Capital Day!

I'm sure most of you know that Baltimore is only about an hour away from Washington, DC. Until we moved here, Tiffany and I were the only members of our family who had been there to visit. Recently, Michael got to go and now Hamp and Matthew are the lone holdouts. I'm hoping that will change soon and until then, I'm trying to learn the best way to show someone DC in a day. As you can imagine, that's a very daunting task and one I haven't come close to mastering.

Mark is here visiting for a few days and has never seen DC, so today we gave it the ole college try. I think the cab driver that took us to Union Station at the end of the day so we could catch the train back to Baltimore had the best idea - a tour bus! After walking at least 4 miles and only being able to see the monuments on the Washington Mall, we agreed that a bus where you could get on and off at various stops at your own pace would allow you to see other things like Arlington National Cemetery and Mount Vernon as well as have a bigger overview. You still need you walking shoes, but I think future visitors will thank our cabbie for his suggestion today.

Tomorrow afternoon we'll head to Camden Yards via the water taxi to see the Orioles play. I am now the proud owner of an orange Baltimore shirt that I will wear except when the Braves come in town. I'll leave you with some pictures from our trip to DC today. What you won't see is Mark riding his first train, first subway, and first taxi. Welcome to the city!

The Lincoln Memorial





From the top of the steps on the Lincoln Memorial looking toward the Washington Monument. If you look to the left, you'll see the Capitol Building in the distance.



The Jefferson Memorial







Timely words from the Roosevelt Memorial





The state of Florida represented in the World War II Memorial



Scenes from the Vietnam Memorial





Different views of the Washington Monument throughout the day









Here it is in the background of the national Christmas tree which for obvious reasons just looks like a tree right now.



It's hard to get a good picture in front of the White House anymore, but we tried.





We finally ended up near the Capitol Building but didn't have much time to see it well so we could catch the train we wanted.







If you haven't been to our nation's capital yet, we'd love to have you come visit and we'll go with you. It's very sobering to walk through the history we've read about in school knowing that as we walk, history is continually being made. Our country doesn't do everything well and we've made lots of mistakes. But for today, we still have freedom for the most part to live as we choose and worship the God under which our nation was founded. And for that I am thankful.