Thanksgiving in Washington DC - 2007

Dateline: Washington D.C.
November 18-22, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving from Washington, DC…

Well, we pulled it off; we are enjoying Thanksgiving Dinner in Washington, DC. Steve has managed to make a wonderful meal once again and we are pleased to tell you that with the help from the “Little Man” from Safeway.com our turkey showed up yesterday morning, we found room in the small frig and the smell of cooked turkey, stuffing and sweet potatoes have permeated the apartment. The weather here is absolutely beautiful (although they are calling for thunderstorms this afternoon and it is suppose to cool off and we are looking toward temperatures dipping down to 45-29 in the coming days. We spent yesterday afternoon walking around in short sleeves and we were not alone!

We have been really busy this week. Last Sunday we found the local Kinkos and printed our tickets to Mount Vernon and some other things we needed and Steve watched Sunday football. We rested up and prepared for the week ahead. Monday found us at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Check out our cool pictures at our Air and Space Album on Google Picasa. It was very cool. We started in the beginning of air travel and spent the entire day just enjoying the various exhibits. We even took a ride in an F18 simulator. Pretty Cool! For a kid who grew up during the “Space Age” (remember when Mom and Dad let you have the ENTIRE day off from school to watch the cardboard “capsule” go around the world on the T.V. screen??) Steve thought it was really cool to see all of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo stuff, the Russian space equipment, as well as the aerial imagery stuff he worked with overseas. He got a lot more out of the old aircraft displays than Carol did. We are going out to the “other” air and space building tomorrow. Unfortunately (gotta love the Feds!!), in order to get the building space for “free” they had to build the new museum about 35 miles from downtown D.C., and because it is new and not a big draw for many people yet, there is VERY limited transportation out there. Our options are a 70-minute bus ride each way or about $100 in taxi fees, but Steve is adamant about seeing the space shuttle and the Enola Gay (the B-29 that dropped the Hiroshima bomb) which are on display there.

Tuesday was a very interesting day. We got up extra early in order to make it to the State Department for our 9:00 a.m. appointment and using the metro system we were there in less than 30 minutes. So the security people told us we had to cool our heels and they recommended a local coffee shop (which never disappoints Carol) so we walked over, found a couple of easy chairs and enjoyed the local Georgetown University newspaper. It is good to know that even almost 40 years after Steve worked on the editorial staff at both his junior college and Sac State newspapers, they have not changed all that much. Best places to purchase pot and party, and ‘dissing the university president were the strong topics of the day! After about 30 minutes we wandered back to the State Department for our tour. We were very fortunate as we were the only two people in the tour so we followed our leader, two other guides and were escorted by a State Department Police Officer up to the 8th floor where they showed us the Diplomatic Reception Rooms and the Ben Franklin Dining Room. Check out the pictures at our Google Picasa Album for the State Department. These rooms are among the most beautiful rooms in the world and are used for official entertaining. Each year over 80,000 guests are entertained at luncheons, receptions and dinners. Several historical art pieces can be seen throughout all of the rooms, including masterpieces of 18th-century cabinetmakers, silver from Paul Revere, property of George and Martha Washington and portraits of Franklin, John Quincy Adams, cut-glass chandeliers and” the floor is covered with a carpet that weighs 5,000 pounds (hate to have to clean that carpet!) We were enjoying our tour when all of a sudden someone from “upstairs” determined our tour was over RIGHT NOW and we were literally pushed out of the room and into the elevator. It was like being invited to a party and then realizing you weren’t really wanted. Later we found out that there was a big press conference going on and they needed all of the “outsiders” out of the building!!

Remember when you look at all of this loot and these rooms that unlike most countries, our federal government does not pay ONE cent for the maintenance and improvement for any of our museums and buildings. All of the contents and their upkeep are paid for by (some VERY wealthy) private and public spirited individuals, who in return for their generosity, get to attend one “thank you” dinner each year and dine with Condoleezza and friends, or at the museums they support so the rest of us can enjoy all of these beautiful artifacts. All of the museums are open every day of the year except Christmas.

Since we were finished early we decided to wander through downtown Washington DC and make our way over to the White House. We found some wonderful monuments and found out where the National Christmas Tree is so we can go crash the tree-lighting ceremony on December 6th. Here is a picture of the tree BEFORE the lights! It is a gorgeous tree and should be really pretty when the lights come on!!! Sorry that some of these photos are not too close up, but EVERYTHING within two or three blocks of the White House and the Executive Office Building (where the Fuehrer resides) is fenced off, roped off, concreted off, wired off, patrolled by armed soldier and dogs, and probably is infested with land mines as well. Steve said the security around Lenin’s Tomb in Moscow was less rigid than this.

We also had the good fortune to get a picture of Marine One (or something like that) carrying off President Bush somewhere from the White House. The chopper was just leaving the south lawn as we walked onto the Ellipse, and thanks to Steve, his quick thinking and some fast camera action, he got a couple of shots! He got some really good pictures of and you can take a look at them at the Washington Album on Google Picasa. If you want to get a good picture really quick, he’s your man. And the cops on the ground didn’t even know we got the pic (or he’d probably be in jail right now)!










Finally we made our way to the White House Visitor area and while we were standing in line we found out that there are NO cameras, NO backpacks, NO books, NO cell phones, NO gum, NO handbags, and almost NO breathing! We explained that all we had was our small backpack, a camera, our map and a cell phone. We were told that we could not go into the White House and the only alternative was for one of us to go while the other stayed out. Well, as most of you know, Steve and I are pretty much connected at the hip and we didn’t really want to go in alone, and the time we had was the ONLY time we could go, so we made the executive decision to just blow it off. It was another sign in our estimation that Osama Bin Laden has achieved his primary goal. With all of the “power” of America it is truly amazing to see that our country is so afraid of terrorists that the present administration has made it virtually impossible for our own people to see and enjoy the birthplace of our country. We also were able to get some pictures of people who are protesting. This was good to see that in the midst of the "police state" of Washington, DC, people can still protest.







Check out the “proud” national symbol of our F.B.I. Headquarters building, with the seal and sign hidden behind the huge metal barriers that surround the entrances on all four sides of the building. It is really sad and Carol was really ready to leave DC and go back home.


Instead we went back to the National Archives and read the documents that started this country. Here are the original documents on our Google Picasa Album of the National Archives and Documents. We have also found it truly amazing that the ONLY buildings that are virtually unprotected in D.C. (no more security that what you find at Sacramento Metro Airport) are the ones that hold the REAL treasures of the country. You can pretty much just walk in the door and have access to all of this TOTALLY neat stuff. It was really cool to see the actual documents that began this country. We had the opportunity to look at the original Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights, Articles of Confederation and the Bill of Rights, and some other crucial documents that are corner stones of our history. Steve says he wishes he had paid more attention to all of this stuff when he was a kid in school, because now that he understands the true value of that is in the documents, he feels he totally missed it the first time around. I guess this is why they repeat these classes so many times from grammar school through college!

We also found Ford’s Theatre and the house that Lincoln died in. We found a Hard Rock restaurant and went in to ask about guitar picks for you Tina and all they have are Fender picks with no mention of Washington DC. Tina, let us know if you want those and we will go back. It is right down the street and we could always use a good walk! After all of our wanderings, we decided it would be fun to go back to Kennedy Center and listen to some blues in the Millennium stage. Well, our “It’s Closed” luck followed us from Savannah Georgia. For the first time in four and a half years, the blues band that was suppose to play got stuck in traffic and would not be able to make it to the Center. The Kennedy Center people, through the heroic efforts of its music director found two musicians who had not met before and put them together to provide piano and guitar jazz. While the music was good and it was pretty impressive for two musicians who didn’t even know each other to be able to play so well, it just wasn’t our cup of tea so we headed out, found the shuttle back to Georgetown University Hospital and caught the metro home.

Wednesday we spent the day walking through downtown, Chinatown (not even CLOSE to San Francisco’s) and ended up at the National Portrait Gallery. We did not take the camera but are going back for more photos maybe. Carol is afraid that if Steve gets loose in there he will NEVER be seen again! There are SO many wonderful pieces of art in this one building! You can check it out at http://www.npg.si.edu/. The best collection is the Presidential Portraits. It went from George Washington to George Bush. The collection was very informative and provided insight into the men who have been the leaders of this country. Look for more information in upcoming blogs.

Thanksgiving in Washington, DC has been really wonderful. You can take a look at our festivities at our Thanksgiving album on Google Picasa. We walked to the neighborhood store last night for last minute supplies and Steve’s cooking just can’t be beat. We had turkey, dressing, potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, biscuits and pie. Everything but the pie was home made and needless to say watching Jimmy Stewart movies, smelling the wonderful Thanksgiving smells and being with the person you love makes Thanksgiving anywhere pretty special!! Today’s temperature was 77 degrees, apparently a new high record for Washington DC! We had the air conditioner on, can you believe it? We are very thankful for each other, for our wonderful children, beautiful grandchildren and for family and friends like all of you. You are all very special to us and we thank our lucky stars that we are fortunate enough to have you in our lives.
One thing we have found that is very interesting. As most of you know we watch the news almost every night and Carol is much more interested in the commercials than Steve ever could be. Well, in California, most of the commercials are geared towards old people with the deluge of commercials from the pharmaceutical companies extolling the benefits of their “wonder” drugs and you find that most of the drugs are to help arthritis, incontinence and cholesterol. In Washington DC, the commercials are very different, they are geared towards people in need of plastic surgery, erectile dysfunction, hair replacement and any new “miracle” that will make you look younger, act younger or be younger. What does that say about California and Washington, DC? We will leave it to you to decide!!!

Until next time, we remain Steve and Carol, life reporters at large!!