Trip to DC

[The Seeker]

I'll be heading out July 1st through the 5th for a trip to Washington DC for the Fourth of July celebrations there.

My Daughter gets a small break from school and we had initially planned on going to Toronto so she could see the Hockey Hall of Fame and to visit my a few of my relatives located in Ontario. Then we realized that the G20 Summit will be in Toronto and decided we didn't want to be anywhere near that.

She's never seen our nation's Capital, so we decided to go there when they'll be having all the fireworks and such.

Since there will be 3 of us and DC traffic is horrendous (not to mention the HEAT), we'll be traveling via cage though.

 

[Dilligaf]

Have fun

 

[CarlS]

I didn't know the 4th was still celebrated in DC. :silent: Seriously, have a good trip and a grand time. Your daughter should really enjoy DC; there is much to see and do there.

 

[The Seeker]

Being a Vet student, of course she wants to see the Washington DC Zoo...which is a good one. We'll try to catch a Mass on the 4th at the National Cathedral since we're Anglicans ourselves.

Kind of weird though going to DC to watch fireworks done by a company that actually makes them just 15-20 minutes from my home!!

 

[CarlS]

The zoo is well worth the visit. I can never get enough of the Smithsonian. Enjoy!

 

[Rocky]

Have a great trip and be safe.
The Smithsonian is on my bucket list.
Good decision to avoid Toronto because of the G20.

 

[The Seeker]

Thanks Rocky.

Yeah....the Smithsonian is awesome and enjoyable every time I go there. Funny though.....my Daughter was doing some online research on things to see and do and was surprised that all those places are completely FREE (even the Zoo). She thought that even though we pay taxes and OWN them, that we'd still have to pay to see them!

We lived through last year's G8-20 in Pittsburgh which was bad enough....no way am I interested in that again!

 

[Dschief]

The Washington Zoo, I thought that was what the city was called? See what you started Carl? :silent:

Seriously though, the Zoo, Smithsonian, Capital building, and all the monuments are definitely worth seeing. Too much to take in in a week. Heck, I could spend a month at the Smithsonian by itself.

 

[CarlS]

[quote author=Dschief link=topic=9554.msg47536#msg47536 date=1277606441]
The Washington Zoo, I thought that was what the city was called? See what you started Carl? :silent:

Seriously though, the Zoo, Smithsonian, Capital building, and all the monuments are definitely worth seeing. Too much to take in in a week. Heck, I could spend a month at the Smithsonian by itself.
[/quote]
I have been to the Smithsonian many times and I have never seen it all. Plus they rotate displays. I would go more often - if it weren't in Washington!

 

[The Seeker]

Well, I just returned from Washington DC. Being there on the 4th of July (Independence Day) was simply amazing! Kind of weird that we traveled 3.5 hours to watch fireworks that are made in our home town...but what the heck? Watching them over the Washington Monument and the reflecting pool is pretty stunning.

We walked what feels like 1000 miles, and I'm still hurting a bit from that. Not to mention the 100 degree heat!!

Anyhow, I'm rather tired and so I only re-sized a small selection of photos for now.....

The Washington Monument at night:

The White House

The US Capital Building

The Lincoln Memorial

OK...so I am biased. USMC plaque at the WWII Memorial

The Iwo Jima Marine Corps Memorial

 

[devo]

Excellent pics AJ
cheers for posting :y18:

 

[CarlS]

Excellent photos, AJ. Glad you had a good trip. Umm, I didn't notice any photos of the current occupants of the White House. :silent: :silent: :y114:

 

[Dschief]

[quote author=CarlS link=topic=9554.msg47680#msg47680 date=1278431460]
Excellent photos, AJ. Glad you had a good trip. Umm, I didn't notice any photos of the current occupants of the White House. :silent: :silent: :y114:
[/quote]
Now there you go again!

Fanatastic pics!!! :y18:

 

[Dilligaf]

Amazing city, I have been there a handful of times. Would be better is we deported those who reside in the big houses.

 

[The Seeker]

[quote author=Dschief link=topic=9554.msg47691#msg47691 date=1278455593]

Fanatastic pics!!! :y18:
[/quote]


Thanks. Here's a few more.

Sorry that these are larger.....
My Son Ian on the steps of the US Supreme Court building (he's heading off to get into Constitutional Law at Washington Univ. soon):

The Pennsylvania pillar at the WWII Memorial:

Another shot of the Lincoln Memorial:

 

[Dschief]

That night shot of the Lincoln Memorial is just spell-binding! Awesome!

 

[The Seeker]

Found this rather funny..........

Independence Day, 4th of July, 1940 Promotion

 

[CarlS]

Maybe, Ian will be able to make a difference in our beleaguered republic. Nice photo.

 

[The Seeker]

I emailed some of my photos to my Brother. When he saw the Marine Corps Memorial, he emailed back to me some things which I was never even aware of pertaining to my Father (he's 4 years older than I am so he probably heard or remembered things better than I):

It seems my Dad once knew one of the guys that raised the flag at Iwo Jima.....

Gagnon was in the 6th Marines at Tsingtao Naval Air Base when Dad met him. If I am not mistaken, this is the Marine flag raiser at Iwo Jima that Dad knew. Dad was 1st Marines reconstituted into 3rd. The original 1st was captured at Guadalcanal. In his China service, he was part of a force which took over 50,000 Japanese prisoners, yet while they had support of Nationalist China govt., they were sniped at by Communist guerillas. This aggravated the Marines. Dad said Chang-Kai-Shek the Nationalist leader, whom he saw in person, was a tyrant and the people were bound to overthrow him. What he rarely told about was his his role in the Philippines supporting the resistance to the Japanese. He was part of the Marines known as The Raiders, and trained young Filipino assassins in how to kill silently with knives. He also served in battles at Solomon Islands, Pelelieu, Okinawa, and Saipan. He was nearly killed in a typhoon in the South China Sea. He was awarded three Bronze Stars and three Purple Hearts along with the certain citations like the Philippines Presidential and Pacific Theater ribbons that everyone got. If you search the internet you can see many websites devoted to these Marines, and some show the Naval Base at Tsingtao. By the way Tsingtao Beer today is very good. And the city is very pretty. Its near Shanghai. I would love to go there if I retire (which will probably be never!)

 

[CarlS]

Awesome! I would love to have talked with your dad. I did not know any of the Iwo flag raisers. I do know some of Ira Hayes' family; but I never got to meet him.