Last Day

September 19

Elevator wasn't working at the Jefferson Memorial.  Wasn't working at the Lincoln Memorial either.  Pretty poor for the place where regulations are made.

 Discovery Space Shuttle

 Space Capsule

George Washington's house at Mt. Vernon

 The Enola Gay was named after the pilots mother.  One of our group had relatives in Hiroshima..  The Japanese WWII monument, Executive Order 9066 & this plane were bad memories for the Japanese Americans.

Money, Money, Money

September 18

Toured the Heurich mansion in the morning.  He was a German immigrant who got rich making beer.  His Victorian mansion is 11,000 sf.  Similar to others we have seen.  Lots of ornate woodwork and plaster.  Opposite of minimalist design.

Then we saw them making money at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.  The make over $8 million per day, although most of it is replacing old worn out money.  No pictures allowed.

The Japanese WWII Memorial recognizes the 442 Japanese America unit that was highly decorated and the mistake of the internment.

It was quite moving seeing members of our group standing in front of their camp name for pictures.

Then we went to the Holucast Museum.  It starts with the persecution of Jews from biblical times, the Nazi's, and finishes with an exhibit on neighbors that turned in their a Jewish neighbors.

The Holucast Museum, African Museum, and the Japanese WWII Memorial show how cruel people can be to people that they think they are better than.

We had dinner at the Saudi Arabia Embassy.  Mom volunteered to be in a fashion show of Saudi dress.  Only the guide could bring in her phone for pictures, so we'll have to wait to get them.  They are one of the richest countries.  They get free education and health care.  There is no income tax.  However it can get up to 150 degrees in the desert.  Women can't drive and they have to be totally covered in black in public.  (After we got back they started allowing women to drive)

The WWII memorial is the newest.  Bob Dole and Tom Hanks helped get funding.

Each state is represented to signify that everyone was part of the war effort.  Over 400,000 died.

What do Forrest Gump and MLK have in common?

September 17

There are over 58,000 names on the Vietnam Memorial.  The names are listed in order of the year they died.  There is a book that tells you where the names are located.

The Korean War Memorial has 13 soldiers.  When reflected in the wall the total is 38, which signifies the 38th parallel between North and South Korea.

Martin Luther King and Forrest Gump made their famous speeches from this location.

The distance between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial is 1.9 miles.

Kennedy's grave and the eternal flame.

Changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Lunch cruise with live music and dancing.  Someone said to me "Looking at you I wouldn't think you could dance like that."

Ben's Chili Bowl was established by Ben Ali in 1958 in the ghetto.  It survived the riots because it served the police and firefighters.  Duke Ellington used to play jazz clubs around here.  The area is now being gentrified.  We used Uber for the first time to get here.

Mother of All Rallies

Sept. 16

Today was supposed to be the pro Trump MOAR (mother of all rallies).  Organizers expected one million people.

I was able to infiltrate the "huge" rally.  As you can see there were only a few hundred.  However it was enough to shut down the National Mall where the monuments that we were supposed to see are located.

The Pentagon 9/11 memorial is for the 184 people that were killed.

Each bench has the victims name.  They are arranged in order of age.  The youngest was 3 and the oldest 71.

You can tell if they were on the plane or the Pentagon by the direction the bench is pointing.  Also if there are any family members, the names are under the bench in the water.

We had a guided tour with the curator of the Executive Order 9066 75th anniversary exhibit.  Some of the members of the tour were "interned".  They shared some personal stories.

This plaque shows the current term is "incarcerated".

The exhibit was located in the Smithsonian American History Museum.

Martha Washington's inaugural gown.

Lincoln's China.

First Chinese American president.

One of the benefits of the tour was it included the hard to get African American Museum tickets.  The museum is located three stories below ground starting with slavery and ending with current times.  From the bottom floor you walk all the way up on ramps.

Washington DC

August 14

 

Left Seattle at 7:30 am and got to Dulles Airport at 3:15 pm.  We are with the Nikkei Concerns tour group.  There are 28 of us plus  a local guide and two people from Nikkei to help.  With the exception of one young man that is someone's son, I think we are the youngest, and grandma is one of the oldest.  There are a few others that aren't too mobile.

We are staying at the Fairfax Inn on Embassy Row.  As soon as we checked in we went out to get something to eat.  All we had on the  flight was a little cookie.

We had pizza at  Pizzeria Paridiso.  As you can see it's quite famous.

August 15. Greatest Mothers in the World

We began the day at the Library of Congress, the worlds largest library.  Every document that has ever been copyrighted is here.  It is the grandest building in Washington DC.

The library was established in 1800.  The initial collection was burned down by the British in 1814.  In 1815 Congress bought 6,487 books from Thomas Jefferson for $23,950.  These are some of the books.

Our next stop was the Capitol.  As I said, there are a lot of "seniors" on the tour.  I offered to escort Maxine on a wheelchair through the Capitol.  Turns out she was an ESL teacher at several schools, including Franklin in the 70's.  She went to school with the well known debate coach, Richard Nagle.

Each state gets to donate two statues.  Here is one of ours Marcus Whitman.  He set up the mission in Walla Walla and was killed by the natives because they blamed him for introducing disease. The other is Sister Joseph who set up hospitals.

The only other way for statutes to get in the Capitol is by Congress which is how Rosa Parks got here.

This guy was in line in front of us to get into the White House.  Grandma was good about not saying anything.  We had to go through two security checks.

President Lincoln died across the street from the Ford theater in this room.  

This is the gun that killed him.

I had crab cakes for dinner at Tony's and Joe's on the Georgetown waterfront.

After playing golf with Donald we took a picture together.