The Monuments

We so wisely chose a cold and rainy day to visit the monuments. We saw them all, I think. On the way to them, we first stopped at the White House Visitor's Center. I had never been there before, and it was nice to see. We were stranded at Lincoln Memorial for a while, during a particularly heavy downpour. I was surprised to realize there were some monuments that I had never before seen. The WWII monument is new since I was here last. There was a huge group of veterans there viewing it with us, which was neat. I also had never done the long walk down to the Roosevelt and Jefferson monuments. The Roosevelt one was really, really nice. It would have been nicer without being sprinkled on as we dried to read all his wonderful quotes, but I am really glad that we made the walk to see it.

The most interesting reaction from the kids was at the Vietnam Wall. Basia just felt the need, after days without reading anything, to try to read some of the short names. We were just slowly walking along, and she stopped us and pointed as she tried to sound them out. I then explained to Brishen that when we read someone's name, we were remembering and honoring them and not letting them be forgotten. It was then difficult to pull him away. He decided to read names toward the bottom, in case those names were read the least. Quite a few were remembered by Brishen yesterday.

After we visited all the monuments, we decided to warm up and get out of the rain. We had hot chocolate and a cookie inside the Smithsonian castle. We got warm inside and out before we went back outside and got quickly cooked off again in some more rain. We made a few wrong turns before we found the Museum of African Art. The first exhibit comes to life a few times a day, and we happened to arrive minutes before it was due to dance. It scared Basia, but the rest of us enjoyed it. They have an area where the kids can make a bit of their own art, so that gave us a chance to sit down for a while and enjoy.

We ended up logging even more steps yesterday, 23,474 for me and more for the short-legged folks. Today we will pack up to leave this hotel. We are a bit sad because we are experts at finding and using the Metro. I think it has been a great way for the kids to experience a bit of real DC life, and not just life as a tourist. Jon has more meetings this morning, and the kids and I will be heading for the National Zoo. Tonight we will pick Betty (Grandma) up at the airport and stay a couple nights at a friend's house. I'm not sure when I will again have internet access, but I'll blog when I do.