Spring At the Arboretum -- It's Time to Walk Again

Even though it is a bit overcast today, I had a taste of the Arboretum on Friday and want to walk again. Mister readily accepts and we are soon on our way.  There will be minimal comments in this post.  It is all about the eye candy.  Yum.

The new grotto through Mister's eyes.  (Through my eyes can be found in THIS post.)

More Peach Blossoms!

Oh this tree is loving the cool weather and blossoms are starting to fill the branches.  Love it.

Bottle Cap Bingo at the Bottle Shop

It's Date Night and Mister asks if I would like to go down to Lower Greenville and see what's up at the Bottle Shop.  We discover that not much there has changed, BUT they do have bottle cap bingo and we play a few games along with everyone else.  It's actually pretty fun and there are oh so many craft breweries anymore.  Wow. (No we don't win anything.)

St. Paddy's Day Dinner - Traditional

It is St. Patrick's day and I want to make a very traditional meal.  I know, I know -- corned beef and cabbage is what you are thinking, but no.  That is actually not a traditional meal in Ireland.  It is what the immigrants made here that was closest to something they ate in Ireland.  I want to do it right so first up is:

Irish Soda Bread - I have always wanted to make this and today seems appropriate.  Here we go.

In a bowl combine, 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used bread flour because I had it, but not required), 2T suga, 1t sugar, 1t baking powder, and 1/2t salt.

Peach Blossoms!!!

My first peach blossom is out!  Come on spring.

Orchid Beauty - 6 Blooms and She's Finished

We have a total of 6 beautiful blooms.  This is Mister's orchid that he received for his birthday from Jen a year ago.  How fun that he is treated to blooms again this year.

DC - Day Four

Waking on the last day of this trip is both sad and wonderful at the same time.  I'm sad that the trip is coming to an end but oh so glad that it is coming to an end for I am truly feeling my age today.  I'm beat.  I think I'm one of the oldest in the group and each year is yelling at my legs.  Ah well, on with today.  This is the view out the hotel window.  If it was clearer out, you can see the Washington Monument and the Capitol Building without any trouble.  Today, however, is not so  nice out and we are expecting rain today.  Drat -- we've been lucky so far for March in Washington, D.C.

Once in the bus, we are off to the Jefferson Memorial.  I have loved the look of this memorial for as long as I can remember and even on day 1, I was taking distant pictures of it as it glowed in the fading sunlight.  I love how it is situated on the Potomac River and stands so majestically with it's domed, circular shape.  It mirrors the University of Virginia Rotunda, a structure that Jefferson himself designed.  It faces the White House with an unobstructed view and through one of the sides, you also have a direct line of vision to Arlington Cemetery and the home of Robert E. Lee.

There is time for an impromptu group shot before everyone heads for the water.  I so want to line them all up side by side facing the water and photograph them with the monument in the distance and everyone silhouetted along the river.  But, I am not  in charge and moments after taking this picture, they were all asked to get away from the edge.  Ah well.

Now to put a different spin on things, we are on our way to the Spy Museum.  Yep, that's right - we are going to learn all about the spies that are all around us each and every day.

In fact, I am a spy today.  I am Greta Schmidt and you can see that I am leaving Washington, D.C. and am on my way to London.  How fun.  A new place is always exciting.  I hope I don't get caught.

This museum is really filled with fun things from both reality and fantasy.  James Bond's car is here along with several prop items from the movies -- seriously, an entire James Bond wing is here.  There are also all kinds of cool gadgets that are actually used by spies both past and present.  Fun, fun, fun cameras.

There is even a wall of famous people who were spies at one time.  This one just cracks me up but since I know her husband worked for the government, it isn't too terribly shocking.

We do not have near long enough here and everyone agrees.  Lunch has to be fit in as well and even then, we have to grab and go, finishing our meal on the bus.  Time is not our friend today.  We have an appointment at Arlington National Cemetery and can't be late.  Off we go.

As we arrive, the rain decides to make it's presence known.  Of course it does.  We are to be outside for the next couple of hours.  Okay, time for some purchases.  We pop into the gift shop right away and get a couple of umbrellas and a rain poncho for Jon.  We are set.  Time to walk.

Our first destination is the John F. Kennedy Gravesite and the eternal flame.  I remember the day he was shot just as clear today as if it happened yesterday.  Living in Dallas gives reminders of this event all the time as well.  I am impressed at how quiet the kids have been ever since we arrived here.  They are truly being reverent and respectful.

At Arlington, everyone always thinks of the rows and rows of white stones, but there are older, varied stones there as well.  One entire hillside looks down upon the rest of the cemetery.  Between 1947 and 2001, one could privately purchase space here.  This area is almost filled now so that rarely happens today.

We wind our way through the cemetery, hiking stairs as we go, to arrive at our main destination.  The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  We are just in time as within moments the Changing of the Guard begins.  I have recorded this on video but it is too large to post here.  Please click on this LINK.  It is an amazing thing to watch and to learn about the men who take on this assignment.

After the changing of the guards, we have a couple of minutes before I notice that the guard has gone into a little covered area to the side of the tomb.  This signals the start of the next ceremony, one the school is participating in.  It is a wreath-laying ceremony and 4 of Jon's classmates will be involved.  Again, the video is too large for here but please click on this LINK to watch it.  It was perhaps one of the single most inspiring moments for me.  What reverence - what respect - I am in awe.

When the ceremony is over, we walk around the Amphitheater to see a few other memorials that have been placed for more recent events.

I love to go inside the Amphitheater, but  it is closed at this time.  Dang it anyway.  Jen peeked in and said it was pretty cool inside.  Somehow I missed that opportunity.

We come to the Iran Rescue Mission Monument and the Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial.

The Space Shuttle Challenger Memorial and another view of the Iran Rescue Mission Monument.

The USS Maine Mast Memorial is the last one we stop at.  Everyone is cold and wet but somehow our timing is still screwed up today.  I am toast and head for the bus while everyone else figures out what to do.  I walk back with Joe, our driver, and we brainstorm things to do to kill time.  Our schedule is now over and we have 5 hours before our flight.  I am not at all thrilled about hanging out at the airport for that long.

The decision is made to divide into the buses that are going to each airport (for the group has been split in two for the return trip home and each group is leaving from a different airport) and then we will kill time near our departure place.  We gather all our things and move to the other bus.  As we near Washington Dulles, our stop will be at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.  We have a couple hours to kill before we need to arrive at the airport.  Yay!  This is better than sitting in a terminal for 5 hours.

Jon is impressed from the moment we walk in the door.  This place is HUGE!  I am not kidding.  One section even contains the Space Shuttle Discovery.  That tells you how big this building is.  And this is only one section.  There are planes everywhere.

WOW!

I leave Jon and Jen to wander and do their thing and discover that there is a tower we can go up in.  I do not have time to tell them about it as the last ride up for the day is about to board.  I hop in and am soon up with what would be a wonderful view IF it was not cloudy and rainy.  Oh well, I do spot our bus waaaay out there in the parking lot though.

It's time to go to the airport and we are met and put through very quick -- even through security -- only to discover that our flight has been delayed for several hours.  Really?  So we are now stuck killing time at the airport anyway.  Well, at least it is not 7 hours, which it could have been had we not stopped at the museum.  The students are okay with it though and sit in groups playing games all around the gate.  For some reason my camera went into hiding at this point but take my word for it -- it was fun to watch them.

This has been a great trip and I am so thankful to have been allowed to be a part of it.

The time spent with Jen and Jon will be memories that I treasure forever and seeing our nation's capitol has been on my wish list for a long time.  What fun!