and got off at the National Archives building (it was closed today), and waited for the trolley to pick us up.  We will come back to this building as it houses all of our historical documents.

National Archives

 The Trolley is a guided tour with the driver explaining what we were seeing and some history at the same time,  We drove several times around the Capitol Building.  It's dome is under renovation and the work is not expected to be finished until 2017.

The Capitol Dome

The next stop was the Lincoln Memorial.  Wow - what a beautiful building.  The tour driver said that Lincoln was considered by most historians and analysts to have been the best president,  Second was Washington.  Here is a picture of the memorial structure and the Lincoln statue itself.

Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln

On the wall to the left of Lincoln  is the Gettysburg Address engraved in the marble wall; and on the wall to the right of Lincoln was his second inaugural speech.






Opposite the Memorial is the reflecting pool, leading to the Washington Memorial.  This reflecting pool is the one used in the Forest Gump movie.

Reflecting Pool between the Lincoln and the Washington Memorials

We then walked over to the Vietnam War Memorial, a long black wall with 58,000 names of our soldiers killed or missing in action  It was quite sobering to find one of my high school classmates on the wall.

Vietnam War Memorial Wall

Vietnam Soldiers

We had plans to go to Arlington Cemetery today, but ran out of time, so we had a quick bite at the Refreshment stand and took the trolley back to their visitor center.  We walked about a block up from the visitor center to Ford's Theatre where Lincoln was assassinated.

Ford's Theatre

It was a very long day.  We didn't realize how much time it took just to get around the city.

Monday, 11/9/15 - Today we went to the National Cathedral.  It is built in English Gothic style.  A beautiful church., with very beautiful stained glass windows.  It is non-denominational church, but it is run by the Episcopal Church.  We sat through a sermon in the High Altar, and I really enjoyed it.  It was in plain English and was brought very current.  The Reverend was a young woman who spoke clearly and eloquently at just the right pace.  Here are some pictures of the church.

National Cathedral
(tree covering the front door)

Artwork over the front door

Inside the National Cathedral

Light from the stained glass on the ceiling

We left the Cathedral and headed to Arlington National Cemetery.  It took quite a long time to get there, as we had to use the Trolley and listen to 10 stops of narration to get there.  Another amazing stop.  This picture is the Iwo Jima Memorial and I had to take it through the plastic on the open-air windows (it was raining).

Opening to Arlington

Iwo Jima Memorial

Jeanette and Dave in Arlington

 Our first stop was the grave of John F. Kennedy. Jackie and two of their children are buried there as well (Patrick, and a daughter who died at birth).  You could feel the presence of him and the family.  The eternal flame is burning cleanly.  It felt like hallowed ground.

JFK Grave
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the background

The next stop was the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where we witnessed the change of the guard at 4:00. It was completely quiet.

Changing of the Guard at
the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Tuesday, 11/10/15 - Took the Metro into town and went to the National Art Gallery.  It was very large.  The docent at the front door told us that it was best to start at the top floor and work our way down.  The art was amazing and they had everything, ordered by date made and where they came from.  The front cover of their map and information pamphlet is probably the most unique painting - Ginevra de' Benci by Leonard Da Vinci, the only Da Vinci hanging in the United States.

The Da Vinci

We spent the entire day until they kicked us out at 5:00 closing, and we only got one of two floors done.  Also, there is second building with more contemporary artwork that we haven't started.  We went to "Plan B", a pub close to the Metro station, and had drinks to wait for the rush hour commuters to pass.  It worked out great.  When we got on the train, it was almost empty,  Got back to the RV with a big sigh - Day 3 of Washington DC done.