Field Trip Sunday

This past Sunday, two friends and I hopped on Metro and went to D.C. to (mainly) see the cherry blossoms. It wasn't the best day for it in terms of weather, but that made for a smaller crowd -- always a good thing in my book! We exited at the Smithsonian station and our walk took us right by the World War II Memorial, so we visited it first. It's a beautiful memorial. I never managed to find the fabled "Kilroy was here" inscription that is depicted in a photo on the Memorial's Web site.

We traveled onward to the Tidal Basin to view the cherry blossoms. We'd all brought umbrellas, and they came in very handy as it started to drizzle and mist on us. We saw a bride and groom having photos taken just at the edge of the Basin, under the beautiful trees. She wore a strapless gown and must have been FREEZING, because I was even chilly in my layers. I hope their photos turn out beautifully and make the trek well worth the effort!

We walked ALL the way around the Tidal Basin and discovered that the side opposite from where we'd arrived was the WINDY side. Man, we were cold! Fortunately, we stumbled upon the FDR Memorial which has a lot of stone walls and (thank you, Eleanor) REAL restrooms! It was nice to get out of the wind and rain and actually be able to wash our hands in warm water, even!

We came across the Korean War Veteran's Memorial and checked it out. That is one spooky wall they created. The images are faces of those who fought the war and supported the troops, and they've been lasered/sandblasted onto Academy Black Granite. The effect is amazing: the farther away you walk from the wall, the more "ghostly" images appear on it. I don't know how they accomplished that, but KUDOS to them! The 7-foot-plus-tall statues of the soldiers are made from stainless steel and are bottom-lit, so that they also appear ghostly at nighttime.

Three and a half hours later, we trudged back to the Metro to head home. My dogs were barking and my lower back was screaming, but I'm glad we did the tour.

If you have never seen these monuments, plan to do so. They're well worth seeing, and they're all my favorite price of admission: FREE!