Independance Day

Today is the 4th of July, a pretty big deal here in the land of the free. Tonight promises to be a night full of revelry and fireworks.


We've recently been in DC, and there was a great deal to see there, I'm sure we barley scratched the surface. We did find out about George Washington's life by visiting his home at Mount Vernon. As a young man he was instrumental in winning freedom for the colonies, but once they had driven the British back, he handed power back to the civilian government. Later he was elected as the first president of the united states, which he reluctantly accepted for two terms before again giving up the position. I guess that's why the Washington monument is that massive pillar that sits in the middle of the city.

The Jefferson monument and the Lincoln monument were amazing to see. Both presidents having such presence. Well their statues do at least. We also got to see an exhibit on Lincoln, including his famous hat.

The Smithsonian in DC is a pretty amazing thing. There is a long strip of historical buildings in front of the capitol building called 'The Mall'. Most of it is run by the Smithsonian institution, and is completely free to visit. It includes the Smithsonian castle, the museum of natural history, full of dinosaurs, animal exhibits, and that sort of thing. The Museum of American History, which is wehere we saw Lincolns hat, as well as the original star spangled banner, all the first lady's ball gowns, and the red slippers that dorothy clicked together. And many art and culture museums that we did not have time to see.

The highlight of the Smithsonian for me was the Air and space museum out near Dallas airport. Our friend Greg who put us up for a few days took us out to see this and some other things. You know that stealth plane that turns into a transformer in the movie, well that guys there. Along with the space shuttle Enterprise, and the Enola Gay, famous for dropping the first atomic bomb. Our tour guide Buzz was very cool, and had been a military pilot in many of the aircraft that we saw that day.

It wasn't all history though. We went to the Kennedy centre and saw a terrific play one night, and on our last night we found tickets to see Pat Benatar at Wolf Trap Theatre. She put on an amazing show.

The next day we jumped on a bus back to Philadelphia, and 'Home Base' back in Jersey. I advise everybody not to go cheap on bus rides. We boarded the bus in china town, a bad sign. when we boarded the bus, it smelt like an open sewer, and continued to smell that way for the 3 hours to Philadelphia. It was disgusting, but it made us even more happy to be back with Fredi and Jack in Cherry Hill.