A Wonderful Trip

For those of us that were born and reared on the West Coast, we have had very limited exposure to the area where the birth of our great country took place. Over two hundred years ago, the people of the English Colony of America, tired of the tyranny of the King, rose up in defiance, and formed the Republic we now call the United States. Most of this activity took place from Virginia north.

Political statement: this same area, the North East, is now willing to flush this great country down the drain by voting in the likes of Kennedy, Schumer, Dodd, and our new naive president, Obama. Of course, California is not helping with Boxer, Feinstien, and Pelosi. I can't believe people of the the US are so willing to give up the the Constitution for a few paltry handouts.

Those of you that have been able to see some of the historical sights on the East Coast are very fortunate indeed, and for those that have not had the opportunity, my posts for today and tomorrow will allow you to have a very small look at what you would see. I know most of the activities of the American Revolution happened in Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania, but you can still get a sense of history by visiting our nation's capitol, Washington, D.C.

The first time I visited Washington, D.C., was in 1966, when I was traveling from Ft. Gordon, GA to Ft. Meade, MD, for special training for ASA. I had four days for travel, allowing time to visit the monuments and places of history. (Remind me to tell you the story of going to Congress sometime). The last six-months I was in the Army, I was stationed at Vint Hill Farms Station, in Warrenton, VA, so Betty, Daryl and I had many opportunities to visit D.C. However, the trip I'm going to share photos of, took place in the summer of 1992.

We moved to upstate New York in 1991, and Daryl, of course, was still in school in California. He was selected to give a presentation at a national Psychology Convention in Washington, D.C., in the summer of 1992. It was a great opportunity for the family, so we rented a motor-home and traveled to the D.C. area. While Daryl was at the convention, the rest of us toured D.C., and then we would meet up with Daryl for further touring. Even though we were in the D.C. area for 5 days, it still was not enough time to see everything.

Today, I'm going to concentrate on the Smithsonian Museum. First off, the Smithsonian is not just a single building. It is made up of several buildings, each having unique displays. The museum of Air and Space Exploration I would say was my favorite, but all of the museums we visited were impressive. The wonderful thing about the Smithsonian is the constant changed it goes through, updating displays, keeping current on recent happenings. The Air and Space museum is now housed at Dulles Airport, as it has grown so large. Hopefully, there is more room around the space displays. It was so crowded around the early space capsules, Gemini and Apollo , I couldn't even take photos.

The following are photos of Amy at the A&S museum.

Amy at the Air & Space Museum in front of a German Stutka hanging from the ceiling.


One of TWA's first planes


Have you ever flown on Eastern Airlines? Now defunct, but it flew up and down th East Coast many years. It was the predicessor to US Air. Betty, Daryl, & I flew from Dallas to Longview, TX in a similar airplane in 1969.

An American Airlines Clipper. It could fit inside a 747, I think.

Another "cool" museum is the Museum of Art. These are photos of Daryl, posing as statues.

I prefer Daryl with arms and a head.

Don't know what this statue is, but Daryl looks great.

Daryl in a cluster of statues.

At one of the museums, there were cut-outs of George H.W. Bush and Barbara, so Daryl posed with them. sorry Barbara face was blocked by the flash.

Tomorrow, more D.C.