Washington DC Side Trip (One Week)

One of several Lamps outside
the Carnegie Building

Mt Vernon
The other side was much more
attractive and landscaped

After turning to port off the Chesapeake Bay we started heading up the Potomac for two and a half days.   We arrived at Mt. Vernon, George Washington's estate and anchored for the evening.  I walked the grounds briefly with Daisy, and returned to the boat.  This place is huge.  Of the original 8,000+ acres of the Mt. Vernon estate it is now around 500 acres in size.  It is beautifully landscaped and maintained.  In the morning, I took Daisy to do her business.  I no longer picked up the dodo and I heard a SUV approaching, damn, that is a security SUV.  The security patrolman, gets out, and says with an authoritative voice: “Excuse  me sir, YOU are trespassing”.  I responded, that on their website it stated that ‘George loved dogs. so bring your dogs”  and ‘I thought it would be okay’.  He replied: “It is illegal  to be onsite between 8AM and 5PM, in another hour it will be okay to bring the dog to shore”.  I’m thinking…Is this guy serious?  He was, and forced me off the property, without any arrest.  I thanked him for understanding, and departed.

From Mt Vernon to DC proper it was a quick twelve miles or so by water.  We stayed at the Capital Yacht Club (CYC) for the week.  CYC is located on the Washington Channel, about a half mile south of the mall, and about three quarters of a mile from the towering Washington Momument.  Great place, clean, nice folks, nice bar etc etc.  After Blue Willow was secured, I took the bike off and went for a ride. Rode the southern half of the National Mall and visited the Washington monument. This place is huge (this is my first visit to DC).  We found the nearby Safeway (great store), and reprovisioned.  

High on our list of DC venues was the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.  The content of this place is beyond my description. The museum had an emotional and physical reaction for both Vicki and myself.  As you enter the museum, you get a Identification Card that tells a story of an actual real person who lived during the holocaust. My person was Iosif Rivkin.  The card information is sequenced, each page in  the ID card, to a floor in the museum.  At the end of your visit, you learn the persons fate.  Iosif, escaped, and was never heard from again.  Vickis person was beheaded by a guillotine in Poland for being a Jehovah's Witness.  Sensitive holocaust images (meaning the sensitive of the sensitive) are hidden, and one must make a special effort to see these images.  I encourage everyone to make the effort to visit this museum.

After the Holocaust Museum, and a bite to eat, Vicki and I walked the National Mall until we found the National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum.  All I can say is we were so impressed.  The Presidential Portrait area was really special. Do not get this confused with an Official Presidential Portrait.  While it may be the same most seemed not so, especially President Clintons.  We thought President Nixons portrait was missing (thinking as he was impeached and left office), alas, we found it in non-typical chronological order.  The Civil War area was superb, as was the Industrialists paintings, folk art, and on and on.  Just awesome artwork, we were impressed and pleasantly surprised.

Vicki posing in front of a Bond Car

Cutaway of how people are
transported across borders.
There are four hidden in this car.

An electronic 'face' 

The next day we went to Vicki’s much anticipated Spy Museum, with a whole floor dedicated to James Bond 007.  What a fun learning experience.  Many exhibits were from foreign countries, and the displays were very well done.  Some of he interaction displays were great, and others were difficult to figure out.  This museum also gave you an ID and all the related spy data one would need, and you were tested at various points to see if you knew your given identy.  I failed quickly, Vicki on the other hand knew almost all her data.

WWII Memorial
Michigan sector

Nice Tribute 

My dad fought in this battle

What a quote!!

Read this information

Doug Tanner
a Petoskey Vietnam War
causality

Impressive memorial
for my generations war.

Vicki and I then walked the National Mall making our way to the monuments area.  We visited the WWII, Vietnam, Reflecting Pool, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Memorial, among others.  

This is the
Eisenhower Executive Bldg
It is adjacent to the West Wing
of the White House.
It impressed me tremendously.
Some walls are four feet thick Granite!

Just Superb.

We made it!!!!

Free Speech 

Free Speech 

Blair House

We then went to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  What a treat.  After seeing it for decades via pictures, and television we were there, awesome fun.  While there, we witnessed demonstrations. Israel and get out of Palestine, and a Muslim protesting US involvement in the Middle East.  I totally respected these guys, what an example of free speech in action, and so close to the Presidents Office.  

After a hotdog (yum?) and a water we went into the National Museum of Natural Science.  I do not want to taint anyones visit to this place, but it was okay.  You should know that we have been to many similar museums.  We did pay extra to enter the Butterfly exhibit.  This one was actually much smaller than the one at Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids.  It was still fun to see and interact and photo these beautiful creatures.

Old Senate Train Car

This is the Senate Train Car
that we took from the Hart Building
to the Capitol Building

Nice.

We made prior arrangements to meet with Jim and Connie Gillette from Patroit at Sen Stabenow’s office.  There the assistants had passes for us to sit in the gallery of each.

SO.  We walked a portion, then we took the special mini train car that takes visitors and senators alike from (for us) the Hart Senate Building to the Capitol.  FUN!  As you might guess the levels of security were real significant, but, add another layer or two.  When we finally arrived at the Senate floor gallery after a maze of walkways, it was really impressive.  The Senate was actually in session.  A republican was bitching about Obama, and a Democrate gave a speech on guns and deaths. As we departed, another Senator started to speak.  As you might know, while technically in session, there are maybe three senators there for mundane business.  It was really exciting to be there, see the process live and see the infrastructure. 

Beautiful Skates

What a classic.

This is a display of significant
National Anthems played or
Flag displays.
Jimi Hendrix lower left.

After our Capital visit, we decided to walk to the National American  History Museum.  Simply stated, what a great museum.  So many items from old to relatively current.  To demonstrate:  There is the large flag from the original 13 colonies, and more recently Archie Bunker and Edith’s chairs from the 60’s hit show, All in the Family, and Apolo Ohno's Speed Skates.  We had a superb time there, and the time went by quickly.

One of many White House
Dinner Plates

Next we made a quick jaunt to the Department of Commerce Building, where there is the White House Visitors area, and has many White House related displays.  To our dismay, it closed at FOUR PM.   FOUR!!!  Why?   We did enjoy what little time we had there.

If you are over 60
you should remember this

Awesome.

The next day I made my way to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.  Awesome. I had a superb time there. I was in awe of every display in that building. Tremendous aviation history on display.  I found myself in a state of wonderment  and reflection several times and had to wakeup and move on (and in the process I took few pictures).  From the early experimental aircraft that never made flight, to the early 1900’s, to the golden age of flight, to the jet age, to the space age including the Apollo-Soyuz efforts, what a treasure for all of us and future generations.  Of special appreciation to me were the: experimental aircraft, Mercury Friendship 7 (John Glenn) capsule, the apollo capsule, the moon lander and experiments.  A note of negativity: Avoid  April and May when students are at their maximum in DC if possible.  I was unable to get to several hands-on  displays, due to the students.

This surprised me.

The next day I visited the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.  Money, millions of dollars printed in front of my eyes. Very nice but a short tour.  This was not that special for me, in retrospect, I would have preferred to do something different.

In general we had a superb time in DC. Vicki and I had a sense of patriotism, kinda like the Naval Ships in Norfolk.  We are a great country and we have great people. It was a two and a half day trip up the (dirty, many sticks/ logs and debris) Potomac and then two days back down to get back on the Chesapeake (stopped at Cobb Island both ways, ate at Captain Jacks, awesome). The extra time was worth it.  The DC trip was an excellent side trip us.  Vicki and I walked many many miles, and have sore feet to prove it.  We took the Metro subway several times and it is a great way to get around DC. We were so tired in the evening, we did not go out for dinner but two times.  The area of DC known as the Wharf is under construction.  It is a 4 year project, and should be an awesome ‘World Class Waterfront’ (their words) when completed.  We are proud of our national Capitol.  Cannot wait to return someday (when there are fewer students). 

Daisy,  my helper.
She is with me by my side when I do anything.
If I am in the Bilge (like this pic)
She is waiting for me to come back up

If you are still reading this, Thanks for peeking in on our Little Loop Blog. Mark, Vicki, Daisy.