Lincoln Memorial. Wow. I was so moved by the execution of the building and statue, and the way the light hits Lincoln at 6 am is unbelievable. It makes you think they knew what they were doing when they planned the city with the main axis facing the direction it does. Also, the sheer scale of Lincoln will take your breath away. I've seen that statue a million times in movies, photos, etc... but nothing prepared me for how magnificent he was sitting in that chair. My hat is off (!) to his sculptor. Inscribed in the walls on either side of him were some of his words of wisdom, one of which everyone knows the first line of (four score - I'll say no more), but reading further gave me pause for thought. He saw such potential in the continued effort for justice and equality in this country. I can't imagine anyone reading what he said and not being moved - deeply - by it. The place is powerful. Assessment: Most excellent and highly recommended.

Next up, The Mall. Many great people have stood on one end or the other of this space, and it reaches out almost to infinity. Imagining hundreds of thousands of people crowding the place, unified for a cause, gave me shivers as I looked down toward the Washington Monument. I walked down the steps that Martin Luther King Jr. stood on as he gave his most famous speech, "I Have A Dream." I felt him there. The place has a power that is indescribable because of what has happened there, but it also is powerful because of the way it is designed. Simplicity, once again, packs a wallop. The reflecting pond (Jared notes that DC is very fond of them, and Robert notes that the designer of many of those ponds loved the sky) defines the space, but the trees that line the perimeter of the space and give you an intimate feeling. One of separation from the city that hustles and bustles around you. They are densely packed and remind me of Central Park in Manhattan. Spectacular.

Walking down The Mall, we come to the WWII Memorial. Robert tells us that the memorial placement was originally proposed to be in the center of the reflecting pool, but they instead incorporated it at the end, where it shines. The detail they put into every little aspect took my breath away. (You'll hear me say things like that a lot when it comes to DC.) Much of the detail must be described in photos. Again, see Jared's blog. I was impressed by the inclusion of women, their sacrifices, and recognition of what a huge contribution they made in the war effort. The first memorial to do so when it was built. Of course, this is a mixed bag for me. I am anti-war. Of all the wars this nation has fought, I approve of very few, and even those make me wince. But the things that people sacrifice when they believe a noble cause is worth fighting for... I cannot help but want them to be honored and recognized for that. Okay, enough soapbox. On to the Washington Monument.

On the Washington Monument: it is HUGE. Actually, HUGE doesn't begin to describe its scale. After all these years, I though I understood that it was big. But approaching it and standing next to it... I was taken aback by its mass. Over the few days I was in DC, I noticed that it was omnipresent. There seemed to be nowhere in DC you couldn't see it from. Wow. Try standing at its base, looking up, and taking small steps back from it. I dare you not to experience vertigo by the 3rd or 4th step. It just keeps going, and going... Interesting enough, the color changes about a quarter of the way up. I was told that this is because the Civil War began, and they had to suspend construction. (Thanks, Robert!)

We look to the end of this walk, see the Capitol Building (more on that later) and walk back toward Lincoln. Veer to the right and there is the Vietnam Memorial. This was at the top of my list for destination places in DC. It's maybe 8am by now. My dad had given me a name - William David Dorfman - to look for. This was the son of a woman he was friends with in Birmingham, AL back in the late 50's. I flipped through the book they keep on the premises to help you locate the name on the wall, as the names on the wall are arranged by date of casualty. The book tells you things like their rank, where they were from, date of birth. It's not an easy book to flip through. The book is thick. Then, you find their placement on the Wall. You walk down that path, and it overwhelms you. Not a dry eye in the house. At least, not in my house. It is by far the most beautiful, haunting and profound memorial I have ever visited. The classes that I took which discussed the design and history of it did not prepare me for the reality of it. Go, remember and pass it on. War is tragic and the price is too high. Let's learn to be nice to each other and practice diplomacy. Let's not build any more of those beautiful walls. Thanks, though, to Maya Lin for having the inspiration for a completely new approach to memorials.

Walking back to the car and ready for breakfast, I was glad to stumble upon the Korean War Memorial. My dad fought in that war, and it is dubbed The Forgotten War by those who do speak of it. It was perhaps the first war that was fought by this country without good cause, and many of those who joined the effort did so because they were confident that the government's decisions regarding war were always honorable. This notion was shattered in that war for many. This memorial was also designed by Maya Lin, and the desire for statues of soldiers by veterans led her to approach it in a different way. The soldiers, rather than posed in some confident stance, walk through vegetation with various facial expressions and positions of anticipation, fear, courage... the list goes on. It humanizes them in a way I've not seen before. You walk around them and imagine what it was to walk through a strange land, armed and uncertain of what lies ahead. Again, I was moved to tears.

This is a lot of emotion to experience before 9am, folks. I was exhausted. And hungry. And tired. Hungry won. We went for breakfast. And then I took a nap for 4 hours. Zzzzzzzzzz.

Part 2 coming soon. I find my penchant for detail exceeds my typing speed. :)

written by  Justine Smith on September 20, 2008 from Washington, United States
from the travel blog: The Great American Roadtrip 2.0
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I had to read your first day in DC a few times as it really moved me. I felt that I was standing next to you as you went from one place to another. I felt your exhilaration as well as your fatigue. Thanks for this share. It is also nice to be able to experience this trip more 3 dimensionally because your traveling experiences are weaving together with stories by Jared. Keep them coming!

written by  JRad's mom on September 28, 2008

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