Back in New Jersey for the weekend. My brother, who has to work today, suggested going down to the park at Sandy Hook. So that’s where I am. Penny and I are exploring the area this morning, checking out the beaches and the ruins.
Here’s the lighthouse, which is nearly 200 years old. I was fortunate enough to join a Boy Scout group for a visit to the top.
The Lighthouse at Sandy Hook.
As I reported in my previous post, I took a scooter from the air and space Museum to the Lincoln Memorial, a distance of about a mile and a half. It was just too hot to make the walk. When I arrived, I parked the scooter near some rental bicycles and ended my rental. The total cost was about $4 — cheaper and faster than a Lyft and a lot more fun. I’d definitely do it again.
I’ve only been to Washington DC twice before this trip – at least that’s all I can remember – once as a kid with my family and once about 25 years ago with my future wasband. I know that I visited the Lincoln Memorial on at least one of those trips. Still, I really wanted to go back and see it again.
It was, as you might imagine, relatively crowded with a lot of people sitting in the shade on the steps leading up to the famous statue. I went inside for a look and a photo.
I managed to crop out the heads of the other people standing around the statue.
In case you’ve never been there, from Lincoln’s seat, he looks out towards the World War II Memorial and the Washington Monument beyond it. The Washington Monument blocks his view of the Capitol which is lined up perfectly behind it.
Here’s what Lincoln sees from his seat. The Capitol dome is hidden by the Washington Monument.
The giant room that he’s in has wings on either side. I went to the north side where the text of his second inaugural address have been carved into the wall. I read it. He had been inaugurated during wartime and you could really understand, from the speech, how heavy his heart was about our divided nation. I wonder how he’d feel about today’s situation.
Afterwards, I spent some time sitting on the steps of the building with my back in one of the cool, deep groves in one of the columns there. I charted with an older couple from Minnesota who were sitting nearby. It was the wife that pointed out the text carved into the pavement nearby — the place where Martin Luther King Jr. made his famous speech all those years ago. Someone had spilled water on it.
I wound up spending a lot less time than I expected to at the Washington DC location of Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum on Wednesday afternoon. Outside, it was a beautiful day, with puffy white clouds and plenty of blue sky. I wanted to spend a little more time sightseeing and was thinking about going up to the Lincoln Memorial at the west end of the Mall. But it was a long walk for such warm, humid day and I wasn’t sure whether it was worth taking a Lyft.
I started walking and, within a block, came to a place where five battery operated scooters were parked in a row. I used to have a scooter very similar to these so I was familiar with the way they worked. These were for rent and it seemed as if it might be a good way to get where I was going without the long walk. So, with in a few moments, I had downloaded the app, entered the information they needed for the rental, scanned the code on the unit closest to me, and started the rental. After a little bit of test riding, I was speeding west on the south side of the Mall on a fine gravel walkway, headed toward the Washington monument in Lincoln Memorial.
The walkways along either side of the mall are very wide and, on a weekday in September, had very little foot or bicycle traffic. I was able to move at a good clip without endangering myself or annoying others on the path. Before long, I had reached the Washington Monument. If it had been open, I probably would have stopped there to go in, but it was closed for renovation. (I think there are structural issues after an earthquake some years ago.) I continued on my way to the Lincoln Memorial, stopping only for a moment to take these photos.
What a gorgeous day for this tourist shot!
Lots of folks were relaxing in the shade or cooling off their feet in the World War II Memorial’s fountain.
The Newseum, a museum in Washington DC devoted to the first amendment and freedom of the press, has the largest collection of Berlin Wall pieces outside of Germany. It also has a great exhibit about the Berlin Wall. Here are some photos.
The Berlin Wall section slabs are lined up as they would appear from the West Berlin side.
The West Berlin side of the wall was heavily graffitied.
The exhibit at the Newseum includes one of nearly 300 watchtowers built along the wall. It’s actually a bit shorter here than it originally was. They literally built the Newseum building are pins the exhibit.
The east side of the Berlin Wall is clear of graffiti. It simply wasn’t accessible to people on the east side.
When I lived in New Jersey and did a lot of travel for business, I’d always take the train when I had a trip down to Washington DC. Back in those days, my company would pay for the train ticket and I’d upgrade it to the Club Car, which had swivel chairs with waiter service, free food, and free drinks. Very posh.
So on this trip, when I decided I wanted to go to DC for a few days, I booked a seat on Amtrak’s Acela in Business Class. Not as nice as the Club Car in the 1990s, but no complaints, especially since the train reaches speeds of up to 125 miles per hour and we got to Washington in about 3 hours.
Waiting on the other end was Washington’s historic Union Station, an amazing old train station from the heydays of train travel that was completely refurbished years ago. I snapped this photo when I returned to the station on Tuesday to visit the Verizon store; its the first photo I took with my new iPhone Xs.
The main concourse of Washington DC’s Union Station.