Washington DC - Day 3
Today we went to see the Vietnam, Korean, and Lincoln Memorials, then to the National Museum of Natural History.
There were volunteers at the Vietnam Memorial that helped explain how the memorial was organized. These were actual vets, so they could provide a whole different experience. The one we talked to lives in Chicago and comes to DC once a month to volunteer at the wall.
While I thought that the wall was random, it is in chronological order, including alphabetical by day. This way a vet can find the time period he was there easily. The Korean memorial was less striking, probably because it is much less personal.
The Lincoln memorial was nice to see, but I highly appreciated being in the same spot as Martin Luther King was when he gave the "I Have a Dream Speech." There was also a Ranger talk about the speech and he tried to play the speech and provide additional background, but the boom box did not work, sadly.
After that we went to the Museum of Natural History. Lots of shineys in the minerals/gems area. Plenty of interesting fossils. Somehow though I have lost much of my taste for museums with non-cultural exhibits. I really liked the African history exhibit, and would have liked the Western Civ exhibit if I wasn't dead physically.
Tomorrow: stand in the rain to hopefully see a Supreme Court argument, then off to the Library of Congress.
There were volunteers at the Vietnam Memorial that helped explain how the memorial was organized. These were actual vets, so they could provide a whole different experience. The one we talked to lives in Chicago and comes to DC once a month to volunteer at the wall.
While I thought that the wall was random, it is in chronological order, including alphabetical by day. This way a vet can find the time period he was there easily. The Korean memorial was less striking, probably because it is much less personal.
The Lincoln memorial was nice to see, but I highly appreciated being in the same spot as Martin Luther King was when he gave the "I Have a Dream Speech." There was also a Ranger talk about the speech and he tried to play the speech and provide additional background, but the boom box did not work, sadly.
After that we went to the Museum of Natural History. Lots of shineys in the minerals/gems area. Plenty of interesting fossils. Somehow though I have lost much of my taste for museums with non-cultural exhibits. I really liked the African history exhibit, and would have liked the Western Civ exhibit if I wasn't dead physically.
Tomorrow: stand in the rain to hopefully see a Supreme Court argument, then off to the Library of Congress.