National Arboretum

The week before last was my last week in Washington D.C. During the week the guys I was working with at the Washington Times invited me to go for a walk with them in the National Arboretum. In the weeks I had been in D.C. previously they kept telling me I should go out to the National Arboretum since there is an entrance to the park from the parking lot at the Times. The guys walked in the Arboretum nearly every day. I was finally able to go with them that last week.
On the first walk they took me up a hill to a meadow and there we came upon the columns. The Capitol Columns were original part of the East Portico of the Capitol building in 1828. It was very cool to see them there.
We also walked down a paved path that took us out of the Arboretum to the shore of the Anacostia River. It was very cool. There was a picnic area and a small dock for boats to land.
One day Bill and I walked around to see the columns (Bill didn't walk with us the first day) we ended up at the Bonsai Gardens. The Bonsai were very cool and we enjoyed wandering through the garden.
The last day Lambert and I walked up a different trail to view the children's garden. It was very sweet and quite fun. The flowers were still in bloom and very colorful.

Maryland Blue Crab

Tonight Bill and I actually got away from the paper at our normal hour so we decided to drive to Annapolis for Maryland Blue Crab. We went to a little restaurant called Jimmy Cantler's Riverside Inn. It was a very fun little crab shack. The food was fabulous! and MESSY!!
We had 6 Large crabs between us, a cup of clam chowder each and a cob of corn.

Another weekend in D.C.

This past week I have been in Washington DC on business. I stayed the weekend because I will be working here again next week. I decided to go into the District to take in some more sites and get a copy of the Declaration of Independence for my grandson. On the metro I saw a whole troop of Boy Scouts in full uniform...it was very refreshing to see.

I headed to the Capitol via Bartholdi Park to aquire a tour ticket. The park was very pretty. The line was about 300 yards long and it was 1030 in the morning. The tickets are usually gone before everyone in the line has been given a ticket. I decided I didn't need to stand in line half the day for tickets that I probably wouldn't get anyway so I headed toward the National Archives to get the DOI for DJ. The line wasn't too long so I decided to go for it.
After the National Archive I decided to go see the Jefferson Memorial. I walked across the National Mall and down to 15th street. I followed 15th to the Tidal Basin then followed the path around and across the bridge to the Memorial.
It was quite awe inspiring! As I was walking along the path I saw a squirrel sitting on a stump. When I took his picture he came right up to me and pranced back and forth in front of me. It was quite funny.
There were a lot of teeanagers at the Memorial all dressed in suits and dresses. I found out they were part of the National Young Leaders Conference.

I headed back around the Tidal Basin to find the World War I memorial and the Korean War Memorial. I was surprised at how small the WWI memorial was.
I was equally surprised by the Korean War Memorial. It was interesting to say the least. There are statues of soldiers walking through the trees and a reflecting pool.
Along the side is a Marble wall similar to the Viet Nam memorial except instead of names etched in the wall there are images. It was very cool how it reflected the visitors amongst the etchings....it was like reflecting the past and the present....I found it very moving.
After I was done with the memorials I decided to take the Metro over to the Pentagon to see the new Pentagon Memorial in daylight. I really enjoyed it. There is a wall around the edge of the area with years in brass embedded in it. The years correspond to the birth years of the victims.
The benches are laid out in order of their age.
I was tired by the time I had finished visiting all the Memorials so I headed back to the hotel. It was a very enjoyable day.

Last week in Colorado Springs!

Last week I was in Colorado Springs. My hotel was right outside the airport. It seems all the hotels are clustered near the airport. The airplane in this picture is a restaurant attached to the Radisson Hotel next door to the hotel I stayed at.
It was quite a tourist attraction.
The airplane was an old Air Guard Cargo plane.
I really enjoyed Colorado Springs. The city has the feel of a small town and in reality is about 300,000 in population.
At the paper I was working at I ran into a person I had originally met in Lexington KY.
We got together and went to a mexican restaurant in Manitou called The Loop. It was just around the bend from the Garden of the Gods. I didn't get a chance to visit the Garden of the Gods which I was disappointed about so I have something to look forward to if I get the chance to get back there.

There was a storm brewing mid week. I went outside the Gazette to take a picture of the mountain. The storm was masking the mountain from view.

Erie, PA

Last week I was in Erie, PA. I was working nights the whole week so I didn't get a chance to do much in the way of site-seeing.
I had been in Erie a few weeks previously and found it to be a very nice place.
I was able to visit Presque Isle State Park which is a penninsula in Lake Erie and we ate a a local Restaurant called Joe Roots. Joe Root was some historical figure from the area.
Gina and I also went to a restaurant called Zebros right on the beach of Lake Erie.
When we went to Presque Isle it was just at Sunset. The sun settting on Lake Erie was very beautiful.


We drove around the penninsula after dusk. As we drove around the lake we notice the city across the bay. It was very cool all lit up.
We also went down to the wharf where there's a paddle boat that they have dinner tours on and there's a lighthouse.
I didn't get to take many pictures but Lake Erie is very beautiful and I really enjoyed my stays in Erie.
This week in Erie I did get one picture...the view from my hotel room.

Pentagon Memorial

I was in D.C. again this past week. I didn't get to do much site-seeing. All week long there were news reports about the dedication of a new memorial at the Pentagon on Thursday, the 7th Anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack. A couple of co-workers and I decided to take the Metro into the city for dinner and then the Pentagon to see the Memorial.
First we went to the Capitol City Brewery in the Postal Museum across the street from Union Station which was fun. I had Crab cakes that were excellent and well worth the wait.



It was after dusk by the time we finished dinner and we thought we might have time to wander down the National Mall to see the Lincoln Memorial. It was getting late so we opted to hop back on the Metro and head over to the Pentagon to see the Memorial.




It was very moving seeing the memorial.It's built on the side of the building where the plane hit the building. There are 184 benches with small reflecting pools underneath them. Some face away from the Pentagon and some face toward the Pentagon. The victims names are etched on the end of each of the benches. If you can see the name and the Pentagon the victim was in the Pentagon at the time of the attack. If the victim's name is viewed facing away from the Pentagon the victim was on flight 77. It was beautiful and moving but very sad at the same time.

Washington D.C. in a weekend!

OK...so it's been a while since I posted so here it is...I'm currently in D.C. on business and have been for the past week or so. Over the weekend I was able to go site seeing in the Nation's Capitol.
It was very cool to see the monuments and the Capitol building. I didn't make it inside the Capitol but just being on Capitol Hill was very cool. On Saturday I started out riding the Metro into the city. While I was waiting for the train I was intrigued by a young kid about 10 or 12 wearing a t-shirt with a logo that was upside down but said "Roe vs Wade." I wasn't sure what to make of it so I took a picture. When I was getting off the Metro at the L'Enfant Plaza station I noticed a lot of people with different Pro-Life type signs and clothing. It turns out there was a rally in the Mall called TheCall 2008....don't know what it was exactly about other than Pro-Life but it seemed to be a religious/political rally.
I went straight away to the National Air and Space Museum. It was very cool! After an hour or so in there I wandered next door to the National Museum of American Indians. There were some really interesting exhibits of arrowheads, bead work and so forth. It was also cool because there was an exhibit with some craftsman carving a canoe in the main area as you entered the museum.
After the American Indian museum I wandered across the National Mall to see the National Gallery of Art. I didn't get very far before my camera battery died so I stopped in the Gallery Cafe and had lunch. After lunch I set out to find a place to purchase batteries. There was virtually no place to buy batteries in the tourist area of the city! In my pursuit of batteries I walked from the Gallery of Art back to the Air and Space Museum up the hill past the Capitol into the Library of Congress back outside around the Capitol and down the hill on Constitution Ave. I found a Kinkos shop so I stopped in to ask directions to the nearest place to get those little suckers that were eluding me. At last I found a CVS pharmacy on 8th and E. Armed with my batteries and now a working camera I headed to the National Archives to have a look at the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. As I approached the National Archive I passed through the Naval Memorial which was a nice plaza with a cool fountain.
At the National Archives I had to stand in a queue for close to an hour just to get inside. I wandered though the Public Archives and checked out the exhibit there then I stood in another queue to view the documents. I didn't get good pictures of them because I really haven't figured out how to take good pictures in the dark!
By now I was getting quite hot and tired but I still had so much to see! Once I'd completed the goal of viewing the Nation's Documents I headed off to the Washington monument via the Gallery of Art Sculpture Gardens. The gardens were awesome and some of the art was mind boggling... as in I wasn't sure what to make of it.
I continued on down the Mall toward the Washington Monument...(I had already seen the monument a couple of nights before but in the dark! It was glowing and spectacular!)
As I strolled past the Washington Monument toward the Lincoln Memorial I glanced to my right and noticed the White House through the trees...It was really cool to see but I didn't have time to take a detour!
I continued on toward the Lincoln Memorial passing through the World War II Memorial and past the Reflecting Pool. As I approached the Lincoln Memorial I was astounded at the number of people on the steps....It was like a swarm of insects....I was quite in awe as I stood at the feet of Pres. Lincoln. Next stop was the Viet Nam Memorial which was quite moving and brought tears to my eyes several times.

One thing that caused me to get teary-eyed was a pair of army pants with a note paper clipped to them that read something like "Evans, my dad got these pants from you the day you died so was never able to return them to you, I'm doing my part to help him out, Dennis." At this point I had spent all my energy and my emotions so I headed to the Smithsonian Metro station to head back to my home away from home.
The next morning I headed out again with a plan....First I'd stop at the Gallery of Art and see what I missed the day before, I'd stop at the Museum of Natural History to at least see the Hope Diamond at the recommendation of a close friend, then I'd head over to Arlington Cemetery to see the two Pres. Kennedy's graves and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. I exited the train at the Smithsonian station and headed for the museums. I was able to see several Monet, Van Gogh, Rembrandt and other famous artists' paintings. It was very enjoyable.
After the Art Museum I headed to the Natural History Museum. I found the Hope Diamond and also viewed a bunch more fabulous gems and jewelry then I wandered through the Gems and Mineral exhibit. I also saw the Bone exhibit, Mammals, Dirt and Butterfly and Insect exhibits.
Once I had seen all I wanted to of these museums I headed to the metro station to make my way to Arlington Cemetery. I can honestly say I can't think of many more serene and solemn places. I was moved by the reverence and respect that so many visitors in once place can show. The Kennedy graves were interesting and moving. I then wandered up the hill to the Arlington House (Robert E Lee's residence) It is an interesting museum now. The gardens are very simple but very sweet. I then followed the path back where I had come from and headed down the steps and across the cemetery to the Tomb of the Unknowns where I was lucky enough to witness the changing of the guard of the Tomb. It was quite the ceremony.
After 5 hrs of museums and the Cemetery it was time to head back home and rest up for the next week of work.....What a trip!