We left on an overcast day Thursday morning, right on schedule. Traveling down we saw fog, and more fog, and decided to take a break at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland. Sadly, not only was the ordinance museum closed, but many of the tanks, armored vehicles and artillery pieces were gone - all being moved to a new facility in Virgina. (Probably so that visitors don't need to go through the security check to get on the grounds.) However, we still wandered the few acres of open field looking at various tanks from WWI, WWII, the Cold War Era, and Vietnam. The tanks came from many different countries, and we had fun trying to figure out where they were from, and what era they were in. Since the exhibited vehicles were in the process of being moved to a new home, many of the description plaques were gone, leaving us guessing as to what exactly we were looking at. Despite the rather brisk autumn breeze, we managed to spend about an hour out there discussing ordinance. After that, it was brief stop at Wendy's for lunch, and we were back on the road.
We entered the Lorton, VA area with minimal difficulty, but once we hit side streets, we realized that our stopover in Aberdeen put us at rush hour. So, after a several mile crawl, we got to our campground after dark, a very nice former BSA camp called Camp Wilson.
Immediately, we got to work on setting up camp, and had a great meal of pork chops, Zataran's rice, salad and applesauce, it was off to bed to get some rest for our hike the next day.
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Friday morning was a beautiful, clear and (very) crisp autumn day, with a pretty cold wind blowing through. After a great breakfast of pancakes, we packed a lunch, jumped in the car, and drove to the Metro station. Being Veteran's Day and a federal holiday, tickets were a reduced fair (yeah!).
Riding the Blue line into Metro Center (for about 30-40 minutes) we began our tour. Starting from the Metro station, we headed for the White House Visitor's Center, where we saw an exhibit about the building and re-construction of the White House as well as a short video that discussed the day-to-day operations of the White House and its staff. (It also gave us some time to warm up).
Being led by Mike "Foot" Kane, we headed to the White House, where we discovered that they had closed the side walk that allowed you to get a good pick of the building. Not wanting to stand and freeze until the sidewalk opened back up, we started heading south towards the Washington Monument. On our way there, we made a brief stop at the Boy Scout Monument to take a few pictures (we are Boy Scouts after all!) We then continued south to the base of the Washington Monument (which is closed to the public until further notice) around the north side heading west to the WWII monument. (After running into a Segway tour filled with people from Wayne!)
For those who have never seen the WWII monument, it is truly something that needs to be seen in person. To make matters more interesting, being Veteran's Day, the entire city was crawling with vets of all wars, as well as wreathes, and small personal memorials. Several pictures were taped to the monument while we were there. Walking along the upper part of the monument closest to the Reflecting Pool (which has been drained and is in the process of being expanded) we walked the northern side of the pool towards the Vietnam War Memorial, which featured a live band playing songs from the time, and we happened to get there was the official ceremony was starting. Since the ceremony was going on, we couldn't get too close to the wall itself, but got close enough. After heading over to look at the Combat Nurses Memorial and the Vietnam Soldier's Statue, we then headed to the Lincoln Memorial.
Here we viewed the Memorial, and had lunch. Heading south again, we worked our way to the Korean War memorial, where we met a veteran of the war dressed as one of the statues, in his original uniform. Heading... south (I think) we worked our way to the tidal basin, where we hit Washington's newest memorial, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. This memorial was supposed to be dedicated the day of the earthquake, though happily, it survived without any damage, and is a great memorial to the man, and a beautiful piece of artwork.
Walking around the tidal basin, we stopped at the FDR memorial, then headed to the Jefferson Memorial. On the way there, we saw a very, very, very small wedding taking place on the grassy field next to the building. They said "I do" as we stopped to watch. Heading up the Jefferson Memorial, we saw the upper statue and dome, then headed to the underground exhibit, where we took a few minutes to learn about the man, and warm up again.
From there, we headed north away from the Tidal Basin towards the U.S. Mint and our next destination - the Holocaust Memorial Museum. This is a museum is something that I personally feel everyone should visit at least once in their lives. It can be very intense, even for adults. That being said, we unfortunately managed to get there and get wrapped up one of their temporary exhibits about Nazi Propaganda, and after 4:30 they stop letting people into the permanent exhibit. However, the Scouts did see the exhibit about the propaganda, and an exhibit that they have called "Daniel's Story" and version of the main exhibit aimed towards children.
As dusk settled on D.C., we made our way east along the Mall, towards the Capital, and ended our tour at the Supreme Court. From there, we jumped back on the Metro for a very sleepy and quite ride back to our stop. Jumping in the car, we headed back to the site for a great dinner of steak, beans and salad, and getting to sleep for another long day in the museums.
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The next morning we awoke to another bright, clear day with a lot less wind and a bit more warmth. After a breakfast of Taylor ham, eggs and cheeses on English muffins, we once again made lunch, drove to the Metro station, and rode in to the Capital, where we had a tour time of 11:30.
The Capital requires that you arrive at least 45 minutes early to go through security. Upon arriving outside the visitor's center, they have you get in line and let in groups of 20 through security at a time. Outside is where they tell you that there is no food or drink allowed inside at all. So, Mr. Foray volunteered to sit outside and watch our belongings while we took the tour.
Getting through security quickly, we got our passes and had 20 minutes to kill. We wandered through small exhibit about the history of the building, and then got in line for the tour. After waiting 10 minutes, we entered an amphitheater where we watched a 10 minute movie. From there, we lined up for our tour, which took us through the vault under the dome, through the dome itself, and the statuary room.
Total time on tour: 10 minutes.
Total time spent waiting and getting ready: 30+
Needless to say, the tour wasn't really worth the morning it wasted.
At any rate, we headed to the Air & Space Museum, and spent an hour there looking at the history of flight, and afterwards had lunch on the front steps. Heading across the Mall, we hit the Natural History Museum, with great exhibits on all sorts of creatures, and the planet itself, as well as the hall of minerals and rare gems, which includes the Hope Diamond. (As you can imagine, there were a lot of women in the hall of gems and around the Hope Diamond.)
At this point, with dusk settling on the city again, we decided to call it a day, and head back to the site. There, Mr. Israni joined us for Thanksgiving Dinner: fried turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, biscuits, gravey, corn and MORE SALAD!! We gorged ourselves on a really great meal, and while waiting for dinner to cook, the Scout worked on rank advancement. After dinner, it was KP, and then to bed.
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The next morning was another great day weather-wise, but alas, the end of our trip. We had a light breakfast of crumb cake, OJ and coffee, packed our gear, said goodbye to Mr. Israni, and headed home. Before leaving, our two newest Scouts had a Scoutmaster's Conference, and are now the rank of Boy Scout.
We hit the streets, and knew we were back home when we hit traffic on every road we got on...
All in all a great trip, and as Scoutmaster I hope that your Scout had a fun and informative time.
Now to clean up all the gear, repack, and head out on the next adventure.
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Pictures from the trip can be found here. If anyone would like a digital copy or a print, please let me know.
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