Monday, October 16, 2023 - Today, we drove for seven hours (335 miles) from the Beldon Hill RV Park in the Belden, New York to the Fort Belvoir Army Post in Mount Vernon, Virginia near Washington DC. The drive was over mostly good roads and with steadily improving weather. The traffic was pretty light until we reached the Washington vicinity where it picked up quite a bit. Luckily, the guidance provided by the RV Life GPS was excellent.  

Tuesday, October 17, 2023 - Today, we conducted our first excursion into the Washington DC area. We started by driving to the Franconia Station MetroRail station where we learned how to purchase tickets and board the train for the 40 minute journey into town. It turned out to be pretty easy, thanks to the pre-study that Lisa put into how to ride the system. We rode right into the center of Washington and exited the train right next to the Washington Monument. We walked to the Washington Monument, then to the World War II monument, and then to the Lincoln Memorial, and then to the Martin Luther King Memorial, and then to the Korean War Monument before walking into Washington proper to have lunch at a little restaurant called "Surf Side." After lunch, we walked to the Vietnam Memorial.

The Washington MetroRail system is excellent. We did not feel "unsafe" at any time. We traveled on the lines that, generally speaking, do not enter some of the more dangerous parts of Washington. For this reason, it was a great way to get around. We drove our truck from Fort Belvoir to the Franconia-Springfield train station where we could park right next to the train line. We purchased "Senior Passes" which allow us to ride the rail for half price or about $2.00 per trip. We also paid $5.00 per day to park the truck, so the cost of travel was minimal. While in Washington, we became familiar with the "Circulator." This is a MetroBus line that makes continuous circular trips around the Washington Mall. It is about 1.5 miles from the Capitol to the Lincoln Monument, so you can hop on the "Circulator" and ride all the way around to the mall. This saved us a lot of steps and it cost about $1.00 per ride. We had cell phone apps that we could use to know where to get off of the Metro and then we transitioned to another app that would give us walking directions to where we were going. The software made getting around the town much easier.

NOTE; I WILL NOT BE GOING INTO LOTS OF DETAIL IN THE TEXT BELOW TO DESCRIBE THE MEMORIALS. IT WOULD TAKE SO MUCH TIME AND NOT BE AS GOOD AS A PHOTO. BE SURE TO CHECK THE PHOTO GALLERY TO SEE THE MEMORIALS AND MUSEUMS THAT WERE VISITED.

The Washington Monument - Our first stop after getting off of the MetroTrain, was the Washington Monument. This Obelisk is 550 feet tall and is the monument that pays respect to George Washington. Interestingly, no building in the entire Washington area can be build higher than 550 feet since no building can be higher than the Washington Monument. We did not go into the monument, but we did take a lot of photos of the flags surrounding the base and the monument itself. This monument can be seen from anywhere in Washington, and can always be used to help reference our position on the National Mall.

The World War II Memorial - From the Washington Monument, you can look east to see the Capitol and then look west to see the World War II Memorial and then the Lincoln Memorial beyond the WW II Memorial in the distance. The WW II Memorial is very impressive and it extends all the way from one side of the National Mall to the other side. It has one section to the north that represents the European Theater of Operations while the south side represents the Pacific Theater of Operations. There is also a section of the memorial that is covered with gold stars. Each start represents 100 troops who were killed in the conflict. When you put the stars side-by-side, it creates a graphic representation of the cost of freedom. Water pools, eagles, and flags adorn this monument.

Lincoln Memorial - We then continued our walk west on the National Mall to the Lincoln Memorial. We could not stop taking photos of the Washington Monument and the Capitol off in the distance. We had such a nice day. Clear skies and white, puffy clouds all about. The Lincoln Memorial is undergoing repairs and there were scaffolds and canvas cloths covering part of the entrance. We were still able to get inside to see the Lincoln statue and the inscriptions engraved into the surfaces of the walls. It is a pretty awesome place when you think about Lincoln's contribution to keep the country together and working to eradicate slavery. They have a small museum in the basement of the memorial that we checked out also. This memorial is located at the west end of the National Mall and affords views to the east past the Washington Monument to the Capitol. This is a pretty impressive memorial.

The Korean War Memorial - It is a very short walk from the Lincoln Memorial to the Korean War Memorial. This memorial has a grassy area with statues of soldiers on patrol and all spread out along a the grass. It is pretty impressive. Then you arrive at the memorial which has the names of all of the soldiers who died in the conflict inscribed on its surface. It arcs all around the monument in a circular pattern and makes it impressive to see the names going on and on. There is also a water pool in the center of the memorial. It is pretty impressive. This is often referred to as "The Forgotten War" since many people are not familiar with what happened in Korea and why it was important. A major fight against communism and the Chinese.

Martin Luther King Memorial - A short distance from the Korean War Memorial is the tribute to Martin Luther King. The centerpiece of this memorial is a tall granite statue of Martin Luther King that is carved into a huge piece of stone. This statue is positioned in the center of a flat concrete area that has stone walls around the outer perimeter. Engravings of MLK's famous speeches are found on the walls surrounding the main statue. This monument sits on the shores of a tidal basin where you can look across the lake and see the Jefferson Memorial in the far distance. It is a pretty impressive memorial. I would say that attendance was light since most kids are back in school and families are not traveling right now. Also, I personally feel that many African Americans have sold out MLK who felt that we should all be judged by the content of our character and not be skin color. He was 100% right. But now, many African Americans are simply saying that they are victims to a completely bigoted society and that they do not have a chance to get ahead. I think that MLK would not like what is going on right now. So much for my one political comment.

The White House - After leaving the MLK memorial, we decided to walk about a mile and half to a Mexican food restaurant with sidewalk seating called Surfside Tacos. On the way, we passed by the White House that is at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. We were able to get some very nice photos of the White House, but we did not go into the Visitor Center or the building today. We had not made arrangements to tour the inside of the White House (takes three weeks or so of advance planning), so we only managed to walk the perimeter and get photos. We did go into the White House to have lunch at their cafeteria on a later day.

The lunch at the Surfside Taco Restaurant was fine and we enjoyed sitting along the curb and watching the pedestrians and cars go by.

The Vietnam Memorial - After lunch, we decided to walk to the Vietnam Memorial. This was about another 1.3 miles back to the National Mall. We did a lot of walking on this day and ended up with 8.4 miles total; we were tired. We later learned that you can take a bus called the "Circulator" all around the Capitol Mall and it would have saved us a lot of steps. There are a couple of statues replicating soldiers in Vietnam. We stopped and took some photos there and then walked over to the wall. The Vietnam Memorial is, basically, a wall with all the names of the Americans killing the conflict engraved in the wall. The wall and list of names seems to go on and on. The names of the people killed are listed by chronological date. I wanted to find the name of Arturo Nazabal, a student from Livingston High School who was drafted into the Army and then died in Vietnam. We found his name and a very nice lady named Jeri came by and helped me make an engraving reversal of Arturo's name onto a piece of paper. I have been waiting for over 50 years to see his name on the memorial and to thank him for saving my life. I was drafted the next year and I decided not to follow the course that Arturo followed. I was able to get a college deferment and then go into the service after college. I had a longer commitment, but I went in as an officer and was able to fly as a bombardier in B-52s. Even though I did go to Guam and Thailand to fly, it was after the primary fighting was over and it was much safer.

After the Vietnam Memorial, we walked back to the MetroTrain station for our trip back to the RV at Fort Belvoir. Day one was in the books, but we had seen a lot and we had walked a lot. We crashed once we got back to the RV and then began to plan for the next day's activities.

Wednesday, October 18, 2023 - Back in the truck to take the drive to the Franconia-Springfield MetroRail station to catch our train into Washington proper. Today, we changed train lines on the route and went to a station very close to the Library of Congress, the Supreme Court building, and the Capitol. We are getting much better at knowing where to get of the train to be as closes as possible to our destination. There are phone apps to help us with this and we have gotten much better at using them; thanks to Lisa who did all the research on these apps.

The Supreme Court - We walked past the Library of Congress building to the Supreme Court building. both of these buildings are quite majestic and beg for tons of photos as you walk by. As it turns out, these buildings were build with the intent to show the Europeans that we, in the United States, can compete architecturally with the Europeans. Both inside and out, these buildings are magnificent. We also walk right past the White House to get to the Supreme Court building. The steps to the Supreme Court are available to use when you exit the building. You cannot walk up the steps to get to the building. On the left side of the building on the lower level is the entrance to the building and a security checkpoint with metal detectors and all. We were also there at just the right time since there was a 45-minute guided tour of the interior chambers of the Supreme Court just five minutes away. Since the court was not in session today, we got to go inside the chambers to learn about what happens there. Our tour leader was excellent and she gave us lots of great info on the operation of the court. Photos are absolutely not allowed in the primary chamber, but I was able to take some photos from the entrance door after we left the building. It is an impressive chamber, but the outer spaces are even more ornate and impressive. I highly recommend this tour and, certainly, to visit the Supreme Court building. The public is allowed to enter and see the interior of the building. It is beautiful. Be sure to see the photos in the photo gallery.

The Library of Congress - Right next door to the Supreme Court is the beautiful Library of Congress building. There is a fantastic water feature in front of this building that is right across the street from the Capitol building. You enter this building from the side and immediately are taken aback by the beauty of the construction and painting inside the building. We toured the inside of the building and were amazed at the magnificent quality of the construction. We then signed up for a short walk-through tour of the reading room. This is an amazing, large room where people can go to do research on any topic of their choice. We had to be quiet, but we could see the books and check out the study areas. After the reading room, we walked through an art exhibit that contained many vintage photos that we had seen in the past. It was an excellent exhibit. In 1812, during the War of 1812 with England, England burned the Library of Congress to the ground. Nearly all the books in the library at that time were destroyed. Then, Thomas Jefferson, sold his huge personal library of books to the Library of Congress to "re-start" the library. All of those books were on display in a side room of the Library. It is an impressive group of hundreds of books. Be sure to see the photos of the Jefferson contribution to the Library of Congress. He kept it going. Jefferson also sent books to James Madison to help him study foreign governments and then create the new form of government we have in the United States.

Capitol Hill - We had been told that we could go to our state representatives office and we could sign up for a tour of Capitol Hill. Normally, you have to plan several weeks in advance to get one of these tours. I thought that since our representatives are from South Dakota, which is a very small state (population-wise) and since it is October with little traffic to the capitol, we might get lucky and get a tour by our representative. The tour guide at the Supreme Court looked up our representatives and said that we needed to travel to the Dirksen Building and go to Room 511 where our representative, Dusty Johnson has his office. There is only one representative to the House of Reps from South Dakota. The senators from our state are John Thune (Majority Whip) and Mike Rounds. At the office, we met Caitlyn Graves who is the assistant to Congressman Johnson. We asked if there were any chance to get a tour. She said, "How about right now?" We said great and she took us through the congressional underground areas to the chambers for the House of Reps and also for the Senate. We were able to sit in the balcony of both houses to see the operations going on at the time. It was the day when Jim Jordan, was voted out for the Speaker of the House. Pretty cool. The Senate was working on appointments to offices for the Biden Administration. It was fun to see the people on the floor that we normally see on the news. We say Tim Scott, and a whole host of key players in the government of our country. After the tour was over, Caitlyn said that she could set up a tour of the Capitol Building for Friday at 10:00am. We agreed to meet her at her office on Friday. We got very lucky. Caitlyn is such a nice person who went out of her way to show us the House and Senate.

After our visit to the Capitol Building, it was time for late lunch and a trip back to the RV for R&R. Wow! What a busy two days. We saw so much and met so many nice people.

Thursday, October 19, 2023 - Today, it is off to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum followed by the Jefferson Memorial and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial. again, we hopped on the MetroRail to travel to the Smithsonian. There is a MetroRail station right at the Smithsonian, so you get off the train, go up to street level and there is the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. As an aside, we had purchased MetroRail cards and put money on the cards to allow us to access the MetroRail, the "Circulator" bus, and to pay for parking at the station. A worker at the Franconia-Springfield station told us to go over to the booth and buy "Senior Cards" and have some money put on them. Seniors travel for half price or $2 on the train and $1 for the bus. It also gives us a break for parking. It is very cheap to travel by rail in this area. The rail is the only way to get into town (as far as we are concerned) because it is efficient and cheap. A new train comes by about ever eight minutes; at the most.

The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum - We stayed at the Smithsonian from 10:00 am until 3:00 pm. About half of the museum was under construction and not accessible. Most of the military exhibits were not accessible, but we did see the space flight artifacts on display. This is a must-see location in Washington. It would take me a long time to discuss all that we say, so I will simply say, "Plan to go to Washington to see this museum." We also watched the movie about the solar system given in the Smithsonian Planetarium. There was an extra charge for this film, but it was work it. We then went down into the Smithsonian cafeteria to have lunch. We shared a ham and cheese sandwich and then decided to head over to the Jefferson Memorial.

The Jefferson Memorial - After leaving the Smithsonian, we hopped on the local bus called the "Circulator" right in front of the building. This bus drives a circular pattern around the entire Capitol Mall area with stops periodically along the way. It cost us one dollar to hop on and we can get off wherever we like. This bus took us from right in front of the Smithsonian to right in front of the Jefferson Memorial. The Jefferson Memorial is a beautiful structure with a huge statue of Jefferson in the middle of the structure with some of his quotes all around the sides. The Jefferson Memorial is build in the neoclassical style somewhat like the Roman Pantheon. It is open-air like the Lincoln Memorial and beautiful. It is under refurbishment too. We met a very nice family here with two children. We took photos of them and they took photos of us. They are interested in RVing, so we had a very good conversation. We gave them a card so that they could check out our blog. The Jefferson Memorial is located right on the Tidal Basin with great views of the Capitol, White House, and the Martin Luther King Memorial across the waterway. After viewing the Jefferson Memorial, we chose to walk around the Tidal Basin to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial.

Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial - Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial is the only President to have spent more than two terms in office. H spent four terms in office from 1933 until his death in 1945. . After Roosevelt, Congress limited Presidential terms to two at most. The Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial is built to reflect the progress and activities of each of Franklin D. Roosevelt's terms in office. FDR was elected and had to deal with the Great Depression in the country. He also put people to work with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) that accomplished much in the country in the early 1930s. There are lots of waterfalls and quotations in these four mini-monuments within the entire monument. We entered the monument from the south, so we actually took photos and explored the monument from the most recent term in office to the oldest term. This is a very nice monument and has several statues of Roosevelt and Eleanor along the way. Check it out.

After the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, we headed back to the RV for rest. We have been going strong every day in Washington and we are beginning to become somewhat fatigued. There is so much to see and do, you really need to keep your energy levels up to explore it all.

Friday, October 20, 2023 - This was our day to meet with Caitlyn Graves for our tour of the Capitol Building. Caitlyn met us and then took us to the Capitol where she handed us off to John Abdullah, another intern working in the Representatives office. John only has a few more weeks until his internship is over. He is from South Dakota. John took us and two other younger people from South Dakota on a tour of the Capitol building. The Capitol building is quite majestic and the interior of the rotunda is spectacular. Lots of statues of past politicians and people who influenced America are on display. John even was able to take us down to the "crypt" where many politicians had planned for George Washington to be buried right under the center of the rotunda in the Capitol building. Washington had a different idea, and is buried at Mount Vernon. We also saw some fantastic paintings in the Capitol building mostly made by Constantino Brumidi who spent 25 years painting in the Capitol with his team of painters. Brumidi is amazing! His paintings are so realistic and beautiful. Be sure to see the photos of the interior of the Capitol building.

Smithsonian Museum of American History - After visiting the Capitol, we had lunch at a local pizza parlor. It was a place where they had about 15 pizzas on display so that we could see what we would be getting. It was a good lunch. We then walked over to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. This museum focuses on the culture of the United States and where people came from to make up our country. It also had a section on transportation, Spanish/Mexican History, foods, and more. It took us about three hours to tour this museum. We could have spent more time, but we were getting tired of being on our feet. This is another of the unique Smithsonian museums.

After this museum, we headed back to the RV.

Saturday, October 21, 2023 - Today is our day to visit Mount Vernon where George Washington called home. We drove the short distance from Fort Bevoir to Mount Vernon and arrived at about 10:00 am. We walked to the Visitor Center and then walked to the home and explored the farm. We had a tour of the house scheduled at 10:30 am so we had some extra time to explore. Washington was a farmer who, initially, grew tobacco, but transferred to wheat because it was easier on the soil. Tobacco drew many nutrients out of the ground. Since Washington grew wheat, he later built a grist mill to make flour and also a distillery to make whiskey. He did not make the distillery until about two years before his death in 1799. He had slaves and Washington stated in his will that his slaves would go to Martha and then be freed after Martha passed away. Martha freed George's slaves within a year of his death. Martha passed her slaves on to relatives after her death two years after George's death. The house is very nice, but not spectacular compared to other homes we have toured. The location of Mount Vernon on the Potomac River is excellent. Great views, access to the water (dock), and lots of open land for crops. Mount Vernon is 300 miles from the open Atlantic Ocean. George was buried in a crypt on the farm, but was moved to another location on the farm since the original crypt was too small. Martha is buried right next to him and there are another 25, or so, members of the family buried in the crypt. We walked down to the beach and out onto the dock. There are boat tours that originate on the dock. We then went up to his wheat threshing area where we we were able to buy a "George's Plate" which is bread slices from a large round made from local wheat covered in butter and then toasted in the wood oven used to make the bread. Bacon or chunks of pork are then placed on top and the whole thing is heated again. Two pieces of cheese are added after the heating. It is pretty good.

After departing Mount Vernon, we drove back to the RV where we did chores and relaxed.

Sunday, October 22, 2023 - Today was set aside to travel to Arlington National Cemetery. We drove to the MetroRail and stayed on the Blue Line until we arrived at the Arlington Station. We exited the rail system and went up the escalator to the street level and we were at the entrance to Arlington and the Visitor Center. Lisa had purchased the tickets for Arlington earlier, so we went in and explored the Visitor Center for a while. We then went outside where we boarded a tram with about six cars to begin the drive around the cemetery. There is a guide on the tram who tells you what is significant in each section of the ride. The first stop was at the Marine Corps Memorial. At all stops, you get off the tram, explore, and get on a later tram. At this stop, we actually walked through a gate and left the cemetery grounds since the Marine Corps Memorial is not actually on Arlington. There is a large statue of the raising of the flag on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima during World War II. We had such a beautiful day with blue skies and white, puffy clouds, the flag flying over the memorial was splendid. We walked all around the memorial and then back to Arlington where we, again, went through security and hopped on the next tram.

This time, the tram stopped at the grave site of President John F. Kennedy and his wife, Caroline. There are also many Supreme Court justices buried in this general vicinity. Kennedy was buried three days after his assassination in November of 1963, but this new grave site was constructed and consecrated in March of 1967. His wife, Caroline, lit the eternal flame at the grave site. Both Robert and Edward Kennedy are buried at Arlington within a few hundred feet of John and Caroline.

The next stop on the tram ride was the Arlington House (also known as the Custis House) located at the very top of the hill. The Custis House was the first known tribute to George Washington in the Washington DC area. John Parke Custis was the son of Martha Washington from her first marriage to Daniel Park Custis. In 1802, George Washington Parke Curtis inherited the land that Arlington is on which was know as Mount Washington. He build a Greek style mansion there and began saving many of the Washington family artifacts that he had collected. George Washington Parke Curtis and his wife, Mary Lee Fitzhugh had a daughter named Mary anna Randolph Curtis married her childhood friend and distant cousin, Robert E Lee. When Robert E. Lee decided to command the Confederate forces, he and his wife left this house never to return. Pretty interesting. We toured the house and the grounds and took some excellent photos of the National Mall from this high ground. So, Curtis, Washington, and Lee are all names that are intertwined in the Washington DC culture.

After departing the Custis House (Arlington House), we took the tram to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. They change the guards on the hour, so we had about 30 minutes to explore before seeing the guard change. We saw Audie Murphy's grave site; he was awarded every military award available from the US military and several from other nations. He is the most highly decorated military person at Arlington. He went on to become and actor and song writer. We saw the mast of the USS Maine that was blown up in Havana harbor to start the Spanish-American War. We also saw the grave sites of the shuttle Challenger crew along with other groups of people who died in the service of their country. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is beautiful. There is an area where you can have a ceremony that could house about 500 people and then on the opposite side of the memorial is the actual Tomb of the Unknown Soldier where the guards stand watch 24 hours per day seven days per week. We watched the changing of the guard and then they had a special ceremony to replace the wreath on display. This ceremony involved a family of a soldier and the playing of Taps. I have both ceremonies on video and hope to put them on the blog when I get my new computer. These ceremonies are very well done and display great respect for the meaning of the event. There is no messing around here. After the laying of the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, we hopped on the tram and rode it all the way back to the Visitor Center. There is another section of Arlington that is being built now that will be dedicated to the United States Air Force. It is likely about two years out from completion.

Monday, October 23, 2023 - Today we went to the Holocaust Museum. We took the train into town and it worked out great. We got off right near the Holocaust Museum and we're able to get into the museum without much effort. It was crowded, but we were able to work our way through the exhibits.  The museum is an impressive place when you go there, it sticks with you forever. Amazing what happened during the Second World War to the Jewish people in Europe. The museum starts  out showing what happened during the 1930s that led to Adolph Hitler coming to power, and putting himself in a position of power that nobody could question. The churches were closed, guns were removed from the population, and the Gestapo held absolute power over the population.  So, we got a chance to get up close and personal and get to experience what happened to the Jewish people. You come away, better understanding what was going on over there, and having a sincere desire to make sure that it didn't happen again.

After we left the Holocaust Museum, we had decided to go back to the RV and take a break. We've been kind of getting tired from the daily grind of seeing new things and taking the train into Washington.  We we're on our seventh of eight days here in Washington and we were so busy every day. It was a getting to the point where we were getting kind of tired and at the end of the day and we needed a little bit of rest.  In addition, I wasn't able to do any of the day-to-day work to keep the blog updated, so I've had to come back after the fact and add information. So, we were just so busy doing things that we had very little time to document what we were doing?

Tuesday, October 24, 2023 - Today, we depart for the Lumberton RV Park in Lumberton, North Carolina. We are planning an over-night stay here on our way too Brunswick, Georgia and daughter Amanda's home.