Washington, DC

We got up at 4:30 this morning, after going to bed at 2:00, to catch the 5:15 bus here in the campground to go into the city and tour the White House at 7:30. We rode the bus to the Metro (subway) station, got on the subway and then transferred to another subway route and then walked to the White House. We were told it would be about a 3 block walk, but I swear I counted 6 intersections that we crossed. :-( The tour was pretty good. We actually met one of Obama's personal valets in an elevator. He was dressed in a tux and eating grits with butter on them out of a styrofoam bowl. :-) It was a member of the Secret Service that conducted the tour. We completed the tour and then Bob took the subways and bus back to the campground to get my camera bag. We couldn't take cameras, purses, backpacks, etc. into the White House and there was no lockers or anywhere to put it and I sure couldn't be in Washington and not take any pictures. I waited for him downtown because he thought it would take him about an hour. It took over 3 hours. I walked around so much while he was gone, I might as well have gone with him. When he finally got back we had some lunch at a great little place called Salad Too Grill. After that we walked to the White House (I had my camera now), the Washington Monument, the relatively new World War II Memorial, etc. I'm not exaggerating when I say I walked at least 10 miles today. I wish I would have worn a pedometer! The World War II Memorial is really nice with many aspects to it, but it deeply saddens me that this memorial was not built until 2004 and so many WWII veterans are either dead or unable to travel to see it. I took pictures of every feature there for my Dad. It's a wonderful tribute to the heroes of World War II, but as I said, many, many years too late. We did not see everything today that we wanted to, so we will try to get back tomorrow if the rain they are predicting isn't too bad. When we arrived in College Park yesterday it was a beautiful 72 degrees. This morning I dressed for 72 degrees and froze! I don't even know what the temp was here today, but it was cold and then this afternoon it was cold AND rainy. :-(

I must say that we are extremely impressed with Washington. We are absolutely shocked at how friendly and courteous everyone has been. A great example of this is that when we were trying to get back to the subway this afternoon it started raining, not real hard, but raining nonetheless. A lady that was sitting in traffic in her Mercedes convertible honked the horn, put her passenger window down and yelled to ask if an umbrella would help us. She GAVE us an umbrella!!! Bob offered to pay her for it, but she wouldn't hear of it. I can't remember ever being in a large city, or a small one for that matter, when anyone was that kind. People on the bus and subway will give you their seat without batting an eye. When Bob went to get the camera bag and I was walking around alone, I never once felt threatened or concerned. Bob feels the same way. We will definitely put Washington on our list of places we will return to. You could spend a month here and not see everything.

The Washington Monument

Beautiful fall colors

The White House

Part of the World War II Memorial

with the Lincoln Memorial in the background

The "Pacific" side of the WWII Memorial

One of many quotes at the WWII Memorial

The brand new Boy Scout Monument. I didn't really understand the man in this. I really feel he should have been in a Scout uniform instead of being so scantilly clad. ???