Next trip

The next trip is coming…

Each year I make a pilgrimage to Washington D.C. … Our nation’s capital… this started 14 years ago or so… sometimes I get there twice in one year…

When I started it was all about libraries… and archives… Washington and the area surrounding is the home of the Library of Congress, the National Archives and Archives II (the National Archives has so much stuff that they need multiple locations… there is a branch in San Bruno, seven miles from here, but the two biggest are in the DC area…  The Smithsonian has an archive and two libraries in the Museum of American History alone… there are also libraries and archives in the other Smithsonians… I once found a photo of a railroad car I was restoring in the library of Asian art museum...  you can never underestimate what might be found in a library…  Nearby in Delaware is the Hagley Museum… I may be visiting the Hagley this visit…

Of course DC is also the home of some of the best museums in the world… starting with the Smithsonian… but there are others… many others…  I like museums… This is likely the year we finally visit the Newseum...

Also in the area are battlefields… most from the Civil War, but the Revolution, and the War of 1812 were also fought nearby… I have a personal tie to Fredricksburg, a hour or so south of DC… My great, great grandfather fought in the battle there… He survived the battle only to die of disease 3 months later… In my visits I have been able to trace his marches, and visit sites he would have known…

Even better is another personal connection… Since I started visiting DC, family have moved there… A niece and her husband and their daughters are in Lorton… a nephew and wife and one, soon to be two children beyond Dulles… and a niece and children in southern Maryland… My daughter spent a year here as well… so now, the visits are about family too…

Steph and I leave in less than a week…