Washington DC

We arrived in Washington DC last Friday. We've been so busy checking out the sites in Washington DC I haven't had a chance to make an update! Wow, we've done a lot. We're staying in an RV Park just a few miles from all the DC sites. We catch a bus in front of the RV Park and take it a few miles down the road to the DC Metro Rail. The Metro Rail is just awesome. It's amazing how fast you can get where you need to go. Those things really haul...I mean really fast! I'm sure they're going at least 70 mph at times. It's a very sophisticated rail with 5 different tracks that essentially take you any where you need to go.

We took a DC by night tour a few nights back. It's just awesome seeing DC at night with all the monuments lit up. It took us to the Washington monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the World War II Memorial and the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. We took lot's of pictures. We had actually taken this tour when we were in DC several years ago and wanted to take it again. Last time we went in early March and the wind chill was literally -10 degrees that day!! The great thing is there was literally no one at any of the memorials, of course the bad news is, it was so cold I couldn't make it through all of the sites. Mark toughed it out for pictures, but it was just too cold for me.

We took the Metrol Rail this morning downtown and checked out a couple of the Smithsonian Museums and the Holocaust Museum. First, we went to the American Nature Museum, which had lot's of information about dinosaurs, prehistoric fish, and gems including the Hope Diamond. We then moved on to another American Museum that was just filled with awesome things. We saw lot's of information on the various American Wars including the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, etc. There was a room dedicated to the First Ladies that included various items, apparel and pictures of all the first ladies.

We really enjoyed a sections and items representing all areas of american life. Seeing early electrical devices, toasters, blow dryers...you name it, they had it. There was even a small section dedicated to Julia Childs! The kitchen she used during the filming of her shows beginning in the early 60's was donated to the Smithsonian, we got pictures of that too. Oh, and Archie and Edith Bunker's chairs from All in the Family was on display! The Ruby Red slippers that Dorothy wore in the Wonderful Wizard of Oz were on display. Gosh, I could go on and on. It was just awesome.

Lastly, we made a stop at the Holocaust Museum. We only had a short time to check it out before catching the train back to the RV Park, and it was...well, sobering I guess you could say. There really weren't too many things to see as tickets are passed out to see some of the exhibits upstairs and all the tickets had been given for the day...so we didn't get to see those. But we did check out exhibits on the first two floors. Exhibits on the first floor showed various posters, documents and items including film of Hitler. We then checked out a very large exhibit on the second floor dedicated to a diary from a small boy during the holocaust. The exhibit actually depicts the writings in his journal. From his initial entries about their store being burned down, to writing about being required to wear yellow stars on his clothing...to losing their home and several entries about the ghetto his family was shipped to. He has an entry explaining about his sister and mother being separated from him and his father and how scared he was. And lastly, the concentration camp that he and his father were sent to and how they shaved his head and detail on the little food they were given, like a loaf of bread for the week...for both of them.

The most facsinating thing about "Daniels Story", the diary above, was that each of his journal entries were associated with actual scenery, i.e., a depictions of his family's one room when moved to the ghetto. A depiction of portions of their home, kitchen and living areas before the war. Words really can't describe it really...I guess you just have to 'experience' it to fully grasp and how it affects you. We left the Holocaust Museum in a solemn mood for sure. But, I'm really glad we went.

All in all, it was a terrific day checking out the sites. We will be going back to spend a day at the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and lot's and lot's of other historical documents of our history. We knew it would take most of an entire day to see the National Archives, so we wanted to wait until another day to see it. Tomorrow, we're planning on heading to Georgetown to check out the homes and shopping. The homes in Georgetown are up to 200 years old and are the most expensive in the DC area. In addition, there are lot's of quaint little shops we'd like to see.

So we plan on heading to Georgetown tomorrow and back downtown to see the National Archives the following day. We're having a wonderful time here in DC. There's so much to see and do we've already extended our stay an additional 3 days. We could spend several weeks here and not see everything we'd like to see. But we'll definitely have gotten in all the stuff we really want to see before heading out this coming Sunday. Our next destination is Pennsylvania, most likely Gettysburg. Well, that's about it on the latest...stay tuned!~