Washington DC

Well, its April 1st and the jokes on us. As we leave Virginia beach in ignorant bliss, we marvel at the entrance to the Hampton Roads Bridge tunnel which goes under Chesapeake Bay so the largest ships can pass over head. We had to stop and have our propane inspected before entering the tunnel. I guess they were afraid we may stop and barbecue half way through. It was supposed to be a short relaxed drive of only 4 hours but then again, we hadn't been to Washington before. We knew something was up when the traffic stopped 20 miles from Washington and never went over 20 MPH after that. With 30 miles to go and averaging 1 MPH, you do the math. Fortunately at times, we raced along at 15 or even 20 sometimes so it wasn't as long as we thought. The Washington ring road was 4 lanes wide, bumper to bumper as far as the eye could see, both forwards and back, and the sign said, CHANGE LANES. When you're in a motor home, towing a car, and put on your signal light to change lanes, guess what happens? Of course, everyone bunches up quickly because they don't want to be behind a motor home. So I learned not to signal. We did finally get to our campground and, I'm not kidding, I sat and had a scotch so I could do my hookups without my hands shaking. But, like all trials in life, thats now a dim memory; lets go exploring!

We took a day off to get our composure back and then decided to do a bus tour of Washington to get ourselves oriented and figure out what we wanted to see. This is Grammie at 6:30 AM waiting for the tour bus; no rest for the wicked I suppose.

After my baptism by fire driving into Washington, I had no intention of driving downtown so we ponied up a few bucks to save my sanity, Grammie's so good to me! When I planned our trip south last year and our approximate return, I had no idea that we were going to be in Washington during their 2 busiest weeks of the year: Easter long weekend (when everyone shakes off the winter cobwebs by going downtown for 3 days) and the next weekend which is their Cherry Blossom festival, their biggest event downtown of the year. Taking the bus tour is looking better and better.

First stop on the tour is the Capital Building. You get to stand in line for an hour for a 30 minute tour. I did the math. We went elsewhere, but it is a spectacular building. This is the place in "Mars Attacks" where the Martians evaporated all the Senators (just trying to put it in context).

We walked across the street to the Library of Congress. What a gorgeous building. Boy, give those architects unlimited funds and they can do some amazing things. Its all marble and granite and best of all, no hour long wait. Leave it to a Canadian to take the easy way out. Every building we entered required security screening and going through scanners. Its a sign of the times I guess. And guess what? Not one building or museum in Washington has a fee to enter! We probably blew 200 bucks last summer to get into the government venues in Ottawa.

The national mall extends from the Capital building to the Lincoln memorial. You'll see more of it later. Grammie is in front of the Capital building and in the background you can see the Washington monument and farther behind that is the Lincoln Memorial, which isn't visible. The point is, over the next couple days, we walked the whole distance twice, in the heat, what troopers we are!

A long time ago, look it up if you want the exact dates, the Japanese gave the US government thousands of Cherry trees as a gift. They bloom around the first of April for 2 weeks. The trees in the background are the trees which were donated. And are the reason for the godless hordes of Japanese crowding the capitol right now.

Just down the street from the godless hordes of cherry blossoms stands the Lincoln Memorial. Notice that there are no Japanese in the photo. I guess they didn't donate the Lincoln Memorial. Anyhow, I digress.

The memorial is a huge building which houses Lincoln's statue. On the 2 end walls are the Gettysburg Address and his second acceptance speech. It quite inspiring, and crowded as you can see. Its a very hot day and theres not much shade along the national mall.

Standing on the front of the Lincoln Memorial is the view towards the Washington Monument and the Capitol Building. Thats a long ways to walk twice don't you think? This is also the spot in Forrest Gump where he and Jennie run into the water, how romantic. What history there is here.

Bet you thought I forgot, huh? What tour of Washington would be complete without a shot of the White House. Perhaps I shouldn't use the word shot, considering the snipers sitting on the White House roof. Anyway, today is the day that easter eggs are hunted on the White House lawn. As a result, security has moved everyone back about a block away. They're afraid of egg nappers I guess. So, this is our first blog on Washington but, expect many more. Each museum takes a day to see with blog items galore such as the Fonze's jacket and Archie Bunkers chair and Julia Child's kitchen. We're here for 2 weeks so plan on being entertained. TTFN.