A Capital trip to the Capital

Immediately after our dear friend Scott picked us up from the airport, he took us to a fantastic hole-in-the-wall (but highly acclaimed) restaurant called Kabob Palace for dinner. Mmmm. Part of what made this vacation so perfect was all the truly great meals we had. Anyway, after we finished there we went to check out the monuments and memorials in the waning light. See us above, looking a bit exhausted? All-day travel will do that, even without kids it seems.

First thing was to find parking... then we walked along the Tidal Basin to the Jefferson Memorial.

That's a view of the Washington Monument, seen from the Jefferson Memorial. Then we scooted over to the WWII memorial at the far end of the reflecting pool from Lincoln. From there we walked through the Constitution Gardens (separate pond with a small memorial to the signers of the Declaration of Independence), down to the Vietnam Memorial, and finally the Lincoln Memorial. Here's a shot (unfortunately the best one) of Scott with Mark reading Lincoln's second inaugural address.

After I figured out how to get a good night shot of the Wash. Monument (and Capitol building) without a tripod, Scott took us to this great off-beat statue of Einstein, and then to the famous Marine Corps War Memorial near his home across the Potomac, in Virginia.

The first thing we did Saturday morning was go to a Capitol Hill marketplace where another locally famous hole-in-the-wall serves up amazing blueberry pancakes and sausage. Then we headed over to the National Mall, beginning with the National Gallery of Art. Above were two of my favorites, Raphael's version of Mary and Jesus with John the Baptist (The Alba Madonna), and Monet's Woman with a Parasol.

From the National Galleries, it was a short walk to the National Archives where we had the privilege of being herded through a dark and crowded viewing of the original documents of our nation's founding: The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of Rights. The Magna Carta was also there. Next door to the Capitol and the Supreme Court (pictured above), is the Library of Congress, our last Mall stop of the day.

The Library of Congress is actually three (or more?) buildings, but the main tourist site has amazing architecture, frescos, stained glass, and is home to the Gutenberg Bible and the Thomas Jefferson Library, which, when donated by Jefferson, became the foundation for our nations' largest, most important library.

Scott took us to his office building next so we could check out the view. Awesome, right? First is the Potomac with memorials in the distance, then I zoomed in on the Jefferson Memorial, and last is an image of Georgetown with the National Cathedral at the top of the hill. We headed into Georgetown to have a late lunch/early dinner at Uno Pizza. Bellies full, we window shopped the fun, old-architecture-lined, college-and-embassy-style neighborhood.

Running through Georgetown, the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Canal was chartered in 1825 for shipping purposes. It's charming locks and lanes remain the same today (i.e. without modification) along it's entire 185 miles.

I really enjoyed strolling along, feeling the juxtaposition of history and modern culture. And I fulfilled my youthful wish, after many viewings of St. Elmo's Fire, to be on the campus of Georgetown University. We ate ice cream nearby and then decided to go see The Dark Knight.

The next morning we headed to the Washington, D.C. temple (technically in Maryland). We attended sacrament meeting with a Spanish ward next door, then went to the temple visitor's center and saw the Joseph Smith movie. A couple quick pictures and then we dropped wonderful, generous Scott off and (borrowing his car) drove to Lynchburg, Virginia to visit my college friend/roommate Dacy and her family.

Dacy & Ryan have three kids: Quinn, Max, and baby Zia. Monday they took us around Lynchburg. First stop: Ryan's office, a restored pre-Civil War home. Look closely at the front door... can you tell how his boss had to carefully adjust the doors & moldings to fit in the settled-crooked framework? I loved all the little details (moldings, fireplaces, etc.)

They toured us through the old estate neighborhoods and took a nice walk by the James River. We went to lunch at Machu Picchu, a Peruvian-food restaurant downtown where Mark was in seventh heaven over his beans. It was so much fun to be with Dace & Ry again! (Hope they did well in their races.) In the late afternoon we left them and headed back northward, on country highways passed pastures and vineyards of rolling hills and Civil War markers, to the Clifton Inn near Charlottesville.

This is the back of the Clifton main house, as seen from near the garden terrace to our room. The property originally belonged to Thomas Jefferson's family, with the first structure being built by his son-in-law, Thomas Mann Randolph.

Here's our room, including the view out the windows behind me. Aint it quaint?

After setting our things down in the room, we had a late "tea service" of scones, fresh berries and sweet breads, and then walked the grounds. The Clifton has a private lake on one side and a small river far on the other.

We made use of the pool and hot tub being open 24 hours. It was a delightful place to stay. The next morning we enjoyed a gourmet breakfast, read the paper, called our congressman about the bail-out, and then headed back into D.C. for our last day of tourism.

The Smithsonian Castle, next door to the Freer & Sackler Galleries of Asian Art.

Some of the fascinating things to see there: the Hindu elephant-lion sculpture (check out all the stuff carved into the base as well), the Peacock Room recreated from the Ming Dynasty, and a Budhist statue covered in carvings. We also checked out the Jim Henson exhibit in the nearby Smithsonian International Gallery. Hungry for lunch, we headed to the Natural History Museum, knowing it housed two cafes among it's three floors of exhibits.

Natural History is everlastingly cool: everything from a taxidermy zoo, to sea life, to gemstones to dinosaurs. When we were finally ready to leave, we enjoyed the warm sunny afternoon while walking around the White House and the Washington Monument. The weather was glorious every day of our trip! During our walk, an honest-to-goodness Presidential Motorcade went by. It was a bit ridiculous: about a dozen motorcycle cops followed by maybe five black SUVs.

After convincing Mark that the front of the White House is the side least often seen on TV, we visited "The President's Neighbor" holding vigil across the street. Then we walked around the block to the back of the White House, the traditional view, which faces the Washington Monument, which is where we ended our time on the Mall.

View of the Capitol from the Wash. Monument.

There are 50 flags surrounding the obelisk which is 555 feet high. The Jefferson Memorial faces the Washington Monument as well. From here, we walked back over to the Castle and met up with Scott who took us to Oyamel, the best Mexican food in D.C., with to-die-for guacamole.

We had to get up at 4:30 am and get to the airport for the long day's journey home. That's 2:30 am Mountain Time, folks! Seeing the kids again did give us the boost we needed to stay up until their bedtime, but just barely. No room for complaints though - we had a fabulous vacation. Never-ending thanks to Grandma Dame for staying with the boys while we were gone, and to Scott for all his hospitality (muchos gracias amigo).