DC-Land

Hey all! I'm back in Oklahoma after a wonderful journey to Washington, DC with my mother and her boss! We had many adventures, that's for sure, including the food we ate! From a sushi feast, to an hors-d'oeuvres reception, to a platter of Ethiopian food and teff-based bread. It was all delicious!

My first full day was spent at the National Portrait Gallery on G Street. I have to say, when I stood in one of the rooms, surrounded by portraits of Winthrop and Witherspoon and the men who founded this country hundreds of years ago, I got a little teary-eyed. Not only that, but the art and artistry were impeccable. Going through the American Art exhibit through the Gilded Age was really eye-opening as well, in terms of technique.

But the moment when the floodgates opened, and I began to cry for real, was when I stepped into the hall of Presidential Portraits. As a girl in Junior High, I studied the symbolism of the Landsdowne Portrait of George Washington. To see the painting, original, enormous, in front of me, of our first President and the General who led us to victory, was overwhelming.

So, of course, when we went on our after-dark tour of the monuments, I got a little sniffly as well. Particularly when I stood before the Arkansas pillar of the WWII Memorial, and remembered my four great-uncles who fought for our nation. They've all passed on now, but they all made it home from the war. (I'll be posting a bit about that later this week.) There were some very timely words inscribed on the Jefferson Memorial, and the statue was beautiful. The FDR Memorial was wonderfully thought-out, with some of the quotes in braille and every inch of it handicap accessable for those inspired by his legacy.

The Korean War Memorial was hauntingly beautiful, with 19 statues of soldiers creeping through a field. Perhaps it was because of my Grandfather's fighting in the war, or the eerie light in the evening darkness, or the amazing detail on the soldier's faces, but it send shivers up my spine. From there, we walked to the breaktaking temple that is the Lincoln Memorial, which rendered me speechless. It's hard to get a feel for how immense that statue is in pictures. And it's amazingly lifelike, it looks as though he could get up and speak to you. Our final stop was the Iwo Jima Statue, which holds special significance for the daughter of a Marine.

The next day I took a car to Mount Vernon and saw the home of our First President, which is so beautiful. I even got to participate in some authentic 18th-century dancing! It was delightful.

Today we took a cab to Union Station, which was very beautiful. We had lunch and then rode a train to Baltimore to catch our flight home. And now, here I am!

DC is a lovely place, full of bustling life. And it's definately a place every American should visit at least once. But it's all so crowded! I'm happy to be back among the rolling prairies of my home state.