Washington D.C. Trip : Day Three

Monday January 19th  1115pm :

Finally….now this is what I had expected this trip to be from the get go. Busy and hectic and chaotic from the beginning of the day til now.

We were up again at 615.  I say “up”, but that label really applies more to Christian than to me.  For me sleep was sporadic or non-existent.  But, I can sleep when I get home, right?  This morning we had a great breakfast (finally) and we made our way to D.C. by about 8am.

Two words for you: Vietnam Memorial.

Nothing, and I mean nothing prepares you for it.  I’ve seen it countless times in movies, and in books.  It always seemed impressive, but I never really understood the scope of what it means to me.  Heading there, I tried to kind of mentally prepare for it.  Should I be sad?  I mean, I don’t know that I have ever known anyone that lost someone there.  I had no personal connection to it.  The war ended when I was 2, so I had very little connection to any of it.  In a lot of the pictures there are people weeping.  For loved ones I assumed.  Now I assume that I was only partially right.  As Christian and I approached the wall, I noticed my self getting drawn in to the gravity of the wall.  I also noticed myself getting annoyed with people who thought that “good photo op” of the Vietnam Memorial means smiling in front of it.  There was nothing to smile about there.  Christian and I approached the wall and reached out and touched it.  I started to talk to him, and noticed that I was choking back tears.  It was when I tried to relay to him that every name on that wall, all 58,000 of them, had families at home waiting for them, praying for them.  They all had hopes and dreams, and for many of them, the only hope and dream they had was the dream of coming home.  So much unrealized.  And I was weeping.  Christian asked if I was OK, and I couldn’t really explain it. 

Try to relate it to now.  Soldiers fighting an unpopular war coming home and getting spat on at the airport.  Shunned in every facet of society.  These were kids, and it wasn’t their politics to begin with.  Now, everyone supports the troops.  In fact, it’s considered unpatriotic to not support them.  I’m of the mind that I support them SO much, that I would like for them to all come home alive.  If we had only given the Vietnam vets that support, what would the 70’s really have turned out like.

I could have stayed there for hours, and as we moved to the other war memorials, I found myself looking back at the black granite slab.  I will never forget today and what it means to be FREE and an american.  I hope Christian remembers it as well.

We proceeded to the Korean, World War I and II memorials lining the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial.  They each were powerful in their way, but they seemed odd to me.  Man, there is just something about all of those names that resonates.

I did manage to have great success in the Passport stamp collecting arena today.  I actually got 6 of them from all of the historic parks and memorials on the Mall.  In fact, I got the special Inauguration cancellation from the FDR memorial, courtesy of Christian’s Quiz Bowl coach, Ms. Welch.  She saw that I had my book out and she got very excited.  She was like “you’re the first parent that has EVER had that book and this is my 4th inauguration.”  And she led me to where the special stamp was.  Very cool.

From there we headed out to Mount Vernon, which I had had mixed feelings about since spotting in on the itinerary.  I shouldn’t have.  It was AWESOME.  Completely restored, but still using the original structures (awesome), George Washington’s estate is expansive.  The park is about 200 acres on what originally was a 8300 acre plot.  And very few details were left out.  Highlight for me was the Museum that houses a lot of artifacts from Washington’s collection.  Gifts from heads of state, swords, muskets, paintings … just really fascinating stuff.  Christian and I also walked out to Washington’s tomb.  That one also got to me a little.  Maybe I’m getting a little overwhelmed but it really is feeding that side of me that devours these history lessons.

Finally made a souvenier purchase today.  At Mount Vernon, and I hope I can explain it like it sounds it my head, I bought an American Flag that had been flown over the grounds on that day, Martin Luther King Day.  So, I got a flag that flew over the first President’s house on the day that we celebrate a great African American leader, the day before we swear into office the first African American President.  I think that’s pretty cool.

Our day ended the same way it began, chaotically.  We went to the Union Station train terminal for dinner.  Oh my gosh. Everyone that is coming into town may be arriving by rail.  I can only equate it by saying, think of NYC any day and that was it.  It was a great experience for the kids as you saw their eyes boggle at the sheer magnitude.

Tomorrow is IT!  We are leaving at 4am.  Look for us on TV.  We’ll be sitting right behind the first bit of water you see.  Couple hundred feet from the stage. Can’t wait!!

To be continued…

Vietnam Memorial

Christian. Washington Monument. Capitol.

 

Exactly.

 

Mount Vernon

~ by mszczep on January 19, 2009.