Labor Day Part II

Only a month later, right? Quick wrap-up, then, so I can talk about how it's only ONE WEEK to the marathon, holy craparoondog.

SO, after I saw the Washington Memorial, I walked down the Mall to the new World War II Memorial.



Up at the entrances are sections of bas-relief showing scenes from the war, from men signing up to battles in the Pacific and Europe. This one shows D-Day.



It was nice to get to go see this new (to me) memorial. It was really beautiful, but extremely loud. There are a gazillion fountains all over the place, and the rushing water is noisy.


I continued the walk down to the Lincoln Memorial. I checked out the punctuation on the Gettysburg, but the guy who carved it into stone was rather lazy--no commas.



The I walked back around town for a while, catching some wildlife:






















And some Smithsonians:














And got to see a rather hilarious (to me, at least) depiction of the grand circle of life:


Are you as tired as I was? I grabbed some dinner, then saw the Willard Hotel where President Grant would hang out and talk to the "lobbyists," and walked by Ford's Theater.


Whew.
It was a full day, and I loved it. My feet were killing me, but I had a great time.

My Historical Boyfriend

So for Labor Day 2008, the Four Swordswomen got together, as per usual. We've considerably expanded though, to include Three Swordsmen and four (4!) Swordslettes (plus Baby Husiman). Gracious, but that's a lot of loved ones.

BUT! Before I get to all that and talk about my dearly beloved and post their pictures, I have to tell you about My Historical Boyfriend. It all started back at my previous place of employment, and my ray of hope and light that was the historical books. I worked on the paperback edition of George Washington's War and my new love bloomed. It only increased when working on The First American Army and Young Patriots. Aside from being engrossing historical reads, the authors on those books, Bruce Chadwick and Charles Cerami, were also incredible to work with. And they will forever be dear to me for indulging me in my passion for the father of our founding, George Washington.

Yeah, I've got a thing for our first president. Bruce told me it was understandable, as women tend to have a thing for men in uniform.

In any case, since the annual reunion followed the tradition of being located near the youngest baby, we were in Virginia this year. Which of course meant that I got to fly in to D.C. and do the tourist thing first. I touched the Washington Monument, and took some crazy pictures of it's towering height:



I walked what felt like the entire metro D.C. area, then collapsed. The next morning, after a nice tour of Arlington Cemetery, I headed out to Virginia...and Mount Vernon! The beloved home designed and decorated by my one true Historical Love, G. Washington. Oh my. It was lovely.

I really, really enjoyed getting to see this place. It was just beautiful, and the guides were wonderful. We got to hear all sorts of details about George and about the home. I had such a great time. And, really, that man had some good taste. Check out this view:


In all? A wonderful trip. More pictures can be seen over on my Flickr.
More to come, of course, about the rest of D.C. and my time with my ladies.