D.C.

Washington D.C. was one of our favorite cities. We were able to stay very close to the city, in Kensington (only a few minutes by train) thanks to cousin MaryBelle, who graciously offered us room and board for the duration of our D.C. leg.
First thing about Washington: Stepping off the subway and onto the national mall, you cannot help but be struck by the history of the place. Turn your head one way and you see the Capitol Building, where presidents are sworn into the nation's highest office. Turn your head the other way and there stands the Lincoln Memorial where Martin Luther King Jr famously delivered his "I have a dream" speech. History is everywhere in D.C. and it really is palpable.
Second thing about Washington: The monuments and Smithsonian museums are fantastic and, fantastically, they are free. We went to the National Galleries (great collections filled with impressionists, Rodin sculptures, and much too much to list) as well as the Air and Space Museum (see the module that landed on the moon and marvel at the fact that it looks like someone put it together with aluminum foil for an art class), the American Indian Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, American History Museum (where you can see, among other things, the hat that Lincoln was wearing when he was shot, Julia Child's kitchen, and the Watergate file cabinets), Botanical Gardens, and Natural History Museum. They do a great job on all of these, and if you have the time, there's no excuse not to go to them.
As for the monuments, they are a must-see as well. Washington Monument is the tallest structure in D.C., the World War II Memorial is beautiful, the Korean War Memorial is haunting with its statues and faces carved into walls, and Lincoln Memorial was a highlight for us. We walked along the reflecting pool just as the sun was setting behind the Lincoln Memorial. Because of that, we couldn't see him initially, but as we made our way up the steps, the Great Emancipator slowly came into view, until we found ourselves standing in front of that most famous statue. We marveled and then turned around to sit on the steps with the glittering reflecting pool at our feet and the setting sun lighting up the Capitol Building in the distance.
I don't care what those Tea Party-ers say...Washington is awesome.

Yellowstone Delayed

We were planning on being in Yellowstone National Park on the 10th of August. Unfortunately, our arrival was delayed by these folks:



Tracy Province and John McCluskey escaped from prison in Arizona (can AZ do anything right lately?) where they were doing time for murder and attempted murder respectively. After their escape, they murdered an unfortunate couple who were camping in New Mexico and then made their way to….Yellowstone. Just great. As if killer grizzly bears weren’t enough.
Apparently the authorities have caught one of the escapees, Province, in a small town after he spent his Sunday morning at a church service there.
As for McCluskey…where to start. At the moment he is still on the run with his cousin/lover (yes, really). He is, by all indications, supremely stupid and indiscriminately violent. Either of these is certainly distasteful on its own, but in combination? Now, that’s just not fair to subject the rest of us to. We are only adequately trained to deal with the former and only insofar as it fails to amalgamate with the latter.
McCluskey is a man who was serving (only) a 15 year sentence when he decided that it would be a good idea to escape prison and go on an armed robbery and murdering spree. This is obviously a man with a tenuous grasp of risk-benefit analysis. Once he gets caught and “cost” makes its way in to the picture, his head may very well explode.
In any case, Dorothy and I decided it would be wise to stay out of their way until they left Yellowstone which, fortunately, they now have. We are very much looking forward to spending some time there, and feel good about only having to contend with the bears.

The South

After New Orleans, we traveled up through Mississippi stoping in Natchez and Oxford. We camped at a trailerpark along the river (camping anywhere other than in a national park means being the only tent surrounded by a sea of RVs). We waited as we were bombarded by yet another thunderstorm, and admired the stretched out rainbow that it left along the surface of the Mississippi.
We tried the barbeque in Memphis as well as checking out The King's diggs and visiting the balcony where Martin Luther King Jr was fatally shot. From there, we tore through Tennesse on our way to Williamsburgh, Virginia.
Before hitting Virginia, much of the south looked very similar: poor and dirty. Almost depressingly so. In the larger cities there were young boys performing tricks and stunts for passerbys who would fill their bags with coins. The kids would then pick up the bags and promptly take them over to older kids sitting on stoops smoking, before returning to the street to perform some more.
In the large cities, policemen would absolutely fill the few blocks which attracted tourists, but were hardly seen anywhere else in the city. The cities themselves were filled with trash, had roads that were torn apart and, save for touristy downtowns, often had little in the way of businesses that weren't fast-food joints or gas stations.
The smaller towns (although surely not better off in economic terms) actually looked much better and exhibited more charm than their larger counterparts. There were public gardens, small businesses, and gorgeous mansions.