Windwalker's Mountain Post: Washington, D.C..--Day 1

What we would like to say about these kids is: What Troopers They Are!

With a 4:30 a.m. wake up call, everyone was out of bed and into travel duds. Mark and the kids arrived at the Ant Farm at 5:30 and we were off for O'Hare airport. Our United flight took off on time and it seemed like only minutes before we were descending into our nation's Capitol.

Grandma Pam (great travel planner that she is) had arranged for a shuttle to pick us up. We hopped aboard and arrived at The Homewood Suites on Massachusetts Ave. After a quick unpack, we hit the streets. We had made reservations for a Capitol tour for both today and tomorrow so we could decide how to manage our activities after we got here. We were not able to get tickets to the Holocaust museum online, so we thought we'd walk there first and see what we could do in person. Our lunch plans were foiled by a 45 minute wait so we bought hot dogs and warm pretzels from a street vendor and ate in a park.

After "lunch" we continued our walk toward the Holocaust Museum and the Jefferson end of the Tidal Basin. The cherry trees are in bloom. The wind was blowing and as we walked we were showered with pink and white petals. All-of-a-sudden, we heard sirens. Several helicopters flew overhead and hovered over something in the distance. Police cars flew by...several ambulances...a fire truck. Through the trees by the Jefferson memorial we could see flashing lights and surmised that "something big must have happened over there."

At the Holocaust Museum we discovered there were tickets for a 4:15 entrance today. We took the tickets and off we went to see the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, The Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, and then to pay our respects to Thomas Jefferson. Helicopters continued to fly overhead. Sirens screamed. Official cars flashed here and there, but no one seemed to be overly concerned, so when in Rome...

At 3:30 we were back at the Holocaust Museum taking a rest on some benches near the entrance when I got a text from our friend Lyn, in Colorado: "US Capitol on lockdown--staffers told to shelter in place." "What is happening?" I texted back. "Shots fired in Capitol visitor center. Suspect shot and in custody and on the way to the hospital."

We texted our family to let everyone know we were safe, and then it was time to go into the Holocaust Museum. Had we not asked Olivia to just get the jist of many of the displays, I think we would still bin inside. She was a careful observer--taking time and looking thoughtfully at everything. It is a hard place to visit, but so moving and well done we wanted both kids to have as much time as they needed.

By 6:30 we were back at our hotel, snacking our way through the amazing dinner bar--all compliments of the house. Now we are wind burned and tired. Daric has practiced his play lines (Dr. Livesey in Treasure Island), Olivia and Grandma Pam have perused the pictures they took today, and we are all ready to tuck in. Tomorrow? The Capitol and monuments and memorials on the National Mall.

Here are a few impressions offered by our fellow travelers

Daric: It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood. I really like D.C. Our day was fun and educational. I really liked walking around the tidal basin and thought the cherry blossoms were cool.

Olivia: I observed that at the beginning of the FDR memorial President Roosevelt was cast as a small man in a wheel chair...perhaps signifying the stature of someone you didn't know much about, but by the end of his Presidency he was represented as a very large statue...signifying what an important figure he had been, and also signifying that we knew him much better after visiting all of the memorial.

At the Holocaust museum there was a quote that said: "Where books are burned, in the end people will be burned." (Heinrich Heine) "I liked that," Olivia reported. "And there was a quote at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial that I liked." (See picture below)