You have already had a glimpse of some of the photos I took – at least, I hope you did go see them, but if not, here’s another opportunity. I have also added links to all the sets from DC at the end of this post. So even if you don’t read it, scroll down to the links. I love comments on my photos, by the way, so feel free.
DC is a very photogenic city. Basically, all you do is point your camera at things, and POP! -- great photo. In other words, a monkey can take good photos in DC. I really got to take in some sights this weekend. I did not get to it all, not by a long shot. There are A LOT of Smithsonians I did not even walk into, I didn’t get to see the White House, or Arlington Cemetery, or the Pentagon (hello, Secret Service or NSA or some other military intelligence, if you happened to come upon this blog). Oh stop your gasping, I did not have time for everything, so don’t be giving me that look.
Here’s what I did visit: the National Mall, the Washington Monument, the WW II Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial (and this one, I went back for seconds on Sunday evening for night shots), the National Archives and the National Air and Space Museum. I was in the Museum of the American Indian for lunch but as it is not the at the top of my museum wish-list, I passed on it in favor of the Air and Space Museum.
As to most of these, I will let the pictures speak for themselves. The Washington DC set includes the Mall, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, WW II Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Archives. The Air and Space Museum gets its own set, there were lots of rockets and planes to photograph and I thought some folks would like those. I also have a short set for the Lincoln Memorial at night. I will say a few words about some of these, however.
I have already mentioned the WW II Memorial. It is really grand, but it was a world war, and one of the few wars where the good and the evil were clearly defined: it is evil to kidnap people, tear their families apart, take all their belongings and pull out their gold teeth, and destroy them on masse because of some perceived ethnic flaw, or because they’re gay (yeah, he did that too). There is no choice but to stand up to such evil, and that’s what the world did. It was a war on two massive fronts: the Allies (Great Britain, Russia and the US) fought the Axis (Germany, Japan and Italy) in the Pacific and in the Atlantic.
These two fronts are represented by the sculptures at the two ends of the Memorial. It was the war where 6 million innocent Jews were slaughtered, an estimated 20 million people died, dozens of countries fought, and two atomic bombs were dropped, each of which killed 100,000 people or so (a questionable move, at best, I would agree – even the good make terrible mistakes). It was the war of Pearl Harbor.
A war like that doesn’t just get a subtle, artistic memorial, it gets a fucking awesome memorial because all the millions of people who died and all the millions of people who fought and survived deserve it. So for anyone who might have a thought that the memorial is kitsch or vulgar or too ostentatious, I recommend looking into the eyes of the remaining veterans who visit and telling them that their war does not deserve such recognition. And that’s all I have to say about that.
While I was there, I was able to mingle with and photograph some WW II veterans who were there on a bus tour. They are all pretty old, some in wheelchairs, and were accompanied by guardians. One guardian asked if I would take a photo of her with her two veterans by one of the sculptures, which I happily did. I also took this photo with my camera, and emailed it to one of them.

This is the email response I received from him.
Dear Elena,
Thanks for taking the time to take a picture of a couple of old Veterans and their assigned "Guardian". The group that took us from Harrisburg, PA to Washington was called "Honor Bus". Among other things a local middle school raised to money for the trip for about 60 WW II Vets. Other groups flew in on "Honor Flights' from around the U.S. Having that many people care about saying "Thank you" gave us a warm and fuzzy feeling about the future of the country.
Thanks again for being considerate to a couple of total strangers.
Bill Kelley
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"Bill" as a WW II Merchant Marine Officer when he wasn't so old
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Is this the best thing ever? Yes!
The Vietnam War Memorial is just as moving as the WW II Memorial, but in a quiet way that initially underwhelms you but then creeps up on you and suddenly you’re in it, in all the sadness and the death. It was a smaller war that WW II, and the loss for the US was more individual: a lot of young men died (I think 60,000) for a war that turned out to be pointless, and they are missed to this day. The Memorial is made up of two long marble walls that meet at an angle. It rises out of the ground with a few names and then grows and grows until it is much taller than any man, and then grows smaller again and disappears once more into the ground with the last name.
There are thousands upon thousands of names. When you go, you cannot help but cry and touch the names and say a prayer for them whether you pray to God or Buddha or just the universe. You say a prayer for them and for the ones left behind, and for their friends who come to the wall to find their names and trace them on a piece of paper so they can have something of them to take away.
All this in one morning – I needn’t tell you that I was a wreck after that. My heavens!
And finally, a few words about the National Archives. Really, only a few. This is where the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution live. And I tell you what, when I got in front of that Constitution and saw it up close and personal, and saw all those signatures beginning with G. Washington, I cried. Again. I’m out of tissues.
All the monuments and historic buildings and collections, the National Mall, and the Smithsonians are all free to visit. Free. Not a penny do you have to pay to look at these things. I of course dropped money in every donation box I could find, and I joined The Smithsonian to support it, their museums really are remarkable. In addition, donations can be made to the The Trust For The National Mall, which is tasked with the maintenance of the Mall. It could use a little more upkeep, I think, so I will be making a donation to them, also.
I write this on the plane. As we took off, I thought of the 1903 Wright Flyer, which I saw at the National Air and Space Museum.