The Many Memorials in D.C.

Just because I wanted to make sure I hit all the NPS sites I possibly could, we went to the George Mason Memorial and John Ericsson National Memorial.The George Mason Memorial commemorates the contributions of George Mason, an important American Founder who wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights and served as a delegate to the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Mason is often thought of as the "forgotten Founder."The next memorial we saw honored John Ericsson. During his lifetime, John Ericsson revolutionized several facets of technology. The Swedish-born engineer-inventor is best known for his work during the Civil War when he transformed naval warfare through his design of the iron-plated USS Monitor.The reason I love the NPS is because they honor people who have made great contributions to this country and most of the time the general public has no idea of who they are! One of my favorite NPS sites is Friendship Hill in Pennsylvania because it tells the story of Albert Gallatin. Leaving Friendship Hill I was astounded that I had never known about this amazing man who had a major impact on American history. Here's a link to my blog of visiting there so you can learn more: http://burninuptheroad.blogspot.com/2010/12/national-road-and-friendship-hill_16.html(Side note- passing by the Treasury building I noticed a statue of Gallatin and was delighted that I recognized him and knew the reason he was there).

We stopped at the Lincoln Memorial again to have a break on the steps and enjoy the view in the daylight. With all the construction, it wasn't as pretty a picture because the reflecting pool wasn't there. We continued along stopping at the Korean War Veterans Memorial. This consists of 19 larger than life stainless steel statues. The figures represent a squad on patrol, drawn from each branch of the armed forces; 14 of the figures are from the U.S. Army, 3 are from the Marine Corps, 1 is a Navy Corpsman, and 1 is an Air Force Forward Air Observer. They are dressed in full combat gear, dispersed among strips of granite and juniper bushes which represent the rugged terrain of Korea. When reflected on the wall, there appears to be 38 soldiers, representing the 38th parallel.

The circle contains the Pool of Remembrance, a shallow pool lined with black granite and surrounded by a grove of trees with benches. Inscriptions list the numbers killed, wounded, missing in action, and held as prisoners of war, and a nearby plaque in inscribed: "Our nation honors her sons and daughters who answered the call to defend a country they never knew and a people they never met."Close by to the Korean Memorial is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.When a visitor looks upon the wall, his or her reflection can be seen simultaneously with the engraved names, which is meant to symbolically bring the past and present together.

Also part of the memorial is the Vietnam Women's memorial. It is dedicated to the women of the United States who served in the Vietnam War, most of whom were nurses. The woman looking up is named Hope, the woman praying is named Faith, and the woman tending to a wounded soldier is named Charity.We continued on to the WWII Memorial and once again, sat and rested on the steps and took in the vista. I really enjoyed this new found method of "walk a little bit and then sit and rest for 15 minutes". Usually my trips are so jam packed but with Jess along I tried to slow it down so she wouldn't get mad at me for wanting to see every single NPS site in the Tri-state area (of which there are about 50).

After circling around the Washington Monument the past couple days we finally made our way over to it so we could touch it. We then headed over to the White House to see what it looked like from the other side. You can't get nearly as close but I think I like this view better (probably because of the fountains)
Despite being close to our hotel, we still had lots of daylight left so we decided to walk over to Ford’s Theater. When we got there we realized it was closed so all I got was a picture of the outside. Oh well. On the way back to the hotel we passed by a restaurant called “The Laughing Man”. It’s logo had this crazy picture of a raving lunatic. We made fun of it the whole way back to the hotel. When it came time for dinner we called around to a few local restaurants and we found out their earliest reservation was at 9pm. So lo and behold we ended up at the crazy Laughing Man restaurant! It actually wasn't too bad but the waitress had an attitude problem.