7/4/05 Fireworks on the Mall, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

Waiting for fireworks.

We spent some time going through the Natural History Museum, and then we parked ourselves on the "Mall" looking toward the Washington Monument. We waited for 4 loooong hours, most of it in the sun, until it was time for the show. It really was the best fire works show I have ever seen. We were too far from the capitol building to hear the music they had there, but we didn't need music! They had the best lemonade I can remember too... maybe it's because I was so hot and thirsty? We also had buffalo burgers for dinner.

After the show we took the subway back to the hotel. It was so crammed, and people pushing and cramming more and more into the car. When we got to our stop it was so crammed and no one would move for us to get off! It ended up a bunch of people (me included) yelling at the people by the door to let us out! I finally pushed myself and the boys off while hubby stood in the doorway so the train couldn't leave with us still on! LOL I don't think I want to do that again. *smiles*

Smithsonian Natural History Museum

7/3/05 Spy Museum, Ford Theater

Balcony where President Lincoln was assassinated.

Ford Theater

Next we went to Ford Theater, and also visited the house across the street where Lincoln actually died after being shot in while watching a show. Ford Theater is a working theater, and they still produce several shows each year. The building was changed quite a bit, but they have done their best to restore it to its appearance on that fateful day. They have the balcony box decorated just as it was the day the President was shot. Across the street the he back room of the home is perfectly preserved as well. It was eerie to me to see the bed he died in neatly made up just as it was in 1865.

Spy Museum

The spy museum was fantastic! We spent 3 hours there, but we could have easily spent a lot more! They had a special exhibit on Terrorism. I was intrigued to learn that terrorism is not a new phenomenon. There have been terrorists in America since the early days of our country, literally hundreds of attacks over the years. Foreign terrorists are not even new. I wish I could remember more, but I am already forgetting.

The permanent part of the museum is also amazing. They have spy gadgets of every type and generation on display. You get to pick a cover and go through spy training and learn what it takes to make a real spy. The boys all LOVED it, and Mr15 says it’s his favorite part of the trip!

7/2/05 Chancellorsville

We got up later than we had planned, and didn’t get moving very fast, but we were finally off about noon. Today we were driving out to Chancellorsville, to see the site of an important and famous Civil War battle. Mr.15 thought he was in heaven! Unfortunately, again we had a problem. It was about an hours drive from our hotel to Chancellorsville, but there was so much traffic, it took three! Oh well, we finally got there and they had a very interesting movie in the visitor center, and we looked around for a while and listened to a Ranger’s talk about one of the Generals in the battle, Stonewall Jackson.

Even though he was on the side of the Confederates, Jackson was quite a hero. He was mortally wounded at Chancellorsville, and had his left arm amputated. A few days later he died of pneumonia. His men had so much respect for him, that at the field hospital where they had amputated his arm they saved the arm from disposal with the other amputated limbs and took it to a nearby farm, where the brother of one of the officers lived. The arm was buried in the family cemetery there. So after we got some lunch, we went out to Ellwood farm and visited the home there, which was built before the Revolutionary War, and of course the cemetery as well. The home had served as an important location during the Revolution, and was both a field hospital for the Confederates and Headquarters for the Union at different times. The house was being restored and they had removed some sections of plaster from the walls, so we got to see the board and batten construction which was typical of pre-Revolutionary construction.

Mr.15’s hero is General Lee of the Confederate army, and it has been very interesting to have so much information about Lee, and the other facets of the war from the Confederate side. We had an awesome discussion in the car. We talked about how a person’s sense of right or wrong was effected by the society in which he/she lived and how although by all accounts Lee was an extremely moral and righteous person, he still supported the South’s right to slavery. How could he do that when slavery is so clearly wrong? We also talked about how our country as a whole had changed its views on what “Liberty and Justice for All” means. In Revolutionary times it was only for white landowners over the age of 21. Now women, blacks, non-landowners, and everyone is entitled to the same freedoms. The emphasis was on *how* and *why* and I really feel as if the boys learned a lot, I know I did.

We got back so late that we didn’t do hubby’s birthday again. LOL, poor man! We are trying again tomorrow, as we got in and to bed very late again.

7/1/05 China Town

Up early, off to the airport to pick up my hubby and the boys friend, Mr16. The flight was relatively on time and we got their baggage and took the shuttle back to the room. Everyone was tired, so we napped a bit and got everyone showered and ready to go. We had plans to go to the Marine Corp parade in the evening and it is supposed to be really amazing to see. Unfortunately the concierge at the hotel gave us bad directions and we ended up in Chinatown instead! By the time we figured out that we were in the wrong place and how to get where we were supposed to be, it was too late to go back to the Marine parade grounds. Instead we went to the International Spy museum and walked around and saw the outside of Ford’s Theater where Lincoln was shot. We are going back later to see the inside. *smiles* riding the Metro is fun, although a bit intimidating at first. You can really tell the difference between the locals and the tourists. Today is hubby’s birthday, but we decided to celebrate tomorrow when everyone is well rested. Of course we didn’t help that along much, we stayed out too late and nobody slept really well.

Arrived in DC/Appomattox

Today has been a very introspective day for me. We arrived in Washington DC and checked into a very nice hotel with an amazing view of the Washington skyline. Tomorrow morning I am up early to meet hubby and Mr16 at the airport, and after a bit of rest for them after their red eye flight we'll see what kind of trouble we can get into around the city.

We stayed last night in Appomattox Virginia, which is the location where General Lee surrendered to General Grant in the Civil War. At home I learned to pronounce it as Appat-o-mox but it is correctly pronounced Appa-matoc. I think the lady at the visitor's center was amused by our attempts to pronounce the word correctly. We spent the morning touring the well preserved and somewhat restored village. There was a living history presentation which was totally fascinating to me, a Union Sergeant described his experiences for an audience of about 25 visitors.



It was amazing to listen to him talk. He used the vernacular of an 1865 Pennsylvania Sergeant in the Federal Army and was dressed out in a realistic looking wool suit. He described the conditions he endured during the war as well as the events of the fateful day in April 1865. As we sat on the porch of what used to be the local tavern we could see the area where the forces had skirmished, the house where Grant and Lee had met to sign the surrender papers, and the old stagecoach road where the soldiers marched up to lay down their arms. He wove the story so skillfully I can still hear the scuff-scuff of the soldier’s feet marching to surrender.

We got to stand in the reconstructed house where Grant and Lee sat in the parlor and made “Gentleman's Agreement" to halt the terrible bloodshed. You could all but see them standing there still... the room re-furnished from pictures taken at the time of the surrender. You could smell the history and the intensity in the place still. I love history. I love how you can look into men's (and women's) souls and learn what's good and right and what's evil and hateful by looking at the fruit of their lives over time. I'll never forget today, or what happened in our nation's life April 9, 1865.

I took pictures, I'll have to upload them later, right now it's well past bedtime.

Good night.

Frozen Head State Park- Don't You Want To Picnic There?????

We drove around lost a lot today, so I had lots of opportunity to think, and I started thinking about the names of some of the places we have driven through. There was lovely "Toad Suck" Arkansas, and today we drove by "Frozen Head State Park". WHAT are people thinking when they name these places????? Very scary indeed.

Hubby took most of the pets to my Moms house today, and they promptly had a fight between one of our dogs and her cats. Poor poochy was just coming over to say "hi" and the cat went nuts. LOL Mom said he still isn't out from under the bed, and Buddy has a cut by his eye. Hope he doen't need a vet trip.....

We have changed plans... we are heading into Virgina instead of over to the North Carolina coast. Its a more direct route and Mr15 REALLY wants to see some Civil war battle fields... so we are indulging him.

A Timely Quote

People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering.

~St. Augustine