We had found a campground in Maryland, Cherry Hill RV Park, that advertises itself as the closest campground to D.C., and when I called there, they had plenty of room, so that was where we headed. We were on the road by 10:00, and since we had less than 100 miles to go, that wasn't bad. We fueled the RV once we crossed into Maryland for $2.229, a little less than Pennsylvania had been. We crossed the Maryland state line at 11:10, and were surprised at how close we were to Maryland.
We arrived at our campground about 1:00, and it is completely the opposite of the one we stayed at in Jersey City, the closest campground to New York. Not only is this one very nice, clean, with lots of amenities, the people are extremely helpful and actually make you feel like they are glad to have you. There are 2 pools, a hot tub, a cafe, little cottages to rent, nice big laundry, game room and "ball room." In addition, at 4:00 every weekday, they have a little session to explain to their campers how to maneuver around D.C., the different tour packages available (one bus trip goes right out of the campground), how to use the subway system, and any other features one might be interested in. This was a very pleasant find.
So after listening to all the offerings, we decided to take the sunset tour into D.C. tonight to see some of the monuments lit up and get our bearings around the city, especially since is was 9/11. The "meeting" ended just after 5:00, and the bus left at 5:55, so we went back to the RV, I threw some hot dogs on the George Foreman while we changed our clothes, and off we went.
The bus ride was all fine, but once it got dark, it was hard to see much of the monuments -- at least the ones that were not lit up. We were on the open top of a double decker bus, so we got the full benefit. We did get to see the White House from a little distance, and we walked over to the Viet Nam Memorial, but it was too dark to see it, and the FDR Memorial, again, too dark. Couldn't find the Korean War Memorial or the Martin Luther King Memorial in the dark, so we will have to catch them tomorrow.
We got back to the campground about 11:00, trying to figure out how to tackle tomorrow. Joe wasn't thrilled about getting an early start, but there is so much to see that I knew we would have to get on the move pretty early. So at 7:30, I went over to the office and got some more information, got Joe on the move, and we drove to the subway station, which we found without any problem. We negotiated the subway, transferred to a second train, got to Union Station, and bought our 2-day bus pass to begin our exploration in earnest.
I had tried to call our senators to get a tour of the Capitol Building, but never got in touch with anyone at either office. Nevertheless, when we got there, we were able to get right on a tour, so that was awesome.
After we finished this tour, we walked through the tunnel to the Library of Congress, an absolutely beautiful building. We caught the tail end of a tour here so we got to see this building pretty well too. We missed the film that started this tour, so we caught that at the end.
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| Back Pack Joe |
Joe captured this picture-postcard-perfect photo, from the window of the Library of Congress, of the Capital Building, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Washington Monument all lined up in a row.
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| Me and My Umbrella |
Our next stop was the Washington Mall, which is really monument row, where we had been last night. We found the Korean War Memorial, which is awesome, then walked another mile over to the WWII Memorial, also awesome. We walked back along the reflecting pool between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Monument. Joe decided he had to walk up the steps to see old Abe, so I wandered back over toward the Viet Nam Wall, then waited for him to get back down all those steps. But I didn't have the camera, so we never got any photos of the Viet Nam Memorial. Then we headed back over to wait for our bus.
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| Jefferson Memorial |
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| Back side of Martin Luther King Memorial |
"At nearly 91 years of age, the former presidential candidate and Senate majority leader [Bob Dole] treks to the World War II Memorial nearly every weekend to greet his fellow veterans (“every Saturday and some Wednesdays,” according to Dole.) The longtime advocate for veterans’ causes remains tightly bonded to the generation that fought with him in Europe, and across the world in the Pacific."
There were also a lot of old veterans on their "Honor Tours" here. One of our classmates, Toni Schultz Holmes, was able to do this with her dad a few years ago, shortly before he passed away, and I can imagine what a thrill that was for both of them.
"The purpose of the Honor Tour is to recognize and honor the service and sacrifice of our veterans. This is the Greatest Generation, the generation that literally saved the world. While at their memorial, these veterans will be admired and thanked for their service to this country and the world by many visitors at the memorial.
People visiting the memorial from around the world crowd around these veterans to shake their hands or pat them on the back and say thank you. The kindness and thankfulness shown to these veterans will live in their memories for the rest of their lives. Many WWII veterans don’t have the financial or physical ability to take themselves to Washington D.C. to see their memorial, a memorial for which they have waited 59 years. Our vision for the future is to take veterans from the Korean and Vietnam Wars to see their memorials."
Washington Monument
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| Flags around the base of the Washington Monument |
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| Love this picture with the reflection and the clouds |
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| Taken from the Lincoln Memorial steps |
Lincoln Memorial
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| Picture taken from the WWII Memorial, other end of the reflecting pool |
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| Wedding party on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial |
We were both really tired and glad to be done "touring" for the day -- we just stayed on the bus, all the way back to Union Station, caught our two subways home, found our car in the subway parking lot, and found the RV park. We decided to take advantage of the cafe here since I was too tired to mess with food, so that took care of dinner (they also gave us a 20% discount as one of the amenities when we checked in). Then we came back to the RV, changed our clothes, and went over and sat in the hot tub for 15 minutes or so. That helped a little, but we are two tired puppies tonight.
The Washington Monument was my favorite 50 years ago when I was here on my Senior Trip. And it still is my favorite. It is just so stately, you can see it almost anytime you look, and it just speaks to me, I guess. And walking along beside the reflecting pool between these two monuments was really special.
But the new monuments are amazing, and the creativity leaves me speechless.
We were Seniors when we were here before, and we are Seniors again. My, that was a fast 50 years!!!
Back to the bus tomorrow. We have a bit of a plan -- a few things we definitely want to try to see, but it will take some subway maneuvering, so that should add interesting element to our Excellent Adventure here.
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