The Glade 4.0

After taking the red-eye to DC I slept most of the day. I didn't get out to the mall until early evening.

Capitol Mall is not the carpet lawn I had long imagined it to be. It is a collection of thin patches of grass connected by weeds and dirt. Only the hardiest, weed-like grasses survive the constant foot traffic. Given the size of Capitol Mall, its understandable, but sad. Of course, this also allows We the People to walk on the Mall and not be subject to keep off the grass rules.

The WWII Memorial is the most peaceful relaxing place on the mall. Wonderful.

Lincoln's memorial would have been more serene without the large tour groups chatting loudly and endlessly in a variety of grating accents.

The nicest conversation I have had was with a Swedish father of three whose children were active but well behaved. We talked about his vacation, now winding up. They have spent a month in the USA, three more days and flying back to Sweden. Our recession has made their cost for touristy stuff very nice. He liked Yellowstone and Yosemite, didn't care for Los Angeles except for Disneyland. The Grand Canyon is spectacular, etc. The whole family was blond, blue eyed, and solidly built, but not fat. People here have been very nice to them.

Washington's memorial is not white, it is a medium tan at the bottom with the color changing to beige as it gets higher. There are warning lights near the top, blinking red lights to warn off the multitude of helicopters constantly buzzing by.

I leave for the Air and Space museum shortly. Looking forward to that.

The air here is humid and polluted. My sinuses are miserable, starting shortly after I landed.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

My sinuses offer their sympathies. It was truly a wonder to move away after 11 years of DC weather.

Air and Space is simply incredible. It was always my favorite museum in the Smithsonian. Don't forget the Jefferson Memorial, or Elmo will come after you!

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Hope you are taking lots of pics!

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"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

Hit the Library of Congress, Jefferson Building. It's very pretty.

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This cold and dark tormented hell
Is all I`ll ever know
So when you get to heaven
May the devil be the judge

You're lucky you weren't here a couple weeks ago if you think it's bad now

The Air and Space Museum and the Vietnam/WW2 memorials are the only things I have left that I want to see in DC, just don't have the time usually.

Micheal,

I grew up there. The museums are second to none in the world IMHO. One can literally spend a month just going to museums there and never see to same thing twice. My personal favorite is the Natural History museum. (Not surprising I guess.)

Enjoy the Air and Space museum. I spent many hours doing volunteer work to set it up for opening back in the day.

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Memento Vivere

I have local knowledge.
That sandbar was not there yesterday!

I'm goin to DC tomorrow to visit my liberal Obama loving lawyer friend Brett and drink a lot.

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"...but there exists also in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to attempt to lower the powerful to their own level and reduces men to prefer equality in slavery to inequality with freedom." - De Tocqueville