US Capitol Visit

When Union Station was built in 1907 it was the largest train station in the world.  Now I think it's the 3rd Largest.  We thought we would take the train to Union Station in DC for the day.  Somehow we got on the wrong road, missed the exit, and then decided to just drive in.  I don't recommend doing that.  DC is a nightmare to drive around in.  Anyway, we did manage to find a free parking spot and then took the Old Town Trolley to Union Station to see it.  They are doing some repairs, so there was scaffolding and netting about. 

Union Station

Next we went to the Capitol for a tour.  Just as we arrived at the Capitol steps the cops pulled over a car and gave the driver a sobriety test while we watched, hahaha.   

Walk The Line Mister

Capitol tours are free and this time of the year there is no waiting; no lines.



Inside the Capitol Rotunda under the dome.

Looking up into the Capitol dome.

Former Supreme Court Chamber 1810-1860

In order to view the Senate and the House of Representatives (currently in session) we would have had to have gone to the office of our Senator or Representative to get tickets.  We did not do that.  We did stop for a piece of carrot cake in the Capitol cafeteria.

The US Capitol Christmas tree was just brought in a few days ago and crews were just putting it up today.  It looks wayyyyy better than the sad looking National Christmas Tree in front of the White House.



US Capitol Christmas Tree

We stopped at the Capitol Gift Shop and purchased this as our souvenir:

2011 Capitol Christmas Ornament

US Holocaust Memorial Museum

Our mission today was to visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.  On the way there we walked past the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.  This is where your money is made.  There are tours, but no free samples.  There is so much to see and do around here that I don't know if we'll make it to this one this year or not.  I would love to see it.



Bureau of Engraving and Printing

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.. wow..what an experience.  We spent over four hours viewing the exhibits and the memorial inside.  Very well done.  There is even a German railcar in there that you walk thru.  Photography is not allowed so I can't share it with you.  It begins with explaining the power of Nazi propaganda and how it all began and then how it all ended.  Free admission.



United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

"We who did not go their way owe

them this:  We must make sure that

their deaths have posthumous

meaning.  We must make sure that

from now until the end of days all

humankind stares this evil in the

face...and only then can we be sure that

it will never arise again."

---Ronald Reagan

Matzo Ball Soup



Smithsonian Castle

Next we went to the Smithsonian Castle to view the orientation video about all the Smithsonian museums.  There are 19 of them, 17 in this area.  And they are all free.  They all look fantastic and I want to see them all, but that probably isn't going to happen this year.  All of the museums and monuments in Washington DC are free admission.

Christmas Tree Inside the Smithsonian Castle

IBM Selectric Typewriter.

WHY is this in the Smithsonian???

I am feeling old now.

Washington DC, Day 2

I forgot to include the picture of the Vietnam Memorial wall we saw yesterday.

Vietnam Memorial

Yesterday we walked everywhere, but today we took the Old Time Trolly Tour.  Here are some pictures from today:

Old Town Trolley Tour

Giant Panda at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park

Occupy DC

The White House

The Short and Pathetic Looking National Christmas Tree

President Kennedy Grave and Memorial



HERE RESTS IN HONORED GLORY
AN AMERICAN SOLDIER
KNOWN BUT TO GOD



Arlington National Cemetery
624 Acres





Washington DC

The weather forecast was for a beautiful day so we decided to go in to DC today after all.  Sunday morning is very quiet in the capitol city.  And they don't enforce the parking meters on Sundays.  So we had no problem getting to the capitol and parking along the street.  Oh my gosh, we were a bit overwhelmed by it all.  There is so much to see here we could spend a week here and not see it all.  Our plan today was just to walk around and see what we could see and then possibly return tomorrow and take a tour or go inside some of the buildings. 

The first thing we saw was the Capitol Building.  No tours on Sunday.  Tickets are required and can be obtained by contacting your member of Congress.  There is a visitor center, but that was closed on Sunday too.  We'll have to come back.



The Capitol Building



Next to the capitol building is the U. S. Botanic Gardens.  They are currently having a special display of buildings of the National Mall and Capitol Hill created by landscape architect Paul Busse.  The architectural details on the buildings are created with dried plant materials.



Capitol Building in Plant Material



Next to that building is the Hirshhorn Museum of modern and contemporary art.  We chose not to go in as there is so much more we want to see today.

Hirshhorn Museum

There are SEVENTEEN Smithsonian museums in the Washington DC area.  The Castle has a visitor orientation theater and information about all the other museums.

Smithsonian, The Castle

Eventually we made it to the Washington Monument.  It's still closed to the public because of the damage it received from the 5.6 earthquake back in August.  Too bad, I would have loved to look out from the top.

Washington Monument

World War II Memorial

And then the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial



Out of the Mountain of Despair A Stone of Hope



Korean War Memorial



Abraham Lincoln Memorial

View from Lincoln Memorial overlooking the Reflecting Pool
that is being reconstructed.

Ooh, there is so much more, I just can't put it all in today's blog.  I took 100 pictures today.  And we still did not see the White House!  Hopefully, Tomorrow.

Greenbelt National Park

What a beautiful day it turned out to be, upper 60's and sunny.  We left New Jersey early this morning and headed down I-95 South.  Crossing the big Delaware Memorial bridge is expensive.  The toll to cross it was $20 for us!  Ouch.

Delaware Memorial Bridge

There's a really nice service center in Delaware that we stopped at.  One of the nicest one's we've been in.  They're ready for Christmas.



Merry Christmas



Pretty



Greenbelt Park is a small National Park just 12 miles north of Washington DC.  It's where we are staying for tonight and tomorrow night.  It's only $8 a night for us!!  Awesome.  It's a nice wooded park with lots of deer.  We plan to visit the Nation's Capitol, but think we'll wait until the weekend is over and go on Monday. 

White Tail Deer

Back to New Jersey

After breakfast this morning we went to Teresa's to retrieve Marble and headed back south to where we had left the motor home in New Jersey.  Marble has adjusted to travel and has no problem riding in the way back of the car. She didn't appear stressed but did not leave the cat carrier.

Marble in the Trunk

We were amused by the attempt to disguise a few of the cell phone towers as big trees.  Other than that the ride home was uneventful.

Cell Phone Tower/Tree

I collect smashed penny's as souvenirs when we travel.  It's way cheaper than buying coffee mugs.  I found this one at a rest area in New York.

World Trade Center, New York

My Smashed Penny Collection

We had left our motor home in the parking lot of a Camping World store in New Jersey while we had gone to Connecticut with the car.  We'll spend the night in it tonight and leave tomorrow morning.  Another motor home just drove up and parked beside us a few minutes ago.

Thanksgiving Day

I haven't been able to blog for the last few days as I've been having internet issues.

We left Elk Neck State Park on Monday morning and drove to New Jersey where we found a place where we could park the RV for a few days.  New York City is between where we were and where we wanted to be and the idea of driving the RV back that way again did not appeal to us, as well as we were unable to find any RV parks that were not already closed for the season in that area.  So, we put the cat in the car and drove up to see Teresa in New Haven, Connecticut, for the holiday. 

Our Thanksgiving dinner was at Hometown Buffet.  For those of you in Minnesota it is a sister chain to Old Country Buffet, owned by the same company.  After stuffing ourselves we went to a nearby park and went for a walk and a hike thru the woods.  We found this old tower at the top of the hill, not sure what it was at first.  An old water tower? A fire watch tower?  Then we realized there was a tunnel underneath us where a major 4 lane highway was going.  This has to be an old vent for the old tunnel.  Exciting, huh?



What is it?

After the walk we went for a drive around the city of New Haven.  I had to stop and take a picture of  "Occupy New Haven" in the city park.

Occupy New Haven

Becton Center

Becton Center at Yale University is where Teresa works on the 4th floor in a lab that makes superconducting circuits for quantum computing research.  If you want to know more about it click this link:  Schoelkopf Lab

Then back to Teresa's apartment.  Teresa is babysitting Marble for us since the hotel said "no pets allowed".   Marble is a very timid cat and hid under Teresa's bed for a long time yesterday, but today she came out and made an appearance while we were there.

Marble

We Moved!

It was time to wash clothes again but the laundry facility at the park was closed for the season so we drove in to North East to find a coin laundry.  Don't say it....I know this isn't one of my most interesting blogs!!  By the time we finished with that it was lunch time and, gee whiz, Woody's Crab House was just down the street.  :)  

$2 wash and $.25 for 6 minutes dry

 After enjoying another one of those best crab cakes ever we headed back to the park to pack up.  Time to move on.  We went north, back over the big Delaware Bridge and into New Jersey.  We're making our way back to Connecticut for Thanksgiving. 



Delaware Bridge

RV parks and campgrounds are closed for the season in this direction so we have to find alternate places to park.  We do have a plan.  Tonite we are staying in a Walmart parking lot.  I'm so glad they allow us to do this, they are everywhere and mostly along the major roads and best of all FREE. 

Walmart

The man on the radio today was talking about how many people are traveling for the holiday and cautioned everyone to prepare for traffic jams by packing food and water.  Ugh... New York City is between where we are and where we want to be.  I HOPE we don't get into any traffic like that!

Turkey Point 2

It's Sunday and the hunters are gone so we walked out to Turkey Point Lighthouse again today.  There were leaves on the trees when we got here 10 days ago.  They're almost all gone now.  Time to move further south.

Our next destination will be to see Washington DC, the White House, and all that.  However, President Obama can wait; Thanksgiving is on Thursday.  We spent the afternoon trying to figure out what to do and where to go.  It looks like we will  be leaving the RV somewhere close by here and then taking the car only back to New Haven, CT, and stay in a hotel for a few nights.  We still need to work out the details.

Trail to the Lighthouse

Turkey Point Lighthouse



November 19

Woody's Seafood Restaurant

Today is our 28th wedding anniversary so we decided to go in to North East to have lunch at Woody's Seafood Restaurant since we enjoyed eating there a few days back.  It is rather expensive, but this was a special occasion.  This time I had the crab cake.  Best crab cake ever! 



Bait Vending Machine



There is a bait shop a few doors down that had this vending machine outside.  I don't know about you, but I have never seen bait distributed in a vending machine like this.  You can get night crawlers and carp dough bait and catfish dough bait, and hooks.  It's empty now, of course, because winter is here.

Just down the street are a few antique shops so we spent some time exploring those.  And then, on the next street, at the local fire station, was a small craft show so we walked thru that too. 

Then to the grocery store and back to the RV for the rest of the day.  We haven't been doing much the last few days, just hanging out at the campground.  We'll be here until Monday morning and then we will have to decide where to go next.