The Big Trip: Washington DC

Wednesday - 11/11/15 (Veterans Day). Today the four of us headed for the American History Museum. It is filled with lots of artifacts from important events, films, people, etc of American History. The architecture of all of the big Smithsonian Museums is amazing.

Nat'l Museum of American History

Inside, we saw historical relics, inventions, movie and TV memorabilia, WWII artifacts, and much more. Here are some of my pictures:

1865-Abe Lncoln's Hat
He wore it to Ford's Theatre on'
the night he was assassinated

1850-Gold ingots from the
California Gold Rush

1891-Edison's first lightbulb

1939-Dorothy's Ruby slippers

1945-Wedding Dress

1945-Explanation of the Dress

1947-1960 Howdy Doody TV Series

1971-1979 Edith and Archie's chairs
'All in the Family' TV Series

1974-Mohammad Ali's Gloves

1968-first Pong game
(they called it the 'brown box')

We spent the entire day at the museum and managed to get through the entire collection. We were really tired, and went across the street to "Plan B" for a snack and a drink. Took the Metro back home (we are getting real good at the Metro).

Thursday - 11/12/15 - After 4 days straight of touring and walking quite a bit, Tom and I were tired and needed a day off. We also needed to do laundry, so Dave an Jeanette went to the City by themselves. They visited the Hirshhold Art Museum, the Sculpture Garden, and the Native American Museum. They said the food at the Native American Museum was great (thanks Berk!) When they got back to the RV, they were really tired, but so happy to have seen so many beautiful things.

Friday - 11/13/15 - The four of us headed back to the City on the Metro. We went to Chinatown to try and find some good souvenirs. No luck - every person we talked to sent us to a different place, and we never did find a souvenir shop. We walked all around the 4 block area ending up at the same place we started at, and VOILA! It was right next to the Metro station we got off at. Not much to see as the Chinatown here is nothing like San Francisco or Los Angeles. Then we went to the Spy Museum. It was fun. It had a lot of hands on tests to see how god of a spy you are. There was a big section on anything James Bond -007.

Then we headed to the National Museum of Art and Portraits. I noticed that some of the sculptures were copies and that we had seen the originals in the National Gallery of Art. Here is a sculpture that was amazing. How do you make marble look like thin fabric?

The section on the American Presidents was pretty good, with portraits on every president up through Bill Clinton. All were good portraits, but Bill Clinton was done in abstract rather than traditional art. The portraits by Sargeant were the best. I do not know the subjects, but he was a very talented American artist. At the end of the collection, there was a picture of license plates. See if you understand it.

License Plates

Saturday - 11/14/15 - Dave and Jeanette finally pooped out after 6 days straight of touring. We all slept in this morning, then went to the Cafe here in the campground for breakfast. It was delicious. With a good portion of the day left, we got in the car and drove to Mt Vernon, the home of George Washington. It was about an hour drive south. Mt Vernon was a large (800 acres) working plantation. In Washington's day, they supported over 100 slaves as well as many employees that helped to run the plantation, The property was beautiful, situated on a hilltop overlooking the Potomac River. There was a large mansion and many outbuildings. There was a museum and a gift shop on the front of the property. I was very impressed with the museum, and Tom and I may go back to see more of the museum as we ran out time and could not see everything.

Mt. Vernon-home of George Washington

Mostly, I was impressed with the man himself. He was made a colonel at the age of 23, and was made a the head of all armies for the Revolutionary War in 1776, at age 44. His courage was the fire that stirred his men to fight, and was the driving force that helped us win our freedom from England. After the war was over, he resigned his commission and gave the country back to the people to set up a democracy. The King of England said that he was the greatest leader of liberty in all history. He retired to his home at Mt Vernon, but only got 6 years off before duty called again. He was elected as our first President in 1789 and served 2 terms, retiring again in 1797. He caught cold working on the plantation in December of 1799 and died of a bad throat infection, at the age of 67.

Modern technology has recreated George Washington as he must have really looked (not like the portraits), Here he is.