Washington DC

This is my favorite picture taken in Washington DC. It shows our reflection in "The Wall". This was taken at the Vietnam War Memorial. It has always been a special place to me after the first time I visited it about 15 years ago. This was my war; the one that made me understand and hate war. I watched so many friends go off and either never come back or never come back the same. Young, strong men full of life either dead or forever broken. That's how I think of the Vietnam War in the casualties both ours and theirs . So here's to Mike; heroin got him, Danny ; a bullet got him, Gary; insanity got him, and all the ones I didn't know that fell. There is a line in a Tracy Lawrence song that goes

" Have a beer for me, don't waste no tears on me. On Friday night, sit on the visitors side and cheer for the home team. Drive my Camero, 90 miles an hour down Red rock Rd, Born to Run blasting on the Radio. And find someone good enough for Amy, who would love her like I would have, If I don't make it back."

I think of that song quite often when they show the war news at night and Cliff and I have started a tradition of clinking our beer bottles in a toast the first beer of the night in their honor!!!

The first time I went to the Wall, people had left baby photo's, flowers, letters, medals, etc. It was so sad to think of the families who missed their fathers, brothers, lovers, so much and the only thing they could do was find their names on a black wall of our fallen soldiers and leave them some small thing that would make them seem a little less distant. This time there were very few such small, sad, shrines. It shocked me to realize that all those children in the photo's are grown up with children and maybe even grand children of their own, wife's remarried, father's and mother's perhaps passed away. Time has moved on to a new list of dead. Hopefully there will be a place to remember these young men someday soon.

I love this picture of the Capital building. When I first visited Washington years ago , you could walk right up these steps and into the Rotunda. Now with 911 and all the other crap, you have to spend an hour in line and getting through security. Another sad commentary.
Cliff was so impressed with this statue that he is having it drawn and having it tattooed on his forearm. It will be a bitching tattoo. I love tattoo's they rock the house.
You can just see the top of the tent they had set up in front of the Capital building. If you saw this years Memorial Day Concert, this is where it was held.
This is the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. We stayed and watched the whole thing, So beautiful and talk about serious! They take this guarding of the Unknown Soldiers dead serious. It was a beautiful thing to watch. Very touching. 24 hours a day, 365 days a year they stand guard. Now they really don't stand. They march 21 steps in one direction, stop and wait 21 seconds, snap turn and wait 21 seconds, then march 21 steps in the other direction and do it all again. Every 1/2 hour they change guards and it is a very elaborate ceremony.
This is one of the Hall's in the Library of Congress. I could have spent a month here. If you don't know what is housed in the Library of Congress, it is everything they can collect that is print, film, or recorded. They have books, scripts, screenplays, magazines, movies, newsreels, TV shows, posters, newspapers, memorabilia, and on and on. They show case certain things that are constantly changing. One of the exhibits we saw was the Bob Hope exhibit. They had everything you can imagine. You could watch old newsreels, old TV shows, see old concert poster, read old scripts, see his Academy Award, Photos of his USO tours and on and on . It was so interesting. What amazed me the most is when we went in Traci said, "Who is Bob Hope," I almost fainted. Am I that old?????????
Arlington goes on forever...that's the bad news
Cliff and I at Arlington in front of JFK's grave. I have always had a fascination with JFK and the assassination. I am a big conspiracy theory fan on this one. I bet I have read 50 books on the subject. One thing I learned was that the eternal flame has actually gone out twice. Once when a gardener knocked over a bag on mulch on it and once when a nun spilled a bottle of Holy Water o it. Both times they immediately re-lit it.
This photo was taken in the National Cathedral , my very favorite place in Washington DC ( I think it is actually in Georgetown). Cliff wasn't too crazy about going there, but was glad we did afterwards. It is such a beautiful, old church and encompasses so much history both happy and sad. I love it and you can go up on the 7th floor and see all over the city. This cathedral is bigger than Norte Dame in Paris. In fact, Norte Dame can fit inside this place and you could walk around it. I bought my baby girls specially blessed cross necklaces and bracelets here. They look so cute in them.

Beautiful stained glass window' s with many varied themes. The alter rail is interesting also. The artist that carved it, carved the 12 Apostles each one as a vertical post that supports the horizontal alter rail. He carved each one beautifully with full facial features and flowing robes. When he got to Judas, he refused to carve him so one post is just a plain wooden post completely unadorned. Quite a statement.
The Nation's Church, non denominational and open to all.
This is the house across the street from the Ford's theatre where Lincoln was shot. This is actually the house Lincoln died in . They have the room set up as it was upstairs. Interesting.
Ford's Theatre entrance and then below the actual theatre box where John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln and then leaped on to the stage and exited stage right! JWB was an actor after all. I guess he knew his blocking.

We enjoyed the tour of the Washington Monument. I was amazed how fast the elevator got us to the top. After all my trips to DC, this was the first time I took the time to actually go up into the monument. It was fun.
Flags outside the monument
Traci and I in front of the Lincoln Memorial
Big Daddy and I in front of the World War 11 Memorial. He had to point out what he was most impressed with!!!!

Traci in front of the White House. You can see the flag is up so that means President Obama was in residence at the time. It is such a beautiful property and something for all Americans to be proud of. The last picture of Big Daddy and I with his hair long. As soon as we got home he cut it off real short. I loved that hair but he is so damn handsome both ways who cares!!!