Boo Goes to Washington

Boo is on Spring Break. We headed north and east.

On the way: The Natural Bridge

Just the drive through the Shenandoah Valley was worth the trip:

We stayed with our friends Matt and Sarah in DC. Our first morning we took a walk to see the frozen Lake Barcroft where they live:

Our friend Sarah set up a time for Boo to go and make her own custom ice cream flavor with Susan, the owner of Moorenko’s Ice Cream. Boo chose strawberry, vanilla, and marshmallow. I dubbed it Count Straw Van Mallow. It sounds very prestigious right?

We learned a ton about ice cream from start to finish: prepping the machines, cleaning the machines, how the fat content of ice cream makes it taste better. (i.e. the 2 for $4 deals I’ve been purchasing explain why the ice cream tastes more like icy sugar).

We visited the Smithsonian and saw Julia Child’s kitchen, the ruby slippers, and the Star Spangled Banner. And this art installation, My Mother’s Altar, by Sandra Cisneros:

The National Monument:

The Lincoln Memorial. I could hear Brett pointing out how the entire memorial was marble and granite. No concrete.

The Vietnam Memorial. I love this photo of the reflection of her bowing her head.

Walked just about everywhere we could:

Our second day in Washington we woke up early and Matt took us to the Metro before he went to work. This was also a highlight for Boo:

Our first stop was the Holocaust Memorial Museum. I think that needs its own post though. I’ll save that for tomorrow. And I’ll tell you about another amazing place we went after that….it deserves it’s own post too.

The White House:

“Is anyone there?!”

Boo was pretty bummed our White House tour didn’t work out., but at least she got to see the outside of it. If I was President I’d take 15 minutes each week to sneak out of the bushes randomly and “BOO!” tourists. How awesome would that be? Anyway, after all of that we went to Arlington Cemetery to visit Brett’s Aunt Alma’s grave:

Later when we looked closely at the photos of Alma’s grave we saw these pink wispy lights over the cross. I’ve always wanted to capture an orb:

We visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We arrived at around 4:45 (the cemetery closes at 5pm) and I wasn’t sure if we would be able to see the change of the guard at 5pm, but they let us stay.

Later that night we went on a night time tour of all the monuments again:

The MLK Monument was probably one of my favorites. Boo thought it was strange that they didn’t put “I have a dream” on the side instead of “Out of a mountain of despair, a beacon of hope.”

Make a career of humanity, commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a greater person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in. -Martin Luther King, Jr

The FDR Memorial:

The only memorial we didn’t actually go in was the Jefferson Memorial. They turned off the lights earlier than we thought and as we walked up to it Boo and I said at the exact same time: I’m not going in there. All I could see was this huge looming figure in the middle, and it didn’t look friendly at all. Actually his hair kind of made him look like a monster. Sorry President Jefferson.

Our last day in DC we visited the Library of Congress and the National Archives. Boo thought the Library needed more books. The detail was incredible…the mosaics just worth the visit:

And this our life, exempt from public haunt, Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything. I would not change it. -Shakespeare

Boo: Why are all the U’s written as V’s?

My brother: Make sure to find the President’s book of secrets.