Road Trip: Washington D.C.

Posted by carol.fletcher@rocketmail.com
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October 20.  Cherokee, NC to Washington D.C.  Starting Mileage 30,238.

We drove all day on October 20. From Cherokee, it was a northeasterly route, through ridges and gaps in North Carolina, cutting across the pointing-finger-tip of Tennessee, and following the valleys between the Appalachians, Shenandoah, and Blue Ridge Mountains up through Virginia, and on into Washington D.C. We’d drive over 500 miles this day. First lesson of this adventure:  the road is the trip too.

Because of our dilly-dallying in Cherokee in the morning, and a few picturesque stops long the route, we ended up driving in the dark and not arriving at our hotel until after 8 p.m.

In Cherokee, I’d hauled our many bags into the hotel room two-by-two. Same thing loading out. When we arrived into our DC-area hotel, I pulled up out front to unload the bags into the lobby. Mama would wait there with the bags while I parked the car in the garage. When I came up from the garage–dreading, but ready to make at least three trips back and forth to get our bags to our 8th floor room–a nice man behind the counter smiled and said, “Luggage carts are right around that corner.”

What?! Luggage Carts?!?

I sleepwalked around that corner, and saw four of the most beautiful objects parked in front of me–LUGGAGE CARTS! Thick brass arches with hooks across the top for hanging garment bags, wide carpeted flat-beds that would fit at least three bags, and wheels that spun around for amateur maneuvers. I almost skateboarded my chosen one back into the lobby! We stacked ALL of the bags onto the magic luggage cart and drove it like drunks to the elevators.

Dizzy tired and hungry, and giddy about the ease of loading in, I forgot to take a picture of that blessed thing. I should have taken a portrait of each and every one of the magic wheel carts we used for the next seven weeks. Lesson #2 of this trip:  Always look for a magic luggage cart and appreciate the invention of wheels.

October 21-23. Washington D.C.

During our days in D.C., we took a tour of the Capitol, saw the Library of Congress, sat on the columns on the porch of the closed Supreme Court, walked the length of the Mall to the Washington Monument one day, and to the Lincoln Memorial and World War II and Vietnam Veterans Memorials the next. We walked and walked and walked. And talked, explored, and learned.

A bridal party crosses in front of the Capitol Building.
A bridal party crosses in front of the Capitol Building.
looking up to the windows of the USA Capitol dome
Detail inside the Capitol Dome. We had arranged for a tour of the Capitol with our Senator’s office. When we arrived, we were asked if we were all there. Mama and I looked at each other and said “uh, yes…” The guy at the desk looked around us and smiled, “I take it you ladies are NOT a party of 40, like this says?”
looking up into the ceiling of the Capitol dome
Looking up in the Capitol Building’s dome. The Capitol Building’s 2nd dome, this cast iron structure was begun in 1855. Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated beneath a half-completed dome in 1861. When the Civil War started, dome construction sat idle for awhile. But Lincoln pressed on and it was completed in 1866–during the Civil War–in a promise that “the Union will go on.”
The Library of Congress lobby
The Library of Congress’ Great Hall. Established in 1800, the LOC is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States.
Library of Congress Reading Room from above
The Library of Congress Reading Room. The LOC has the largest library collection in the world with more than 167 million items.
Mama sitting on a column on the Supreme Court porch.
Mama resting on the Supreme Court porch.

 

The importance of parking

It was important during the trip planning to find a hotel with safe parking for the car and close to public transportation so that we could get around with ease. Lucy is nearly 80. And though she gets around good, I didn’t want to wear her out. We walked a lot in Washington D.C. And we also took frequent little breaks–sitting on the Mall, resting by the Kilroy was Here graffiti, and lingering under a tree in Autumn yellow leaves near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. What peace in those sitting-to-rest times. Lesson #3 of this trip: Sit for a spell. Rest and observe. There was no where else we needed to be, but right there together.

Lucy sitting on a bench on the Mall, washington monument in the background
We stopped a few times for bench-sitting along the Mall from the Capitol to the Washington Monument.
Some of the 4,048 stars at the World War II Memorial Washington DC
Each of the 4,048 golden stars represent 100 Americans who died in World War II.
Kilroy was Here, graffiti at the World War II Memorial.
Kilroy was Here. This was popular and familiar graffiti during the 1940s. We found both of the Kilroys, tucked away in the World War II Memorial.
Looking back at the reflecting pool towards the Washington Monument from near the Lincoln Memorial.
Looking back at the reflecting pool towards the Washington Monument from near the Lincoln Memorial.
Lucy--after climbing the stairs to the Lincoln Memorial, and back down again.
Lucy–after climbing the stairs to the Lincoln Memorial, and back down again.
Shadows at the corner in the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Shadows at the corner of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

 

Arlington National Cemetery

On the final day of our stay in D.C., I was studying the map, and suddenly figured out that we had just enough time to visit Arlington National Cemetery on our way back to the hotel. We hustled, made our connecting train, and made it there in time for the last trolley tour, and the last changing of the guard at the grave of the Unknown Soldier. Silence but for the clicking of heels walking back and forth, standing watch over those soldiers “Known but to God”. And later, we walked in silence up the knoll to the eternal flame and graves of John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. Poignant places in our nation’s capital. Lesson #4: Life is short. Seize the moments. Cram it in and go, go, go.

Cedars and rows of grave stones. Arlington National Cemetery.
Cedars and rows of grave stones. Arlington National Cemetery.
The eternal flame at JFK's grave, Arlington National Cemetery.
The eternal flame at JFK’s grave, Arlington National Cemetery.
Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Arlington National Cemetery.
At the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Arlington National Cemetery. Guards follow a meticulous routine when watching over the graves: 1) Marches 21 steps south down the 63′ long black mat laid across the Tomb. 2) Turns and faces east, toward the Tomb, for 21 seconds. 3) Turns and faces north, changes weapon to outside shoulder, and waits 21 seconds. 4) Marches 21 steps down the mat. 5) Turns and faces east for 21 seconds. 6) Turns and faces south, changes weapon to outside shoulder, and waits 21 seconds. 7) Repeats the routine until relieved of duty at the Changing of the Guard. During summer/open hours, the guard is changed every 30 minutes. In winter, every hour. After hours, every 2 hours. The mat has to be changed twice a year.

Click these links for more about the start of our road trip, and the merits of going old.

Our route to Washington D.C.

Map of our route from Cherokee NC, north through TN into VA
Map of our route from Cherokee NC, north through the corner of TN, into VA
Map of our route through VA, to D.C.
Map of our route through the valleys of VA, to D.C.