A, B, . . .DC! Day 2, July 2020

July 29, 2020

Today we had a chintzy hotel breakfast (generic pre-packaged Danish and banana nut muffins and apples).   Then back on the road.  We stopped for lunch at an Olive Garden.  They were seating every other booth.   After yesterday's fast food eaten in the car, we decided no french fries and no eating in the car today.  So we solved those problems and got the bonus of the Olive Garden salad.  We drove through the Appalachian mountains in Maryland and they were beautiful!  Row after row of green covered ridges.  Some were fir and some were deciduous.  We drove along the narrow panhandle of Maryland, then down to DC.  We arrived around 6:30.  We were using Google Maps, but it kept changing it's mind--first telling me to turn right, then turn left (2 lanes in heavy traffic), then it told me to turn a block early.  We got turned around twice, then found our way.  The GPS was getting so mixed up because of all of the streets in the area, some layered.  Pretty nerve-wracking, though, when you don't know where you're going!

Appalachian Mountains

We parked in a garage, then carried our stuff about 4 blocks to the hotel (being in DC, the hotel doesn't have its own parking).  Still pretty warm at that time at night and humid.  We cooled off in our hotel room, then walked to the Mall.  It was sunset and we walked around and in the Lincoln Memorial, then took pictures of it and the Washington Monument in the fading light and in darkness.  There were some people around, but not too many.  We've been to the Lincoln Memorial before, so it wasn't new, but it still makes you feel good about being an American. 

First glimpse of a monument!

World Health Organization building

Where Joshua dreams of working someday!

Lincoln Memoria

Washington Monument

Lincoln Memorial

Gettysburg Address

From the North portico of the Lincoln Memorial, with the Washington Monument
and the Capitol in the background

selfie

reflecting pool

See Abe inside?

nighttime photo

If you've watched West Wing (one of our favorites), in one episode Josh arrives back in DC
from being left behind by the motorcade in Indiana and sees the capitol, gets out and
walks across a bridge with Toby and CJ.  This is that bridge.  Because it is behind the
Lincoln Memorial, I'm pretty sure that you can't see the capitol from there, so one thing the TV
show had to fudge for cinematic effect.

We then walked to Foggy Bottom which is near our hotel and found a bistro, CIRCA at Foggy Bottom, where we sat on the patio with distanced tables.  The area seems like the living room or downtown for GW (George Washington) University, which is one of Joshua's faves.  Joshua and Randy got interesting salads for dinner, I broke down and got the burger and fries--what a great burger and tasty fries, so it was worth it! 

(Obligatory pandemic selfie)

Joshua

And the weather was nice--warm and humid but bearable.  Annie will be arriving here late tomorrow night, so we're making plans of what we want to see tomorrow.  She wants to do the university tours with us, so tomorrow will be tourist sightseeing.  The GW campus is not in a defined campus space, but is not "of the city" like NYU.  It is in a general area with some outlying buildings.  Our hotel is in the area of the campus, so Joshua is getting a sense of it while we are walking around.  Looking forward to a good sleep, because we will be walking around tomorrow in temps in the mid-90s with dewpoints in the 70s (in other words, very hot and humid) so I need my sleep!