Never Knew I-70 went East of Ohio

The Supreme Mistress of Navigation made an appearance recently in Washington DC.  Although she has been trying to get me to make the trip for several years, I have been able to avoid to journey until now.  The main reasons for me not to go were two-fold.  The first being is that it is a city.  I try very hard not to visit places with more than a few thousand residents at most.  The other reason is that it would require me to drive east.  Something else I endeavor not to do.  Have you ever tried to get to Montana by driving east, it just can’t be done.  We were invited to a major family event in the DC area; she overcame my concerns and then I decided we could expand the visit if the Supreme Mistress would do all of the planning and arrange local transportation.  I thought that would give her second thoughts but she fooled me.  Believe it or not, I wish we had made the run before now and stayed longer.  There is so much to see and do.

To control expenses, we booked a hotel a few miles out of the central area, took the Metro to the National Mall and walked around from there.  This is another first for me.  I have had never been on a subway before.  (A lot of reasons for that but mostly it is because there are very few subway trains in Montana.)  So, picture this, I’m just a little nervous about heights.  The first station we entered, Silver Spring Metro Stop, has an escalator that drops over 230 feet in one long run.  I saw that long dropping tunnel and got weak in the knees.  I was holding onto the hand rail with both hands while the locals were jogging down the steps.  By the third time entering this station we were a little more comfortable but still not ready to jog.

After one transfer from the Red Line to the Blue line we exited the tunnel for a short walk to the Lincoln Memorial.  We all have seen photos; nothing like standing there staring up at the likeness of the man. It was the first of many emotional moments for me over the next several days.

A very difficult but my only requested stop was by the Vietnam War Memorial. I wasn’t in the war but watch every night as Walter Cronkite announced the number of dead and wounded. It affected me then as it did the rest of our nation and still does.

The most surprising stop on the self-guided tour was the Congressional Library.  The Princess can be a little obsessive about reading every description on every display, on the other hand I do a fast “drive by” of exhibits and have often lost site of her for long periods of time in museums.  Not normally a problem but again she was the only person to who knew how to get back to the hotel.   So, when we wanted to go to a place with over 16 million books and 120 million other items, I was worried she might never leave.  The Jefferson Building was exceptionally beautiful.  The paintings on the walls, the grand stair case and the reading room were all mesmerizing.

The guided tour of the Capitol building turned out to actually be fun.  Our guide happened to from Scotland with a great brogue accent and self depreciating humor that was put to good use. His level of historical knowledge was impressive which he was able to share without sounding like a lecture. The complexity of the building was amazing, a real maze of rooms and hallways.  There is the main rotunda that is fabulous but there are other smaller domes in the building as you move from one portion of the building to another. 

By the end of the trip the Supreme Mistress of Navigation was a master of the Metro maps and was giving advice to befuddled passersby.

We will come back sometime, not this year maybe next. We were disallowed a visit to the White House. I know it couldn’t be me but for the life of me I can’t figure out what The Princess must have done.

Dennis