Washington DC

DC pictures

http://casdra.com/~jmetzger/white-house_sm.jpg

http://casdra.com/~jmetzger/wwii-monument_sm.jpg

We're currently in Washington DC. Actually we've changed hotels from inside DC to just outside the city in Chevy Chase MD. Tomorrow we head out westward to Charleston WV with a stop at Monticello. I'll enter more DC info once I get a chance to write it up. DC has been a lot of fun. We spent the first few days doing the monuments (Washington from the outside, WW II, Lincoln, Vietnam and Korean) and then several Smithsonian buldings ( US History, Natural History, Space and Flight). We also made a side trip to Ford's Theater and the house where Lincoln died. Today we head off to the International Spy Museum and the National Archives and then visit Arlington National Cemetary this afternoon.

ok we never made it to Monticello. We did do the Spy museum and the National Archives on Monday. The Spy museum was intersting and hokey at the same time. It's a private site and it isn't cheap ($13 for adults) but they do a decent job explaining espionage throughout the years. Since I just finished Cryptonomicon I would have liked to see more on code breaking but it was covered along with a lot on the cold war.

We hit arlington national cemetary on the way out. We saw the JFK burial site as well as the tomb of the unknowns and watched a changing of the guard. Then we made a quick visit to the Marine (Iowa Jima) memorial. Is it true that there are 13 hands in that sculpture even though only 6 soldiers are portrayed?

Washington DC is great. I encourage everyone, especially those that grew up on the West coast where large chunks of US history are easily ignored, to take a week and spend it in DC. They've got a great metro system and most everything is free to visit. If you've got kids aged 10 - 16 they'll be facinated.