more pics

Dec. 9

Dec 9,
Gene and I decided to go back to DC one more time. These are really long, 10 to 12 hr., days. Our first stop was the Renwick Gallery. This museum exhibits the finest work in American craft. The 1858 building is an architectural landmark on the President’s Park. There was an exhibit of glass works that was breathtakingly beautiful.
We then walked over to the White House. There we met two women from Hawaii. One of the women went to the same high school as the Pres. Elect. She is going home and coming back for the election. She knows someone that works in one of the buildings that will overlook the inauguration. She also mentioned that his high school band will be marching.
We then walked to the war memorials and the Lincoln Memorial. The last memorial was the new World War II memorial that just was completed in 2004. The next stop was the American History Museum. We went through an exhibit about all the wars from the Revolutionary to today’s war. We then limped to another exhibit that had artifacts from Judy Garland’s red slippers to Roberto Clemente’s uniform (he was a great baseball player for the Pittsburgh Pirates and a humanitarian. By then our backs and feet were killing us. We had been walking for 5 hours. I have a blister on my toe. We went downstairs and sat DOWN for a sandwich and then left for home.
Don’t know if I mentioned it but all the museums are free in DC.

Dec 7.8

Dec. 7, 8.
Sunday is our day to watch football. Of course the best game was the Steelers’, Cowboy game.
Monday we took a riding tour of Front Royal which was a major battle during 1862 between the North and South. General “Stonewall” Jackson said at the time”If the Valley is lost, Virginia is lost.” The battle was unique in the annals of the Civil War because it was fought street by street. This battle was also rare in that it was fought by troops on both sides from the state of Maryland.
At the visitors center we found out this was also where Warren Beatty and Shirley McLain were raised. The person at the visitors’ center said a few years ago, Warren Beatty his Wife, Annette Benning, and their two children came to the center.
In 1949, Bing Crosby stopped here and at the time they were trying to raise money for a baseball stadium. Mr. Crosby gave them $1000. He came back again and they had raised all but $3500. He wrote a check for the sum. They have named the stadium the Bing Crosby Stadium.

Dec 6

Dec. 6
Since we did not get in till late last night, it was slow going this morning, but we got up and headed to DC, and the Native American Museum. Parking at the metro station was easy since it was Saturday, so we did not have to go through taking the bus.
I am more amazed at the beauty and layout of our nation’s capital. The museums architecture and building are unique.
The Indian museums building and landscape was beautiful. It was designed by Douglas Cardinal (Blackfoot) and a tem of Native architects and consultants. The building is aligned to the cardinal directions and center point of the capitol dome, “and is filled with symbols and forms that reflect the Native universe, including representations of nature, astronomy and objects from the collection.”, but we were disappointed in the contents. It seemed to us that at least 40% of the building was dedicated to shops and there were tables all around the entry with natives selling their wares. It was all too commercial. The exhibits that were there were beautiful. We especially enjoyed the Fritz Scholder: Indian/Not Indian exhibit. My friend Esther gave me a poster of his a year or so ago, so it was nice to learn more about the man.
There is a café’ in the lower lever of Indian foods from all over the Americas. We decided on a buffalo burger for lunch.
We walked around the mall and water pools and over to the Capital building itself. They were constructing bleachers for the inauguration.
PS. Franco Harris' helmet in the Smithsonian Castle.

Dec 5

Dec. 5
We got up early in the morning and headed for DC, and exited at Fairfax, Va. to get information on taking the metro rail. At the information center we found the bus and train info we needed. The center was the first school in Fairfax and we visited the small museum at the school. We found out that the metro parking site is full during the week and were told that our best bet would be to park and take the bus to the station, and that is what we did.
Our first stop was the Holocaust Museum. The museum “is both a memorial to the past and a living reminder of the moral obligations of individuals and societies”. The architecture of the building is amazingly stark. The impression I got was a brick train station. It took us 4 ½ hours to go through Visitors would comment and talk to us as we went through. The brochure states one to 3 hours, but we read and saw everything.
We then went to the Washington Monument and walk the mall toward the capital. What a beautiful place.

pix conr.

12/4

Dec. 04
We left Becket Mass. on Monday after the ice melted from our trailer and the road and drove to Jackson, N.J. to stay with our friend Lorraine. The first evening we had dinner and sat and talked until bedtime. I am still sick, so the next day, Tuesday, we went to a walk in clinic at the CVS Drug Store. I have a sinus infection and was given a prescription of an antibiotic, over the counter Musinex and a saline spray. Gene and I took Lorraine out for lunch after the medical stop and went back to Lorraine’s and viewed the facilities at her gated senior’s only community. They are really nice houses, a huge beautiful community center that has indoor and out door swimming pool, tennis courts, botchi ball courts, and game rooms for both the men and women that live there. We viewed her slides from Kenya, Africa which made me want to take the trip. The next day we took a trip to Frenchtown where another friend Marian lives and works. She is an amazingly talented potter. Pictured are some of her works, the pot she graciously gave us, and a picture of the 3 amigos.
We had a delicious lunch at a little café’ the crab cake over a bed of lettuce with a tomato and garlic dressing. I repeated the garlic all day but it was worth it.Lorraine gave me a book, "eat, pray, love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. After lunch we went to a warehouse shop of Elizabeth and her husband. A picture of her husband, a beautiful marble Buda and me. On the way home we stopped at Washington’s Crossing. This is the spot where General Washington crossed the Delaware River on Christmas Eve of 1776 with 2,400 troops. The river was ice-choked and the operation was slow and difficult due to the conditions. It started sleeting and a blinding snowstorm, the men did not have the clothes for the cold weather but against all odds, Washington and his men successfully completed the crossing and marched into Trenton on the morning of the 26th, achieving a resounding victory over the Hessians. This re-ignited the cause of freedom and gave new life to the American Revolution.
We are now in Front Royal, Va., and plan to go to the DC museums and visit Revolutionary War sites around the area the next few days. It is raining tonight, but should be dry tomorrow.