An English Girl Rambles has just done a tour of Washington DC. She reminded me of my tour of Washington in 1992.
I had gone to a conference in Washington and my wife came along to do the sightseeing. The first morning she was ready to go. It was an easy walk from our hotel to the mall. In those days the micro manager was adventurous and somewhat naive. I met her for dinner and she was over the moon. She had seen things that wowed her and wanted to take me back after dinner to see some things. She thought things stayed open until 8 or 9 o'clock.
My wife was absolutely blown away be the Washington Monument. She was there early and did not have to line up. She insisted that she had to take me to the Washington Monument.
Off we go after dinner. The homeless guys were starting to gather in the 5 square things. I noticed that we got some strange looks. Three blocks before the White House there was no one on the street. We went on past the White house. Now there was not one person in sight and it was very poorly lighted. All of a sudden I said , "We should not be here. "No no , " she says , "we're almost there."
I won the argument and we started back. Returning was eerier as we realized what we had done. By the time we got back to the hotel we were both very relieved.
Well, the micro manager said, " We can make time and go on the last day.
During the week my wife noticed that there were always huge line ups. We decided that we had to skip the Washington Monument and see as many other things as possible.
I had a free afternoon on the last day so rush, rush, rush. I did see many things in the little time I had.
My little tourist side kick saw most of the tourist things and it's a trip she always remembers.
So what I didn't see was one of the main attractions.
Did you perchance bump into Grover Cleveland while you were in Washington?
ReplyDeleteWell, I bumped into a lot of people but I didn't see Grover. I was at a conference with 7000 teachers. Does that count for anything..
DeleteMemories!!!!
ReplyDeleteYes, the one big conference of my career.
DeleteYou can't have it all.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't that excited about the tower. I had other thing I wanted to see.
DeleteI guess it's not a good idea to wander around that area after dark. Glad everything turned out all right except that you didn't get to see the Monument. I've never done the tour myself. :-)
ReplyDeleteThe tower was not big on my list. there's a lot to see there.
DeleteI'll have to keep that in mind- go early.
ReplyDeleteWell, it worked for the Micro Manager.
DeleteI'm glad it all turned out alright. When we're unfamiliar with an area, it's easy for this to happen. My husband and I went with my two girls to Washington, D.C in 2008 and we loved it! We spent a couple of days touring and wished we had had more time. There is so much to see and do.
ReplyDeleteI understand why you'd want more time.
DeleteThat would have been eerie allright. And, downright scary too. We got lost in Detroit once in a certain not so great area - scary as heck, called my brother - when I told my brother where we were. He answered me on the phone, close all the windows, lock the doors and get the ?? heck outta there. Great memories, even if some are scary, eh.
ReplyDeleteSome of the spots we get into are well remembered.
DeleteI have taken the stairs a few times in the Washington Monument. Always something new to see each visit for me.
ReplyDeleteGood on you for doing stairs.
DeleteEek - one would assume (wrongly, I guess) that such an important monument would be ... guarded? I suppose not; after all, it's not made of glass. Rather scary and good that it turned out okay.
ReplyDeleteI think it was more an issue of politicians being cheap and cutting things out.
DeleteHi Red, First of all let me thank you for mentioning the English Girl's trip to DC. I hadn't looked at her blog recently but went over and took a look at her last few posts. She sure got some nice photos. I enjoyed reading about your memories from your own trip there some 25 years ago. I do hope things have improved re the homeless situation in the area. I wish you had been able to see the Monument. I haven't seen it although it is on my "hope to do" list. I don't call it a "bucket list" simply because that name sounds kind of stupid to me. Anyway ... I often get a kick out of the comments left here by Yorkshire Pudding. "Did you perchance bump into Grover Cleveland..." Ha ha ... Gotta luv that one! :-) Speaking of comments, I have a question for you. How do you feel about comments left by someone who does not have an active blog? Sometimes I get those kind of comments and want to get back to their blog so I can thank them for stopping by. It is curious to me why folks would register with Blogger to leave comments and yet not have a blog of their own, at least one that can be accessed for return feedback. Just wondering how you feel about that.
ReplyDeleteI think homeless situations are worse all over the place. I don't like comments from non bloggers as I worry about somebody trying to use your site.
DeleteJohn, you asked Red, not me, but may I comment on your blogger question? I had a blogger account but no blog for several years just so I could comment on other peoples' blogs, because I appreciated the time and thought they put into their posts. But I wasn't ready to start writing until I had more time myself. And I didn't know if I had anything worth saying. (I still don't, but now I don't worry so much about it.) Hope this helps you to understand why a commenter may not have his/her own blog in spite of having an account.
DeleteSpeaking of the Washington Monument which I'd seen on our high school class trip and being naïve.... Many years later on a visit to see the new Holocaust museum as we exited onto the Mall from the subway I looked right to the White House and left to a very tall building entirely cover in blue tarp say to my companions "I think they tore down the Monument and are replacing it with a blue hotel." I never lived that one down...:)
ReplyDeleteSome gaffes we remember for a lifetime.
DeleteThanks for the shout-out Red. I enjoyed your memories of this tour. City's are city's all over the world I guess, but this part of DC has lots of security nowadays and is well lit. We have lived here for 25 years and often go into the city, never had a problem thankfully. In fact, hubs is talking about getting a bicycle so that we can ride around all the monuments, like we used to when we first got married and lived here 41 years ago. I told him the only way I am going to do that is if I get a little help with an electric bike ;) I told him my knees will thank him!
ReplyDeleteIn 92 when you got past the White House there were no street lights.
DeleteI'm like your wife - gotta see everything! We took our kids on a grand tour of the east coast, including the Capitol Mall. It was wonderful.
ReplyDeleteYou could spend quite a few days on the mall. Many of these things we see in pictures but to actually see them is a thrill.
DeleteWashington is a great city to visit because most of the sites are free, because we taxpayers already paid for them.
ReplyDeleteYou're right. You could go anywhere you wanted.
DeleteMy father had the same experience many years ago. The concierge would not let him leave his hotel without a cab in the evening. You do not go out in DC after dinner. I think it a sad commentary on a capital city and highlights the many underlying problems of our neighbor to the south. Greatness filled with squalor - just don't look too close.
ReplyDelete