Washington D.C. - Day 1

I was up at 5:45 to try to snag tickets over the internet for the Holocaust Museum.  I had read that a few tickets are available on line each day beginning at 6:00 a.m. so I wanted to secure those tickets.  I got on line but before I could make my choice, the tickets were all snatched up.  That would mean that we would have to stand in line at 9:45 a.m. and hope to get tickets.  I got the boys up and we headed west for the New Carrolton Metro Station.  When we arrived, we discovered that the station was closed but we could take a shuttle bus to the blue line which goes into Washington.  With no other option, we boarded the shuttle and rode the blue line.  We got off at Federal Triangle, a stop at which we had never been.  It was in the middle of beautiful stone buildings one of which was the headquarters of the EPA.

 It was a short walk to the Holocaust Museum.  There was a long line for tickets but we were told that if you were a veteran with a valid VA ID you didn't have to wait in line but could receive tickets for entry any time.  This was a bit of good luck so we got our tickets and went into the museum.  We spent two hours there.  It is a sobering and thoughtful museum.  I tried to tell Hunter that one thing we should learn from the historical event is that we need to be aware of what the right thing to do is and to do it even if it is hard.  Hitler was definitely doing the wrong thing but no one stopped him and he ended up ordering the death of 11 million people of which 6 million were Jewish.

We jumped on the Big Bus for the Pentagon Memorial and Arlington.  By the time we got to the Pentagon we realized that it would be better to go onto Arlington and finish the day at the Bureau of Engraving.  I took this quick picture as we were passing the Pentagon.  The is the first time we had seen the Pentagon.  Hopefully, we will have time to return to the Pentagon.

First stop at Arlington was JFK grave.  People were throwing coins on the headstones.  This was the first time we had noticed that.  A couple of people had even thrown dollar bills on the graves. 

This was taken from the bottom of the hill looking up at the tomb and the Custis-Lee Amphitheater.  After the WWII and Korean War unknowns, there will no longer be a soldier buried in the tomb.  DNA testing is able to identify all remains.  The soldier buried in the Vietnam tomb has been identified and his remains were removed by his family and buried somewhere St. Louis area.

We always enjoy watching the changing of the guard ceremony.

While the Changing of the Guard Ceremony was going on these four planes flew over in the missing man formation.  There were 28 funerals scheduled at Arlington today.  An Air Force Lt. Colonel told us that the missing man formation had probably be done in honor of one of the funerals today and that the man having that formation would have to have been a general or other high ranking soldier.

It is hard to see but the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial and Capitol building can be seen in this shot.

A quick shot of the Iwo Jima Memorial taken from the bus.

Another quick shot of the White House taken from the bus.  We are scheduled to tour the White House at 12:30 p.m. tomorrow.  We received a list of items not allowed into the White House.  Hunter is bummed that on that list is an I-Pad.  Because there are no lockers in which to keep things while you tour the White House, he will have to leave his I-Pad in the car and take no pictures.  That is a shame because he has taken some great pictures with the I-Pad.

Washington Monument.

No pictures allowed inside the Bureau while we took the tour so we had to settle for this shot of the building once we finished the tour.  We did see billions of dollars being printed.  No free samples were available.

This was taken at the back of the Holocaust Museum.  This piece of art depicts the broken Swastika of the German Army.  We had never seen this piece of art but the back of the Museum is next door to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing building.

A final picture of the  Washington Monument taken as we were heading back to camp.

This is what we had for supper.  Finding a place to eat in this part of the city is nearly impossible.  We asked a guard for suggestions and he said he was not aware of anything other than ice cream trucks and small refreshment stands.   The ice cream was good and tided us over until we got back to camp

Tomorrow will be another long day.  We have to be at the Capitol at 10:00 for a tour, followed by the White House at 12:30 pm.  We are also going to try to see either the Pentagon Memorial or the memorials on the mall.  We could end the day with a two-hour night tour on the Big Bus.  If we do all of that, we won't be home until late.    As Carol says, we can rest when we get home.

High Flying Flags and Airplanes and Slow Moving Traffic

I thought today would be a semi-down day but boy was I wrong.  We went to Baltimore to see Fort McHenry.  In all the times we have visited Washington D.C. we have never been to Fort McHenry.  It is a very neat place.

The streets near Ft. McHenry are very interesting.  The homes are built together very close to the streets.  I am sure the building are very old and it probably costs a fortune to rent or own even one.

It was at Fort McHenry that Francis Scott Key wrote the words to the Star Spangled Banner.  He was on a British ship in the harbor.  The British had just burned down Washington and the White House and were hoping to deal the death blow to our young American country by taking Baltimore.  However they didn't count on a determined military stationed at Fort McHenry.  After 25 hours of bombing Fort McHenry, the British gave up and left the harbor.  The Americans had held strong.  The morning after the battle, Key looked across the water and was so glad to see the American flag still flying.

Ft. McHenry is only one of a few sites that fly the flag 24-hours a day.  Each morning a new flag is raised over the fort,  The ranger plays a "call to order" on the fife which is what has been done daily since Ft. MeHenry was a fort.

Papaw and Hunter along with lots of other people help hold the flag in preparation for the raising.

This is the 15 stripe, 15 star  flag  like the one flying since Ft. McHenry was a military fort.

The brick of the barracks is the original from the 1800's.

The is the sally point or entry point to the fort.

There were several small prison rooms.  

One of several large cannons.  Some of the cannons like this one had wheels that moved on rails so they could be turned.

After visiting Ft. McHenry, we returned to camp to eat lunch before heading out to the opposite end of Washington D.C. to see the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum.  This is the newest museum and isn't located on the mall of downtown Washington D.C.  One things you can do at the museum is go up into control tower and watch planes take off and land at Dulles International Airport.  

There were so many airplanes on display but this is the one that Hunter and Papaw liked the best.  It is the SR71 Blackbird.  It was a stealth spy plane first used in the 1960's.  Hunter really liked it because a transformer movie was filmed here at the museum using this plane as a transformer.    

Another neat display was the Discovery Space Shuttle.  

This is the airplane "Enola Gay" that dropped the first bomb on Japan in WWII.

Air France Concorde - the largest passenger plane.

Another look at the space shuttle.

The beautiful entrance/exit of the Air Museum.


We left the museum a little after five o'clock and it took us nearly 2 hours to get back to the camp.  The traffic was horrible. There were at most times 3-5 lanes of traffic each direction creeping along the highways.  I looked at the cars and couldn't believe the rear bumpers weren't all bashed in from accidents.  We would not want to have to drive in this every day.  What was so amazing was the fact that you could be creeping and then all of a sudden, the traffic would begin moving for a block or so and then, creep again.  I was so proud of Carol and the way he handled the stress of cars zipping in and out of traffic around us but he remained calm.  This traffic is the reason we will be taking the Metro into Washington D.C. for the next three days.  We will drive to the New Carrollton Metro Station, park our car, and let the Metro get us from place to place.

This turned out to be a busy day and our feet did complain a bit.  I don't think the next three days look any easier.  

The Big Apple the Second Time Around

I have downloaded lots of pictures of yesterday.  There was so much to see.  We got up at 4:30 to get on the road.  We allowed 2 hours for the drive into New Jersey and Liberty State Park.  It was an overcast day but no rain.  The traffic was manageable but got a little more hectic as we got closer. I had googled the directions, so we followed them and made it to Liberty Park by 7:15 a.m.  This was the time I was told to be at the "will call" ticket window.  However, we found out that the ticket window didn't open until 7:45!!  I guess they tell people an earlier time, so those that are late can still be on time.  Anyway, we walked around and enjoyed the old railroad station.  There was a 911 memorial to those who worked for the port authority and died in the 911 attack.

This is the 911 Memorial for the Port Authority Workers who died at 9-11.  Their names are engraved on the sides of the columns.

The inside of the railroad station is beautifully restored.  Hunter is waiting patiently waiting for the "will call" ticket window to open.

These beautiful stained glass inserts were on the ceilings.

These are some of the gates on the tracks.

When Hurricane Sandy hit New Jersey, this area where the tracks come into the station was covered with water and may not be restored because of lack of budget.

The ferry we took to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

Ellis Island where thousands of immigrants came into this country.

This room was where the processing of immigrants began.  Up to 5000 people could be in this room each day.

There were displays to explain the processing process.

Original wall containing graffiti from immigrants passing through.

One thing they would do is exchange the money they had brought from their country to American money.

The immigrants were tested mentally and physically.  A sample of the mental test was on display here.

Another column containing graffiti.

Today, new citizens must take a test to show their knowledge of U.S. history and government.  Hunter took a test of 10 sample questions and answered every one correctly.

This map was on a wall showing places where the immigrants would settle.  Hunter is pointing to Decatur.

The Statue of Liberty.  Hunter wasn't quite as successful photo bombing in this picture.  He only managed to get the top of his head in the picture.

This was the original crown.  It was interesting to see how the statue was constructed.  

We decided to climb to the top of the pedestal base.  It was 176 steps.  Carol and I thought we wouldn't make it but perseverance paid off and we got to the top of the pedestal.  It is 338 steps to the crown.  You have to have tickets in advance to climb to the crown.  I was not able to get tickets but after climbing the first 176, Carol and I knew that we would not have been able to make the crown climb.  By the middle of the afternoon even Hunter's feet hurt from so much walking.  We all would find a seat/bench or in Hunter's case the floor to take the weight off our feet.

The spiral staircase that goes to the crown.

After the Statue we took a ferry to Battery Park, Lower Manhattan.  We walked to the 911 memorial/museum.  This was a police car parked near the memorial.  Security was extremely high at each of the different sites we visited.  We had tubs that we put everything into that we carried or had on us.  This included coins, watches, glasses, jackets, cameras, belts, etc.  Then you would walk through a scanner.  One time we went through a complete body scanner.  That was a first for us.  There was a great presence of police and security people.  Some were packing heavy armament. Everyone was very friendly.  When we had a question about directions, we could ask the police or a security person and they were always glad to assist.

Inside the 911 Museum were several beams of the original buildings.  

These flags represent the different countries that were represented in the nationalities of  people who died in the attacks.

The  911 Museum is actually underground at the bedrock level of where the buildings in the Twin Towers area were located.  Below is part of the original walls and anchors of those building.

The 911 Museum is a must see if you go to New York City.  We all agreed that it was very moving to relive the story of that day.  There were two fire trucks that were damaged when the buildings fell and others items that represented the people who died in the buildings.  We spent 2 hours but could have spent hours more if we had read every signage and looked at every display.  If we were ever to come back here, we would definitely visit the museum a second time.

Before we went up into the Freedom Tower, we were told that visibility was very limited because of the cloud cover; however, we had already purchased tickets and this was our only day so we went up.  We were able to rent these computers which showed what you would see if you could see.  Papaw and Hunter are looking at the view.  We did eat supper at the top.  Prices, like the view, were sky high.  It cost us
$55 for a grilled cheese sandwich, plate-size pizza, roast beef sandwich, bag of chips and two bottles of water.  Oh well, how many times do you get to eat 102 stories above the New York City skyline in the tallest building in the U.S.?

You could look down below from the windows.  Below is a view of one of the footprints of a Twin Tower.

The elevators traveled from the first floor to the 102 floor in 60 seconds.  Every side of the elevator showed video of the city as it rose to the top.  It was a neat ride even if we couldn't see 360 degrees of the city.

We really enjoyed the day and came back to camp dog tired and with hurting feet.  Taking I-78 straight into Liberty State Park was the way to go.  From there you can get on a ferry and cross into New York City at Battery Park.  From there you could buy tickets from several different bus lines that would allow you to visit almost every spot you would want to see by simply getting on the bus and getting off somewhere.  Then at the end of the day, you could take the ferry back to Liberty Park and drive I-78 back to the camp.  We did find out that the one thing Hunter wanted to see, we didn't do.  That was to see the "Imagine Stone" in honor of John Lennon.  Who would have thought?
Today we hooked up our car and drove to Washington D.C.  Warning, the picture below may be too graphic for young children.  Parental guidance is needed.  In hooking up the car, I walked around the motorhome and hit my head on the edge of one of the compartment doors.  This is what happens when you run into a compartment door..    Fortunately the swelling has gone down.  

To avoid being too graphic, I didn't enlarge this picture!

Although we weren't at our campsite much, this is the scene we could have enjoyed.

The photo bomb of the day.
We are camped at Capitol KOA.  We have a nice site and the weather has cleared off.  We have enjoyed actually sitting outside.  Tomorrow Washington, D.C. here we come.