Saturday… up eventually, shower, cleanup a bit and pack…
We start at a Starbucks for coffee in Alexandria, the off to D.C., driving this time… we park near the Vietnam War Memorial… Its Tina’s first time… She calls a friend who served there… offers to make a rubbing of a name… From there we walk to the Lincoln Memorial… take pictures with the flat guy, then walk around the Korean War Memorial, and up to the World War II memorial… they are all very different, all reflections of the time and the people involved, and all made more powerful by the differences, and the proximity of the three… The Vietnam memorial is a stark gash in the landscape, with the many, many names engraved on the black granite wall. The Korean memorial is a group of 40 some statures, collectively a platoon of solders, bundled against the cold… The World War II memorial is classic, with columns, and Greek temples…
We continued down the National Mall to the Hirshhorn Gallery… Back across to the National Museum of History for a second visit, then back to the car, and off to California Maryland where Stephanie is living with Kellie and the kids… Nice evening, nice dinner… then off Sunday morning to explore Saint Mary’s City, where Maryland was founded in 1634… Saint Mary’s was abandoned by 1695 and forgotten under the plowed fields… Now it is a historic museum, under the auspices of the State of Maryland, the site of much archeology and some reconstructed buildings… the site is well done, and doesn’t suffer from the crowds that overwhelm Plymouth and Jamestown.. It was the last day of the year that they would be open… it was wonderful, well worth the visit.
Afterward, we meet Kellie and the kids for lunch on Solomon’s Island… along the shore of Chesapeake Bay… then north towards Baltimore… We checked in at the our hotel at the airport, then drove north to Baltimore Harbor to walk around and get a snack… back to the hotel where we said good bye to Stephanie… She had a 2+ hour drive back to California Maryland.
Monday, 6:06 am… aboard United 295 from Baltimore…
It’s a full flight… they are looking for volunteers to be bumped… They have announced that there isn’t enough room for carry ons…. “FAA will be inspecting…” “Please gate check if you bag doesn’t fit…” I sense a bit of panic…
Now in line to board, one man, challenged for bag size at the gate, emptying his bag, trying to stuff it into the frame “your bag must fit in this”… People continue past on to the jet way, on to the plane, to their seats looking for overhead luggage space… then past their seats until they find the precious space, but then have to fight their way against the flow back to their seats…. The crew is announcing that if you can’t find space for your bag return to the gate to gate check… considering the crowded aisles, an near impossibility… We found space near our seats… Now packed on like cattle on the way to slaughter we try to relax… Eventually we both napped…
We landed at SFO about 9:00… we caught a taxi home… I was at work just after 10:00… Jumping head first into Christmas… but more on that later…
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