April 8-13 J and I were in Washington, DC! The last time either of us visited DC was sometime in the 1980s. We were planning on making our trip this summer, but the University of Vermont (UVM) hockey team made it to the college hockey Frozen Four, and our plans were made a bit earlier than we originally wanted.
It's always fun going south (of Vermont) anytime between March and May. All the plants and flowers and trees are several weeks ahead of us. The farther south you venture, the further ahead the plants. We were hoping to see the cherry blossoms, and we literally got there on the last 2 days of the blossoms, due to a heavy rainstorm on Friday and Saturday.
(click on pics above and at right. The flowers were gorgeous! There was heavy rain on Friday and Saturday, and most of the cherry blossoms fell off--but J managed to get some pics early Thursday.)
Unfortunately, UVM lost a heartbreaker 5-4, after leading with about 8 minutes left in the game. But, the rest of the trip was pretty good!
One benefit to being on Facebook and Twitter (I'm vtknitboy on Twitter) is being ab
le to meet some of the people I've only known online. Another thing is being reconnected with people from college and other ventures in the past. I've been friended on FB by Donna S., a woman I knew at UVM in the early 1980s. She now lives in Alexandria, Virginia, and we met up one morning for breakfast, along with Elizabeth, a friend and knitter I know from FB.We also were fortunate to meet Brian G. (@Urbanbohemian on Twitter) in person! I met him for dinner Wednesday, and he met up with us for trekking around DC on Friday and Sunday. It was really nice to have a local take us around! This made the trip. Props out to Brian for the time and efforts he put in with us, and put up with me! (pic of Brian and J at right.)
The monuments.
I have wanted to see the Vietnam War Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial and The Mall for years. I was really surprised at how beautiful they are up close.
And yes, I did get quite teary-eyed reading the Gettysburg Address in the Lincoln Memorial, and also while slowly walking along the Vietnam Memorial. What really choked me up was that we were there on Easter Sunday, and someone left an Easter Basket and a small basket of flowers. (pic at right.) Very heart wrenching!
The World War II War Memorial was breathtaking! Large, spacious, very well done. The Washington Monument is, well, very tall. It was difficult to get a closeup picture as it wouldn't fit in my viewfinder. It was a very windy day. The flags encircling the monument were being whipped out to the right from our perspective.
I'm not always proud of things our government do, but I felt a bit patriotic trotting around being a tourist. We ate at some fabulous restaurants, including a Burmese one in Chinatown. The Chinatown in DC is really small. Kind of disappointing when compared even to Victoria, BC or Seattle's.
The picture of the statue of the Native American with the bow and arrow was inside the new (and fabulously beautiful AND expensive) Visitors' Center!
We visited the Textile Museum, but we weren't able to take any pictures.
Cheers!
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