July 20th...
we headed to Washington D.C. to do a little sight-seeing. It had been years since either of us had been and there was new sights I wanted to see, like the World Memorials and The Wall.
Anyway, we headed to The Metro which we had heard was the way to see DC. I must say that all of the Metro staff was MARVELOUS! They were more than kind and helpful.
We got on the Metro at Branch Avenue... The Green Line. We were told to take it to L'Enfant Plaza and change to the Blue Line and ride it one stop to the Smithsonian. It was my first ride on a subway and it was nice not to have to fight the traffic.
We got off and headed toward the Smithsonian trying to decide what we wanted to do and where we wanted to go. It was early afternoon so we did not have as much time as we wanted and it was one of the hottest days of the years. We thought it would be smart to do one of the museums since we'd be in out of the heat but I really wanted to go to Arlington Cemetery... what I wanted was to see The Wall and the War Memorials... and had I said that we'd just turned around but no... I thought they were at Arlington. So back on the Blue Line... which we took to Arlington.
We got there and it was hot!!! All I kept saying was "How in the world did I ever think I could do this?". We decided to take a tourmobile which took us by John F., Jackie, and Bobbie Kennedy's grave; the Columbia and The Challenger Memorial near the Changing of the Guard; and The Arlington House... which we skipped because I was just beat!
Back at the Visitor's Center, Mike went to get us water while I asked the guide where The Wall was. He said, "What Wall?" I said, The Vietnam Wall and the War Memorial and he said they were across the bridge over by The Lincoln Memorial. I could NOT believe it! Here I had come here for that! Oh well, I started to walk away ad he asked how I had got there and I told him The Metro. He said I could get back on the Blue Line and go back to the Smithsonian or just walk across the bridge. I asked which involved less walking and he said, "Just go over the bridge."
We headed out of the Visitor's Center and before we could even get to the road the bridge was on, I was toast. Let me tell you I was beat. If you have ever been to DC, the size of the monuments and memorials make everything seems much closer than it really is. Anyway, we headed toward the bridge... not even making a dent in the distance when I stopped a taxi. Yo! Come here, I am hoping. I asked how much to get across the bridge. He couldn't believe we only wanted to go across the bridge. He charged us $6.50 and we were happy to pay it. He dropped us off and there was The Wall. We promptly took out our camera to take pictures to find the battery was dead. :( So, all pictures of The Wall and War Memorial are snagged pictures.
Walking through The War was a sobering experienced that had me wiping my eyes the whole way. Vietnam, being the conflict that had been more a part of my life than any before.
From The War Memorial on, it was walking from shade tree to shade tree to get back to The Metro. When we finally got back, it was commuter rush hour traffic and everyone wanted to go in our direction and I just could not work my way through the door so I had a brilliant idea. Hardly no one was going in the opposite direction so why not get on going north until it reached the end and ride it back one stop past this stop to The Green Line. Not only would we be able to sit down, we'd have a bit of air conditioning. So we did... lol... not knowing it was the longest line and it took us 2 HOURS to get one stop down. lol... Live and learn, huh?
Canada Leg
| June 25 | June 27 | June 28 | June 29 | July 1 | July 2 | July 3 | July 5 | July 6 | July 9 | July 10 | July 11 |
Maryland Leg
| July 12 | July 14 | July 16 | July 17 | July 18 | July 20 | July 22 - July 24 | July 30 | July 31 |
Be sure to click the thumbnail to see the full-size image.
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| These are the pictures I nabbed. We did NOT take these! | ||
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