Walking around touring DC takes a lot of work. Being a tourist takes a lot of work. My niece's feet hurt and my sister developed possible shin splints over the past few days of walking around. Today we took the car everywhere. The majority of our up-hill walking was done when we went to go see the animals sleeping at the National Zoo. One of the pandas was actually passed out in a tree. After the National Cathedral, The Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and the FDR and Jefferson Memorials we headed to get a close-up look at the Capitol. On the way back we were tailed by the Weinermobile. I hopped out at the red light and gave them my card. Now all I have to do is sit back and wait for the free hot dogs to start rolling in!
Photo #2
I took this photo at the zoo.
Today was another perfect vacation day in DC, warm humid weather and a torrential downpour. My sister Patti, my niece Carol and I went to see the Woman's Memorial, JFK's Eternal Flame, and The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, all at Arlington National Cemetery. Luckily the downpour didn't start until we were back on the Cemetery's Tourmobile. The Tourmobile attendants pulled clear plastic screens down to protect its cargo of tourists from the rain, but the storm was too much. It showered in every place possible, half-soaking everyone. No one got off at the following stop because everyone wanted to get back to the Visitors' Center. When the attendant at the Visitors' Center opened the gate on the side of the Tourmobile it must have looked like the start of a very wet horse race. Women and children, men and retirees, were all running with maps and pamphlets over their heads for the crowded overhang of the Visitors' Center. The stampede turned up a casualty. While running, Patti dropped her phone in a puddle. Carol, who was running along side her pointed, "Mom! There goes your phone!" And kept running. Before my sister could rescue it, it had been trampled by the soggy mob.
This is one of the many awesome photos I shot today with the help of the Humane Society of the United States. They have an very clean and organized mailroom. With great examples of internal, postal, and package mailing systems.
My sister Patti and my niece Carol came to visit from Florida today. Patti drove all the way, leaving at 4:30 this morning. When they arrived we went to Tunnicliff's Tavern, a good restaurant and on Capitol Hill. Then we walked around after dinner and saw the White House, the Washington Monument, the brand new WWII Memorial (where the card in the picture was placed), the Korean War Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Vietnam Wall and Memorial. It was a good walk for Father's Day. My sister, my niece, and me have all lost our fathers. My two older sisters and older brother lost their father on my birthday the year before I was born. My Dad died while I was in the Marine Corps stationed at Camp Lejeune, NC, but deployed on a two-month training exercise in California's Mojave Desert. My niece Carol lost her Dad when she was pretty young. I am her godfather though.
I covered a wedding at the Torpedo Factory in Old Town Alexandria last night. It is a large multi-level galleria of artists' workshops right on the waterfront. When I received the contract to cover the job over two months ago I made the important decision to freelance all summer. The wedding was great with many very interesting, happy, laughing, and dancing guests. Toward the end of the night, I finally gave into the bartender's drink offers which worked out better for everyone. I think I stuck around for an extra hour drinking "Rocket Fuel," talking, and taking photos.
Today'sWashington Times critique of the "slap-stick" comedy Dodge Ball was a lot nicer and more grandiose than the Washington Post's disappointed review. I cut out the Times' banner photo of Ben Stiller who received as much coverage today as President Reagan did in last week's "Reagan Edition." Ben Stiller was on every page of the Times. Now he hangs in the bathroom closet of Swing's Coffee Shop, a neo-cultural symbol of some lay-out designer's spiritual expression, a less-traditional, less-obvious hex. I have become over-entertained and forget that there might be something more important, so I am boycotting the entertainment industry.
The hot, humid, heavy air hung in a haze. Then it rained as the sun blazed. This is the only rainbow I saw all day.
My friend Don introduced me to something new, pork roast on the grill. It was some of the best grilled meat I have eaten. Crispy on the outside. Juicy on the inside. And the marinade included bourbon and garlic.
If there's no meat on it, is it still a sandwich? This is the aged-old Veggie Delight from Subway. I call it aged old because I remember ordering them at the subway across the street from my house off Marguerite Pkwy when I lived in Mission Viejo, Ca. It was 1991 and I was in 5th grade and the veggie delight was the cheapest thing on the menu. It was 1997 by the time I had a job at the Craig Street Subway between Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. It was way back when they use to cut the triangle piece out of the top and use it as the top bun. Whose Idea was that?! I would let my friends clean up the place for free subs. I use to close the shop up to three hours early, depending on how I felt. It's funny how this stuff was only brought up by the manager about a month later, after I announced I was quitting and had a new job at a party supply store.
One of the best things about the Metro Transit is that the buses still take pennies. Tonight my $1.20 for the bus consisted of 10 pennies, one quarter, and dimes and nickels. With the devaluation of the dollar there are few remaining uses for the common penny (and even fewer uses for Canadian pennies). You can't buy candy with them, a shave, nor a hair cut ... but they can get you from point A to point B if used on the bus, and can either be a wish or a fine if used in the WWII Memorial's fountain.
