DD: The rest of our week in DC was just as busy as the first day. Each day, we would close up the 5’er, hop the shuttle to the metro, then hop the metro for the 15 minute ride to the Mall. One thing I didn’t know the first time I visited DC (that was a whirl-wind trip. DC in less than 24 hours) is you can actually take an elevator to the top of the Washington Monument. And I wouldn’t have known it this trip if it wasn’t for the fact I overheard someone talking about their experience. His advice which I’m passing along is get your tickets early. The tickets are free, first-come first-served and disappear quickly. We were lucky, we were able to score tickets. The view from the top of the Washington Monument is something else. There are windows on each side of the building with 3 different photos showing the view from the late 1800’s, early to mid-1900’s and the late 1900’s. It really is amazing to see the difference in the landscape over the years.

Need I say more???



DC has a monument for just about everything one can hope for and it seems we visited them all. Along with the Washington Monument, we visited the Lincoln Memorial, the WWII Monument, the Korean War Monument, and the Vietnam War Memorial. We viewed the White House, we took the Capitol tour and then hit the museums. We visited the Museum of American History, the Museum of Natural History, the Air and Space Museum, the National Archives and the Holocaust Memorial Museum.

The thing with DC, admission to the museums are free, which I really liked since you pay big bucks for just about everything else. Now I want to clarify something here as you’re probably thinking, “That Donna must really be a cheap-skate!” and I’m sure my family would agree. Brian says I’m “cheap,” Shyla says I’m “frugal” but my politically correct son, Brandon, calls me “penny-wise.” And I remind them all that because I’m cheap, frugal or penny-wise, whatever they want to call it, is the reason we have 2 nickels to rub together. In fact, I once bought a skirt for $1.50 which I later learned a co-worker paid $125.00 for the same exact skirt! Granted, mine didn’t come with the belt but for the price difference, I didn’t care. And I recently scored a pair of $168.00 jeans for $4.95. Ok, call me cheap but that’s a title I’m proud of as it’s fun to see just how cheap I can be as I love the thrill of the hunt and finding a good bargain. Don’t we all??


Korean War Memorial



A couple of things I want to say about the Korean War memorial and the Holocaust Memorial Museum… Both Brian and I thought the Korean War Memorial a bit haunting. As the first time I saw the memorial, it was over cast and gloomy so not sure that played a part in all this but that thing is down right spooky. All the statues are wearing some sort of rain poncho so it gives them the appearance of a bunch of ghosts walking around. Not sure if that’s what the artist had in mind but if so, he did a pretty good job. And as far as the Holocaust Memorial Museum, don’t even walk through the doors if you’re remotely depressed because that place will make you want to finish the job and slit your wrists. It really is the most depressing place I’ve ever been. And it’s hard to fathom how just one person could have that much control over so many people and be so sick minded to inflict that much pain and suffering (remind you of anyone??) The photos and the videos are extremely graphic and really hit hard. Definitely not for the squeamish. If the only thing the US could have done during the war was to bomb the concentration camps, it would have been a blessing compared to the hell those poor people went through. And after reading this, if you still want to go, make sure to take a magnifying glass as the font used describing each photo is so small, it’s extremely difficult to read.

On the brighter side, we found the people of DC to be very friendly and extremely helpful. Someone will always offer to help when trying to navigate the Metro and a couple of times, we were standing on the sidewalk, our DC map spread out when a local came up to ask if we needed help locating something. They know where the best café’s are and they know exactly where all the Metro stops are located which is important because they’re not always well marked.



And we met some wonderful new friends from Texas while staying in DC. It truly is amazing how God works as Dale, Della, Mona and Jerry were all there to help pray for us when we needed it the most. And then there was Larry and Glenrosa who generously offered us a place to stay while in Michigan.

BD: I’ll have to say here, the people we’ve encountered on this trip have been wonderful! That is, without a doubt, the nicest thing to be able to say. 

Restoring Honor Rally

Well, after all the walking, shuttle riding, metro hopping and trying not to look like tourists, I think we were ready to head out when I overheard someone say something about Sarah Palin coming to town. Along with Sarah, was Glenn Beck and a few other celebrities. We ( I, Brian ) decided that we would stay thru Saturday to go see the Restoring Honor rally at the Lincoln memorial.

Donna said that this crowd would be akin to Woodstock, except that it was for geriatrics! She wasn’t entirely correct, I did see people of all ages in the crowd. I don’t know what the count was, but it was huge! It was an amazing site to see, and be a part of as well.



DD: As we were waiting for the rally to begin, we heard the crowd behind us start clapping and cheering. What we thought might be a fly-over by military jets, was actually a fly-over by a flock of Canadian Geese!! Yep, they were flying in a perfect V-formation from the Washington Memorial, directly over the Reflecting Pond and straight to Ole Abe himself, at the Lincoln Memorial. It was as if they had rehearsed their flight for days and were now showing everyone their performance. Maybe it was the anticipation, or maybe it was the blaring sun but I guess you had to have been there to really get the gist of it.

The part that sucked about the entire rally was the crowd. Since I pride myself in navigating a crowd (or as Brian puts it, plowing my way through) I took the lead. As we were headed for the nearest Metro station I remembered an elevator we took just the day before which was tucked between two buildings making it almost impossible to see. After a 20 minute wait for the elevator we hopped the metro which was virtually empty! We later heard from our friends they had to wait over 2 hours to catch the metro so I guess plowing my way through a crowd, can really pay off!