Just got back. Learned a few things:
1. Major bummage. D.C. is bum central. I ignored most of them, even at union station (the homeless' mecca) They ask for a quarter, I just tell 'em I'm broke. I was doing real good.
We pulled up at a red light and see a homeless dude with a couple of flowers and a cup. He gives the lady a flower and says something like "A flower for the beautiful lady!" and hands her a flower. then holds the cup up to the guy. My wife and I started rolling in the floor when we saw the look on the face of the man. Just like somebody had kicked him in the balls. He reaches for the wallet and gives the guy a buck. While my wife and I were distracted by this, a female bum makes her way to our vehicle from our 4 o'clock position and tells me "Happy Fathers day sir!" and look's at my wife and says "Hello my lady!, you look so beautiful!" and holds up a cup. I grab some change outa my door and give it to her. She got me!:o
Seriously, I think the huge numbers of homeless is a big problem, people come from all over the world to visit D.C. and when they see all the bums it has to leave a very negative impression. It did with me. They prolly think the rest of the country is like that, but it's not.
2. Changing of the Guards at the tomb of unknownsStill as somber as it was when I was a kid. It left an impression on my wife and kids.
3. Memorials are impressiveLincoln, Jefferson, Korean conflict, and of course the Vietnam veterans memorial and whichever ones I'm forgetting. We spent a lot of time at them, the kids learned a lot.
4. Get in shapeMuch walking. (much meaning miles and miles)
I drove it. It's about 700 miles from my house to Washington D.C. Bad weather and a breakdown ('98 mazda MPV has three belts: one is power steering, one is air-conditioning, and one is water pump/alternator, now which of the three is crucial for the van to be driven? now guess which belt shredded 250 miles into the trip. Yeah, that one.
But it was a good overall trip. We spent yesterday at Gettysburg, which was really cool.
