D.C. in the mist

On Thursday, Leigh, Mary, Richelle, Andi, Chris and I decided to go explore D.C. The first thing we did was go to Chinatown and to our dismay- it wasn't the kind of Chinatown we thought. There were no fake Prada purses, so I was definitely disappointed.

As a group, we decided to check out the monuments, which seemed much closer on the map than they actually were.

While being "misted"on, we walked all the way to the Capitol. We looked at it, noticed how pretty it was, and started walking to the Washington Monument. On our way there, we noticed the surprisingly large amount of people jogging around. These people were hardcore. They were jogging in shorts and sweaters in the cold mist. Only one of them smiled at us.

It took us about 20 minutes to get to the Washington Monument from the Capitol. It looked closer because it was SO HUGE!

This monument received many laughs for its particular shape, but, all in all, it was pretty spectacular. Once we got to the Washington Monument, Chris and Richelle spent most of the time imitating a former faculty member.

Even once we got to the monument, we had to walk even farther to reach the base.

Leigh, Andi and I decided we wanted to touch the monument, so we made the trek to the base. Chris, Mary and Richelle stayed at the bottom.

In the end, Chris, Mary and Richelle decided to take cab to Starbucks and then return to the hotel. So it was Andi, Leigh and I left to wander around to view the monuments.

After the Washington monument, we stumbled upon a monument we didn't even know existed. I don't know when, but sometime between the movie "Forrest Gump" and now, they built the WWII Monument, which is breath-taking. Around the beautiful fountain shown in the picture, they had a block with a metal wreath on it. Each block had the name of a state on it. I took a picture next the Louisiana one :)

This place was full of tourists! We were surprised since we were seriously the only tourists around the Washington Monument. We soon realized that there were a bunch of middle school trips going on at that time. Many of the boys had those Sketchers shoes with the rollers.

The WWII Memorial led to the reflecting pool, which led to the Lincoln Monument. On our way to the Lincoln Monument, we asked a man where the Vietnam Memorial was, because if it was not 10 feet away, we weren't going. It actually was about 10 feet away. We decided to check out Lincoln, then see the Vietnam Memorial on our way out.

The steps leading to the Lincoln Monument were very steep and very slick from the rain. We were hoping to see an adolescent bust it, but we were not so lucky.

There are no words to describe the Lincoln Monument. I can say it is beautiful, magnificent, even wondrous- but none would truly do it justice.
There were signs asking people to be quiet in respect.

We walked around, looked up at Lincoln in silence and read the Gettysburg Address, which was engraved on one of the walls.

Then we went to the Vietnam Memorial. We looked at the huge wall of names, which I was not comfortable taking a picture of, and visited the Women's Memorial. It was very humbling.

I also learned, while silently observing the Women's Memorial, that an 8th grade boy likes his women thin, but with muscles. But not too muscular like a bodybuilder. Just as long as he couldn't beat him in an arm wrestling match.

After the Women's memorial, we spent the last hour looking for the Metro station.

See, we never really bought a map of D.C. Andi memorized the map she found while researching D.C, but we did not have a map in our hands. All that we had was the Metro map, which gave a VERY general location of the Metro stations. We were looking for the Smithsonian, because there should have been a station near there. We never did find the Smithsonian...

Instead, we accidentally found the White house. We asked one of the guards where the nearest Metro was, and he told us it was 3 blocks that way -- which was great, but when we went three blocks that way, there was no Metro station.

So after we realized there was no Metro station, we walked into this food court looking thing and asked a guard where the Metro station was. Apparently we were looking for the Federal Triangle Metro station, and it was "just around the restaurant and take a left."

We went around the restaurant, all the way to the road and looked to our left... No Metro station. By this time we're delirious because our feet hurt, we're soaked and we still can't find the Metro!

We went to some valet parkers in front of a fancy building and asked them. They said it was behind the building, from where we just came!!!!! He said go behind the building and we should see a big blue M... We can't miss it. Did that-- no M.

Leigh, Andi and I walked behind the building, and found some servers taking a break. We asked them where the Metro was, and they started arguing in Spanish about whether it was to the left or right.(as translated by Leigh Gentry)

Finally, a server actually steps forward and says, "What are you looking for?" He tells us to look for a rose sculpture, which by now we've passed twice, and to go down some stairs behind the rose. Take a right, and it will lead to the Metro.

At last: some SPECIFIC directions. No one told us that the Metro station was on a lower level behind the rose statue. We came to the conclusion that the last guy must have been from the South, because all Northern people are not nice.

Then we found the Metro station, rode to DuPont Circle and decided to eat some well-deserved supper at 10 p.m.

After supper, that was the end of our adventure.

Kera Simon

Final thoughts on D.C.

While the rain precluded extensive tourist activities, I used my time wisely for the most part and tried to see as much as possible. Anytime I go to a new place, I'm always overwhelmed with the realization, perhaps a cognitive dissonance, that life has been going on there forever without me even knowing about it. I left with some interesting impressions, and frankly, surprised. When I thought of D.C. before this trip I thought of a boring, flat city with only a couple of gray monuments sticking out here and there. But I left having seen some really pretty sides of D.C., especially the neighborhood we were staying in.

When we were checking into the hotel on Wednesday evening, I took a seat next to a telephone and memo pad. I looked down and caught a glimpse of some writing on the pad and picked up the sheet for a more thorough examination. "The city of acronyms and obfuscation..." began the rather poetic scribbling. I thought that over for a while and wondered who might have written that. Taxation without representation.

Jim Mustian

The Cop and the Metro Stop

For benefits of having actually come to D.C., I found it necessary to see something that is memorably and undeniably D.C., the monuments.

A large group of us set out from Chinatown and muddled our way around until we at least saw the tops of the monuments. We walked near the capitol and then turned around and began to walk back towards the Washington Monument. The National Mall (the area that stretches from the Lincoln Memorial to Capitol Hill) appears thumbsize on a map. On your feet, it feels like four hundred miles. At the Washington Monument we parted from our group, leaving only Leigh, Kera and I to traverse the remaining space to the Lincoln Memorial. The rain had finally stopped, but we all had enough water in our shoes to keep our feet well occupied. As we slugged along, many happy Washington D.C. joggers bounced along past us.

I remarked that unless the Vietnam Memorial was ten feet away from the Lincoln Memorial, I was not going. At the bottom of the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, we asked an old man in a booth the whereabouts of the Vietnam Memorial. It turns out, in our favor, it was about ten feet away. So we got the pleasure of seeing the frighteningly large hands and feet of Abe Lincoln and the bronze sculptures and wall of the Vietnam Memorial.

Afterwards we began what we expected would be a short walk to the Metro. One of the joggers stopped as the three of us huddled over a Metro map and gave us directions. We were to pass the White House, go up a street, then...

We could not find the White House. We walked in two wrong directions, came back to the start, found the White House. Near the White House we asked a security guard where the metro was. He said three blocks down, on the right. We all gurgled some raspy man groan of happiness (our feet were very cold and tired), and a cop on a bike laughed at us mockingly saying "Are we a little excited, girls?" We were.

That was until we walked three blocks, and there was no sign of a metro stop. We ducked into a set of huddled buildings and knocked on a glass door. The security guards at the front told us to turn right past a hotel (all within this complex of buildings) then left. Or something like that. Whatever it was, we ended up lost and on another street. We asked some kind musicians. We got lost. We asked some foreigners who grabbed a chef who finally offered valid directions (people in D.C. are not as willing to draw maps as the people in the South are). We found the metro and made it home.

--Andi