Cherry Hill Park, College Park, Maryland
When they arrived in the region of Goshen, Joseph had his chariot made ready and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel (Jacob). As soon as Joseph appeared before him, he threw his arms around his father and wept for a long time. ~ Genesis 46:29 What a journey Jacob’s clan must have had! So much joy and anticipation! And the same for Joseph! I’ll bet they could hardly contain it! It doesn’t say so, but I’ll bet there was a lot more weeping going on than just Joseph. When was the last time you had such anticipation and joy about seeing someone? What about seeing or spending time with the Father? And did you notice that Joseph, even in his position of being revered, served and obeyed by all, went to his father and presented himself to him? ‘Honor your father and mother’, well before the ten commandments tells us to. And one more thing, are you wondering about the name change? God changed Jacob’s name back in Genesis 32:28 when the two of them were wrestling. The nation of Israel began there because it was through this group, Jacob’s twelve sons, that God chose to develop His chosen people. He did this to fulfill His promise to a faith-filled friend of His, Abraham, and also in order for them to be a people to serve Him and make His Name known to the world. And ultimately, to fulfill His Plan to bring the Messiah into the world to save all people.
Nothing here but squirrels and a fancy trash bin.
You know it’s hot when your mascara melts onto your eyelashes.
Temperatures in DC soared to near and beyond 90⁰ these past two days, and included brilliant sunshine. We really weren’t outside all that much; just whatever time it took us to walk from one building to another, and even then, we tried to stick to the shade as much as possible.
Still. I had a devil of a time trying to remove it, and since that’s never happened before, I can come up with no other explanation.
In anticipation of our visit to our nation’s capital, I made a list of over thirty places of interest! I have a cousin (Ed) who lives near the city and he and his wife (Kerri) both have government jobs. She was gracious enough to look over our monumental list (😉) and make a few recommendations about what not to spend our time on. Of course, we knew we’d only make it to a small fraction of the places on the list, but that’s okay. It’ll leave something for next time – and the next – and the next. 😊
Since the reversal of Roe v Wade happened only yesterday, we were understandably concerned about our time in Washington, but we looked at a map and saw that the Supreme Court building was over two miles from the Lincoln Memorial, so we figured if we had to, we could just stay down that way. As it turned out, there were no issues during any of our days in DC. We were very thankful!
Some of you may have been wondering how I could fit two days of visiting our nation’s capital into one post. It’s simple. There’s simply too much information and captivating sites to see and photograph to even consider doing a post the way I usually do. It’s a bit disappointing for me, but I’ll get over it. 😊
There’s a great public transportation system in place here. The metro buses even make frequent stops here at the campground, however our first night’s orientation (provided by the campground daily), we were told not to rely on it because of lack of driver’s. That was fine, because they also told us that the train/subway station was only about a 10-15 minute drive from us. It turned out to be an easy drive once we figured out that the gps posted the wrong directions for us, leaving us stranded on the wrong side of the station with no way to get to it! The trains into the National Mall area run frequently, so once we got to the station, it was easy-peasy! And clean. And we felt very safe. And it was cheap too. On the weekends there was free parking in the deck and $2.00 fares one way.
Our stop was the National Archives building.
The only place open at the early hour we arrived (25 minutes later), was the Smithsonian Castle/Visitor Center, which opens its doors a full hour-and-a-half before anything else. Tour times for nearly everything in DC run from 10-5. By the way – – all the 19 things run by the Smithsonian are free. If you want to see how they’re funded, check out: https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/factsheets/smithsonian-institution-fact-sheet
Since many places we’ll take in for the next few days are run by the Smithsonian, I thought it would be a good idea to share information about this amazing institution with you. I won’t be posting that kind of detail about anything else. I will however, have a “Special Edition” about the Holocaust Museum, but even that won’t include the details and pictures we found ourselves immersed in.
By the way, the gold bullion that Mr. Smithson left to the US in 1838, was equivalent to nearly $16 million today.
We didn’t go in.
In the beginning, everything was housed here – including zoo animals in the yard. : )
On the right, 1863. On the left, 2012.
They had several of these “before and after” pictures mounted on a wall.
We thought this one was the most telling.
From there, it was a decent walk to Ford’s Theater where we took in the museum (quickly because it was crowded and we didn’t have much time) and a 45-minute play called, “One Destiny”, about the theater owner and some other people reminiscing about the days preceding, and including the day President Lincoln was assassinated. Excellent one-act two-person dramatization! And the museum and play was only $11. Our ticket also purchased entry to the house across the street where they took the President and stood guard over him as his life ebbed away. It took nine hours. He never regained consciousness.
I only took two pictures.
As you might have guessed, the viewing box surrounded by flags is where
President and Mrs. Lincoln and their guests were seated.
These next two pictures are about his funeral.
And now we’re back to John Wilkes Booth. Did you realize that he was a famous actor from a famous sibling group of actors?
Nearby was lunch at Pot Belly – outdoor seating and excellent sandwiches with garlic fries. We were very pleased, and very full. 😊
We stopped in the National Archives next, which was quite crowded around the most popular and important documents of our nation – the Declaration of Independence, our Constitution and our Bill of Rights. The amount of security surrounding these documents is astounding! And no one is allowed to take pictures once you cross the threshold. They preserve approximately 2-3% of all the documents we generate each year. Did you know that there are over 13 BILLION textual documents stored in this building? Not to mention all the other stuff they house! No wonder it’s huge! You can visit https://www.archives.gov/publications/general-info-leaflets/1-about-archives.html to learn more.
Please don’t tattle!
I’m sad to report that we were both a bit disappointed of what’s become of the Natural History Museum, because nearly every single exhibit focused on drilling in their belief that everything evolved from one ameba in the beginning of time. And it was beyond crowded in there by the time we arrived making it difficult to look at things we were interested in – like the Hope Diamond. Most things we just skimmed by. Of course, there’s always the possibility that weariness played a part in our skimming . . .
All this beauty was around the building!
I actually have one of these! It’s mounted in a ring my mom gave me for my 16th birthday!
The only time I’ve taken it off is when I got bit by the Great Dane.
The next morning, it was up and out early once again. This time we got off the train and rode the circulator bus down to the end of the National Mall and began at the Lincoln Memorial. All of the monuments and memorials are open 24/7, so it was good to get a few of those under our belt before our timed entry for the Holocaust Museum, which I’ll talk about in my Special Edition post about it.
Today, besides the Lincoln, we took in the Vietnam memorial.
Later, we stumbled across the one dedicated to the 56 who signed the Declaration of Independence. I have to say, the 56-signers one seemed pretty small, since everything else in DC is ginormous. After all, they were extremely important men. Each and every one of them sacrificed – some sacrificed everything – in order to liberate us from Britain and form us into a free and self-governing nation. Can you imagine getting a group of 56 (out of a total of 56) congressional leaders from all walks of life and areas of the country and beliefs to unanimously agree on something so life-changing these days? We tend to forget that forming our nation’s government was a new concept back then, in a world ruled by monarchs. In fact, once we won our independence, some even wanted our first president to rule as king! He turned them down flat, thank goodness!
We walked by the Washington Monument, but had no desire to stand in line for entrance to go to the top. We’ve done that several times in the past, and the lines tended to be fairly long while we were in town this time.
We’re not quite done yet! Up next was the American History Museum. This is the place where all things “American” are stored – things that contributed to our lives and living. It’s also where all the celebrity stuff is – things like Dorothy’s ruby slippers and Archie Bunker’s chair. However, we were sorely disappointed! The wing with all the celebrity stuff was closed! One lady at an information desk I asked about it, said that it’s closed indefinitely, but she didn’t know what they were doing. She thought maybe they were in the process of updating it, because so many people today (aka younger than us) don’t even know who Archie Bunker was. Still, the rest of the museum was quite interesting.
We take them hiking, etc. with us all the time!
You’ll just have to imagine them.
Our next stop was one of the Art Galleries. We just love looking at the paintings! You know, the “real” ones that have a picture you can actually recognize? We weren’t disappointed, except in the amount of time and stamina we had left by then.
I’ll put the captions above the picture they go with.
The final stop for today was the Eisenhower Memorial. I don’t know who chose the design, but we felt like they could’ve done a better job. It sits across from the Air and Space Museum (also a disappointment because they’re closed for quite some time while they do extensive renovations), and it felt like you were walking into a desert. Everything in the large open space was sand colored and very hot. You certainly wouldn’t have wanted to sit on the stone benches today! There just really wasn’t much there to honor the man many consider responsible for turning the tide of WWII and serving two terms as our 34th President.
And that’s our first two days in DC. But don’t worry. There’s more to come, if I can just find the time to get our days posted! We will continue to have crazy full days ahead; clear up to around the middle of July! You’d best enjoy history and family visits, cuz there’s plenty to be had the next couple of weeks!