“The crab that walks too far falls into the pot”
Haitian Proverb
I'm on the seafood diet...see food and eat it. Being an iodine addict of note I was in serious shellfish seventh heaven.
"Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm."
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
It was a hot and steamy Memorial Day weekend (especially for the crabs). We were tired after a long day of standing in line to see the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. The whole waterfront was a seething mass of people, cars and fishy, frying smells. A couple of super sized policemen were controlling traffic in the parking lot as family sedan after family sedan pulled through to buy a Friday night fish supper. Loud music and shouts from the vendors added to the chaos.
"Anyway, like I was sayin', shrimp is the fruit of the sea.
You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich.
That- that's about it."
Bubba Gump
"
I will not eat oysters. I want my food dead.
Not sick. Not wounded. Dead"
Woody Allen.
Mmmm, oyster or shrimp, oyster or shrimp. We were all completely overwhelmed by the choices so inevitably made no decision at all and ended up in an air conditioned restaurant next door.
“Twilight fell: The sky turned to a light,
dusky purple littered with tiny silver stars.”
J.K. Rowling.
"The lovely thing about cruising is
that planning usually turns out to be of little use."
Dom Degnon.
We idly wandered the riverfront looking at the boats, we had no clue that tomorrow we take a trip along the river in that very boat to Mount Vernon, home of George Washington.
"There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing
as simply messing about in boats."
Rat-The Wind in the Willows
It was the perfect day for a cruise and with most of Washington's roads gridlocked in the long weekend traffic we felt decidedly clever to go by water. Sitting on the top deck, sipping a drink, with the breeze to cool us was a wonderful way to travel to Mount Vernon.
"I can truly say I had rather be at home at Mount Vernon
with a friend or two about me, than to be attended at the seat of government by the officers of State and the representatives of every power of Europe."
George Washington
The Mount Vernon Ladies Association purchased the estate from the Washington family and opened the gates for visitors in 1860. Since then there have been 80 million visitors. It is the most visited historic site in America. One million visitors a year can't be wrong. It appeared that most of that million had also chosen today for their look see. Clutching our mansion tour ticket with allocated time printed on it, we quickly rushed up the hill from the landing dock. A quick inspection of the house and we were duly processed out of the kitchen door, impressed by both the preservation of the house and the tour guides' information. Obviously, George Washington is still a very much beloved father to the American Nation. It also seemed apparent that he had prospered greatly during his life both financially and personally. As we wandered the grounds, I felt a sense gladness that he had had his just rewards in life.
“It is in games that many men discover their paradise.”
Robert Lynd
Luckily for us, every Memorial Weekend a high school drama group dresses up and spends their time wandering the grounds in period costumes. They act in accordance with the way visitors would have back in the day. Josh even got to play an old fashioned hoop game while I tried not to swoon in the midday heat.
"The love of my country will be the ruling influence of my conduct."
George Washington
The best part of the visit to Mount Vernon was getting to see Stella's dad's film. He created a short film which highlighted the brilliance of George Washington and his commanders. Craig even appears in the film in a minor cameo role, which thrilled us into a loud cheer in the quiet of the theatre. We just had time for a bite to eat in the overcrowded Cafeteria where it was every tourist for themselves. Realizing we risked missing the boat, Carrie came through once more and got us a ride down to the dock on a golf cart. Needless to say a fast ride downhill was the kids favorite part of the day.
“Without ice cream, there would be darkness and chaos.”
Don Kardong
Our last day in Washington D.C. and Greg had already left on an early morning flight headed west. We would be flying to Europe this evening headed for a visit with Pops and Grandma. However, first things first we had time to squeeze in a quick Sunday ice cream or would that make it an ice cream Sundae?
"The hard core, the outlaw elite, were the Hell's Angels... wearing the winged death's-head on the back of their sleeveless jackets and packing their "mamas" behind them on big "chopped hogs."
Hunter S.Thompson
Every Memorial Day weekend there is a motorcycle rally in Washington DC in recognition of POWs and MIAs. Its been running for 25 years and this year there was an expected 1 million bikes converging on the city. We checked out a few 'chopped hogs' in Alexandria. The kids and I started to feel a little sad that we wouldn't be seeing our soul sisters Stella and Carrie for a few months. As we had a little extra time before our flight we decided to stop at the Air and Space Museum near Dulles airport.
" The Shuttle is to spaceflight what Lindbergh was to commercial aviation." Arthur C. Clarke
The Space Shuttle Discovery is one of the big attractions at the museum. It takes up a huge amount of floor space, yet as we approached the exhibit I couldn't get over how small it was. It actually arrived to Washington D.C. piggyback style on top of a Boeing 747 and was tiny in comparison. It looked like a cobbled together, patchwork quilt of metal and I was amazed that this vessel had made it into space let alone back again. It made me feel old too, old because I had seen it launched and retired in my lifetime. Seeing the kids standing in front of it had me exponentially wondering about what space flight would be like during their time on the planet?
"When you look at the stars and the galaxy, you feel that you are not just from any particular piece of land, but from the solar system."
Kalpana Chawla, mission specialist, first Indian born woman astronaut
It started to look less like a trans-Atlantic airplane and more like a spaceship when I walked underneath the boosters. Suddenly space seemed a whole lot closer. My already broadened horizons seemed infinite when I started to think less about which country or continent I came from and think more about which planet and universe.
"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for flying British Airways Concorde." Captain Mike Bannister last flight of Concorde.
Seeing Concorde always reminds me to grab opportunities when they come your way. I used to see Concorde from where I worked at Heathrow. I made a promise to myself that one day I would buy a ticket onboard the supersonic jet. I didn't feel any desperate rush nor could I really afford the luxury. However, the matter was taken out of my hands when the service was pulled out of operation. Fast forward a couple of decades and I did finally step aboard the narrow tin tube as a museum piece in Barbados. Not quite the same experience but at least I had fulfilled my promise.
"There is no substitute for victory."
General Douglas MacArthur
I think out of all the amazing aircraft in the super sized hanger the Enola Gay created the most moving moment for me. The B29 aircraft was named after Colonel Paul Tibbets's mother and changed the course of WWII.
"If God had really intended men to fly, he'd make it easier to get to the airport." George Winters
It was a difficult task to persuade the kids it was time to head to the airport for our departure to Iceland, even when I promised we'd be able to play with real snowballs in the morning. The roads out to the airport were deserted, we wondered what happened to the 1 million bikers? I guess everyone was downtown or had got to where ever it was they were going. Pulling into the airport was an eerie experience as it was so quiet with an empty parking lot and no check in queues. Saying goodbye to Carrie and Stella left the expected lump in my throat and it was hard to shake off the sadness as we wheeled into through the airport doors into the cool of the air conditioning. Security was an unnerving event due to the fact there was no line, the uniformed officers actually smiled and had a word or two to wish us a pleasant trip. Where was I? I had to check my watch to make sure it was still 2012. The lack of crowds gave us extra waiting time at the gate and I tried to push my organizational thoughts to Reykjavik our stopover on the way to Manchester. However, I had to sit and wait while eating airport sushi and digesting the past couple of weeks. We had enjoyed such a wonderful time with old friends and had an amazing, living, American history lesson from colonial start to space age finish. Greg was headed to Asia and we would be in Europe, we still weren't sure where we would rendezvous. The kids and I were looking forward to time with family and new baby cousins and secretly my waistline was relieved to be leaving all those flavors of ice cream.
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