Washington DC - only a short drive from Annapolis!


Budget Rent a car finally found us and delivered a red Nissan Rogue. Cute little car that served us well for the 40 mile drive from Annapolis to Washington, DC. Wayne and Ruth are Canadians, but are well versed and interested in American History. Since our visit was on the Saturday of Memoral Day weekend, we encountered very little traffic. Great start to the day!

You probably recognize this building as the White House. If you wish to include a White House Tour on your Agenda, you must obtain your tickets long before your visit. Difficult to do when on the Loop as we never know where we are going to be on any specific date.



Binoculars were the weapon of choice as this moment. He was obviously eyeing the tops of all neighboring buildings.

Beautiful building, but strange.....two banks in the same building. PNC and Bank of America.

National Archives...I want to go there!

The Washington Memorial is awe-inspiring. The size of 555 feet + is impressive enough, but this obelisk was constructed of blocks that are huge! When we leaned against the sky, we felt the obelisk was falling as the clouds move in the sky. Strange feeling. You must obtain tickets for the Washington Memorial ahead of time as well. The tickets were sold out before we arrived. Bummer!

Jim is contemplating WWII. His father fought in the Philippines, though Jim knows little about the time his father spent in the Pacific. He was wounded while in the Philippines, but rarely spoke of his experience.

Every state was listed as well as the American colonies.



The Pride of Freedom is a clever section of the Memorial Stars line the wall and the stars reflect into a pool directly below the star-lined wall.  This plaque speaks to the 400,000+ deaths in World War II. Also mentioned are the 600,000 deaths that occurred during the Civil War. 17% of the population was killed in the Civil War. Staggering.



The Lincoln Memorial is massive, as was the man. Takes a young pup to run up these steps!

Lincoln sits in the seat of honor.

Apparently the Harley Riders descend on Washington DC every year on Memorial Weekend. We saw in excess of 200,000 bikes with conversation that there would be almost 1,000,000 bikes in the ride on Sunday. Lot of old folks - our age.......

Parked across from the Vietnam Memorial was this mass of Harleys.

Jim was looking through the book to find the name of his first cousin, Rodney Edwards who was killed in Vietnam. The names are carved in the stone chronologically, so you must look in the book to find the location.

Rodney C. Edwards was listed on the wall. Rodney was born about 6 months before Jim.

The Vietnam Memorial was the most crowded Memorial.

The Korean Memorial is a granite wall with likenesses of soldiers on the wall.

Both American and Korean soldiers are depicted in the Korean Memorial.

My favorite building is the Smithsonian Institution. The building is now a Welcome Center.
Construction was completed in 1865, at which time nothing was built in this area.

The Natural History Museum is loaded with Dinosaurs.

This is an early Red Cross wagon. Ruth and I visited an exhibit about a Civil War nurse.

Recognize these shoes? Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz! Judy Garland wore these shoes.

The imposing Capital Building.....not easy to see over the Holiday Weekend as BB King and others are performing there over the Weekend.

J Edgar Hoover's building. What a guy he was!

The Old Post Office. Need to do research on this building, but it is imposing!