Thursday is
slated to be special, and you'll just have to follow this bouncing ball to see
how special as we continue the Saga of Dave & Jon Do D.C.
But
first, the morning ritual of “Shut Up Out there”, followed by groggy morning
ablutions, and another Great Breakfast at Villa McGlynn, followed by the battle
of getting video-game distracted boys dressed for the day.
Since Chucky
and DL have a special engagement for lunch, Angie and her boys will join us for
the ride in as we all have a scheduled a tour of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing
at 2:30.
On
the way into town, we'll stop at the Jefferson Memorial and maybe the WW II Memorial. Only time will tell, as Abuela is dead set on
getting some homework in before we head out.
As usual,
the morning routine stretches a bit longer than expected [why am I not
surprised]. And since we are getting a
late start and Jefferson is definitely on the schedule, homework is suspended for
now [YEA] and we pile into Angie’s Mini-van for a short haul to the Tidal Basin.
Since
Parking is no longer available at the site due to 9/11, Angie drops us off and
we hustle over to the main entrance which looks out over the basin just in time
for a
Surprise!
Unbeknownst
to us, today is the
274th anniversary Thomas Jefferson's birth.
And the District of Columbia Society of the Sons of the American
Revolution, the National Park Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior
and the Military District of Washington, sponsor a commemorative ceremony
every April 13th complete with the Navy
Band, Soldiers in Revolutionary costume, Proclamations, speeches etc., as
has been the case since the dedication of the Jefferson Memorial in 1943.
This
called for pictures all around including a magnificent shot across
the Basin toward the Lincoln memorial. We were about to climb the steps to Wish
Ole Thom Happy Birthday up close, just in time to have everyone chased off the
steps by the Park Rangers. The ceremony was about to begin.
Now What?
A quick
query of a Park Ranger and we are sent around the corner and down under
the building to the elevator next to the gift shop [where else] that will let
us off upstairs inside the main chamber of the Memorial… just as long as we stay inside and off the
steps.
The
elevator gets stuffed with other tourists and as we enter the spacious chamber
we are reminded by not one, not two but three park rangers to “Please stay
inside the Chamber and off the steps during the ceremony”.
Pointing up
at the statue of Jefferson, Dragon Abuela takes this time to remind the boys to
Thank the President for getting them out of doing homework this morning [a fate she saves for when we get home].
If you haven’t
been to the Jefferson Memorial, it is a MUST, even more impressive than it
appears in all the videos, pictures etc.
We manage
to get our visit and requisite pics completed just as the Navy band strikes up National
Anthem marking the start of the ceremony and we rush to the elevator texting
Angie that we are headed to the Pickup spot.
Once back
in the van, a missed turn has Angie whipping a girare-U to drop Chucky and D.L.
off at the WW II
Memorial. The boys have no interest as the video-game tablets snuck-aboard
hold much greater attraction.
This is another
spot that the pictures and videos just don’t do justice. Truly impressive and another great shot of
The Lincoln Memorial directly over the fountains.
We call
for our pickup as Angie whips another illegal girare-U. We head out to find our ParkingPanda
reservation with barely enough time for a quick walk down New York Ave towards a
Very Famous spot to meet Danny for Lunch.
Where you
anxiously ask???
Wellll… since
this got a little longer than expected you'll just have to wait for a full
report of this special occasion in a special location along with the rest of
the day in the next post…
Gotta
keep you in suspense, ya know.
Ciao 4 Now
Uncle
Chuck & The quivering with anticipation,
Dragon
Lady
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