A series of occurrences (primarily laziness/spacing out watching TV) prevented this post from appearing midweek. Last weekend was supposed to be occupied with the season ending softball tournament. Unfortunately Tropical Storm Lee drenched the greater DC area the entire week. This made for both a rough work week - slogging back and forth on foot/mass transiting in the rain. Also, this made it a rough (or ruff for you pun fans) week for Mo, who despite her time on the streets has turned into a spoiled little princess. Mo does not like to take care of business with any hint of a storm in the air.
(Mo's princess like behavior kept her from Meeting Bill Clinton with Dexter.)
With the tournament officially postponed, our weekend schedule was wide open. Saturday morning started off slow until we heard on the news that the “Newseum” was free admission this weekend. We had wanted to visit the museum for months, however the $21.99+tax admission fee had kept us away.
The Newseum is dedicated to the history of the news, press and the 1st amendment.
It was very interesting and it was easy to get lost in the generations of historic events. It was amazing to realize how much you forget or never knew about events as they happened.
Even events in recent memory like Hurricane Katrina, seeing the pictures and a selection of coverage were startling reminders of what the devastation looked like.
On a whole, the Newseum is very cool and worth a visit. Though it is worth mentioning that the news has a tendency to be kind of depressing and so taking in 100 years of major disasters/tragedies in an hour or two can be a lot. Luckily, there is a gift shop on every floor for visitors to purchase plush microphones and other trinkets to turn the frown upside down on any aspiring TV news anchor.
(Uhhh, actually this was Saturday.)
After the Newseum, we attempted to visit the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial, but was deterred by massive traffic due to a combination of visitors and security for the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and cyclists that were setting up for the Nations Capitol Triathlon.
Content that we had done something useful with our day, we went back and got the dogs and took them for a long walk in the sunshine that finally had returned. Mo was particularly (or barticularly if you are ridiculous) pleased to be free to go about her business.
Our feature film for Saturday night was Lincoln Lawyer, staring Matthew McConaughey and Marisa Tomei. It was full of twists and turns and overall was decent entertainment for the evening.
Sunday was 9/11, so we watched some of the memorial coverage and discussed how fast the past decade has went. We proceeded with a few life chores and welcomed back the NFL season. Unfazed by the threats of a terrorists attacks we decided to complete our mission of visiting the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.
We parked along the Potomac river and walked along the Tidal basin until we reached the MLK jr. memorial. It is a great venue for a memorial. It sits right on the basin, looking straight at the Thomas Jefferson memorial. The memorial includes a 30 ft statue of MLK and a plaza full of historic quotes and speeches engraved on beautiful stone walls.
We sat along the basin’s edge for awhile as the sunset. We continued our walk along the Tidal Basin under the hundreds of cherry blossom trees and highly anticipate next spring when the trees are in bloom. The sun had set, but the sky remained lit by a full moon over the Jefferson memorial. We took a seat and enjoyed the the view for a few minutes, until we realized it was after dark in a DC park and we should head for safety.
As we headed back, we stopped at FDR’s memorial just as they turned on the lights. FDR’s memorial is full of great waterfalls that became illuminated as we walked past.
And that brought our weekend to an end. What happened after that? You'll just have to check back in to find out.
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