Washington DC (Part 5)
So my schedule is starting to break down a bit more. My goal was to get to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) early in the morning. Due to the late night on Wednesday, I was too tired to get up and see money print at 6am. So I ended up killing that idea and went to go on to the next item on my list: Arlington Cemetery.
Before I did that, I looked to see what the weather would be for the Nats (Washington Nationals) game later on that night. Well the night was fine but it was to be rainy all day. Rainy and cold weather was not something I had planned for. Fortunately in my previous escapade I had gotten jeans at Macy's so that was set. Yet my only jacket or covering to keep the rain off of me was a Sox jacket. Not something to really wear to a Nats game is it? Speaking of which, I wanted to get a Nats hat as well. If I'm gonna cheer them on, I might as well do it like a real fan, not like I'm posing to be one. Even though I kinda am. (grin)
So I look through my VZ Nav to see if there's any closeby stores like a Sports Authority or anything like that. Nothing around. I'm trying to think of any other chains that might carry Nats stuff and finally I settle on looking for Wal-Marts and come up on a closeby Target. I call and verify they have the hats. Well it's 10 hours away. Wait, what? Oh, my nav was in pedestrian mode. If I were to walk it would take 10 hours. lol Well that brings up another point, how the hell do I get there? I settle on calling up a taxi and having it drive me to the Target, pick up a hat, and back to the Metro station where I can off to Arlington. Well now it's drizzling pretty good so I decided while in there I can get something light to wear as well.
The driver picks me up and I can't help but smile as he's listening to CSPAN radio. They're talking about the presidential race and specifically Obama's speech in Denver later tonight. We get in a conversation about how he had taken a few people to the airport to go see Obama in Denver. People with connections like major donors of some sort. That's really cool. We go back and forth talking about what's happened so far, who we expect to win, etc. I finally get to the Target, and try to find their sports section. Figured it shouldn't be that hard to see, right? Wrong. I go through for 10 minutes and there's a bunch of Redskins stuff but no Nats stuff to be found. The girl on the phone was probably guessing and didn't even look. Shit. Well that makes sense since the season is almost over, who'd be buying baseball stuff now? The Redskins are more important to DC than the Nats are anyways. Finally I happen upon a clearance shelf and lo and behold there's 2 styles of hats. I pick the nice red one. Now to find a light jacket. I look and look some more. No way in hell I'll find a Nats jacket like my Sox windbreaker obviously. Finally I settle on a black hoodie. Don't have one anyways so this'll work well back home too. I scramble out back to the taxi which he kindly waited for me with.
I head on the Metro and transfer on the blue line to reach Arlington cemetery. I decided not to bring the camera along until I go to the game. I just couldn't justify taking pictures there. I saw it like this, if I wouldn't go into any other cemetery and start taking pictures, what makes this one any different? Nothing. Even if it is in DC, a tourist town. I get off at the stop and it's quiet. Not much going on around 11:30 or so. I find my way to the ticket counter and purchase my Tourmobile bus ticket for the tour through Arlington. There's a stop at 3 spots: Eternal Flame, Tomb of the Unknown, and Arlington House. At this point, it seems like it was raining harder than before. Almost as if the weather was mirroring the sadness and solemn reflection the place deserves. I hop on the bus with 10 others and our tour guide begins going over the ground rules. He goes quiet if there's a funeral going on nearby. No eating, drinking, or littering. He reminds them all: this is a cemetery. No nonsense. As we go along, the black gentleman (whose name I can't recall) pointed out different areas and sections of graves. He had a little more of natural tendency to point out those that were black related (which I found refreshing) such as the Tuskegee Airmen graves and so on.
We come to our first stop at the Eternal Flame. According to what he said, RFK in his will wanted to be buried elsewhere but his family went against his wishes and had him buried next to his brother JFK in Arlington. That sucks. I understand the idea of why, but eh. I'd be pissed if I were RFK. I digress. I went up the slick cement steps to see the flame and it's such a humble sight. I can't help but tear up thinking about what would have happened, what could have occurred if he finished out his presidency. Or even got re-elected. No LBJ as president for instance. Would we have gone into Vietnam or sent "advisors"? Where would the space program be? What policies would he and his brother put into place domestically and internationally? We as a country were robbed of the potential greatness in store from him. Sure like any president he had his ups and downs, plus the Marilyn Monroe stuff and all, so he wasn't flawless in any sense. I'm not big on romanticizing figures in the past. That somehow mediocre performance transcends into greatness just because the person died. Plus I know there's more I need to research into his actions and legacy. Still. While reflecting on all of this I looked around the area and noticed the beautiful sight of downtown DC in the distance. An incredible sight that eventually got noticed by the other people on the tour as well. You could see pretty a large overview of the city. This gives you a sense of that view.
We got back in the bus and carried on to the next stop: Tomb of The Unknown Soldier. Now the interesting part is the last time I was here, they had a soldier in the tomb for the Vietnam war. In 98 they were able to do DNA testing and identified the soldier. So now there is one tomb for World War I, another for World War II and Korea, and the third one (which used to be for Vietnam) is now blank and is symbolic for all future wars and identifying remains. The rain still was coming down but much lighter now as the Changing of the Guards ceremony took place. All 3 soldiers with exact military precision on each step they took and each movement. I can't imagine what it's like to guard that and have that be your job. After the changing was done, I walked around the amphitheater, wondering about the many ceremonies that have taken place here.
While waiting for the bus, which turned out to be with a different tour guide (which kinda sucked since they all say different things), I looked around before it came. I noticed a memorial for the Challenger and Columbia shuttle flights which I wasn't even aware they had there. Also the tour guide pointed out the mast from the USS Maine. The same one that sparked the Spanish-American war in 1898! Whoa. That's incredible they were able to salvage and clean it up to where it survives more than a 100 years later. It's of little surprise that I found this more incredible than the other people on the tour. Since most were international tourists. (shrugs) We finally get to the Arlington House. Not all that thrilling really. Something that would have been ok otherwise, but it was also being renovated so the entire thing was empty. It had pictures of what it will look like once restored. Sheesh. I went through that pretty quick and unfortunately ended up waiting for the bus for 15 minutes. I noticed a few people looking over at a tree stump so I decided to investigate. Turns out the tree was cut down by lightning a few years ago but the tree was one of the original saplings when the land was turned into Arlington. So they pointed out the tree rings and what dates they would have corresponded to in the tree's life. Kinda cool. Better than the house was. :P
The tour bus eventually weaves it's way around back to the start and another tour guide informs us of the women's memorial to visit as well. I decide that it be worth looking into and head off for it. The memorial not only has the history of women in support and combat roles, but also pictures. The pictures go all the way back from the Revolutionary War all the way through present conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pictures that detailed the brutal conditions and morale of soldiers throughout the years I've never seen before. Interesting. I look around the gift shop to see if there's any unique items I get for Aly or Megan H. I find a stuffed eagle and decide to get that for Aly. It's something cute, right? (shrugs)
Well I decide to get some lunch to eat and figure that I'm in Arlington, so I'm not too far away from Ray's The Steaks. I take the metro to Rosslyn, trek several blocks to get there and it looks...closed? What the hell? I look closer and figure out that it's only a dinner place. Nowhere did anyone mention this. Their website, the reviews online or anything. Well that kills that idea and I really have no other reason to come back out this way so that restaurant is taken off the list permanently. I keep walking down Wilson Boulevard and happen upon a Five Guys and decide to get a burger and fries there again. Shit, might as well enjoy local fare while I can. My next stop was to get to the Udvar-Hazy Center by Dulles Airport. I stopped to think about this while eating. Some of the airplane stuff at the Air and Space Museum really were kinda "eh". I was more interested in the space stuff in retrospect really. The Udvar-Hazy place was nearly all airplanes and one space shuttle. Without a car, I'd have to take a bus (1 hr ride there and 1 hr ride back) and hope there'd be no traffic on a Friday afternoon to make it in time for the Nats Game on the SE part of DC. Wasn't worth it. Another reason to come back to DC perhaps later on in life.
With the way timing worked out anyways with a rush hour on the Metro and all, I ended up going back to the hotel, picking my camera and hat up and heading off almost immediately. Once I got to L'Enfant, I realized how many other Nats fan there area. They had dedicated shuttles and Metro cops directing the flow of people and packing the cars to the gills. Once we made it to the Navy Yard stop, there was the biggest fucking escalator I have ever seen in my life. I thanked God that of all the escalators that have been broken on my trip, that this was not one of them. I got up this monstrous escalator and made it to the street leading to the park. There's still lots of construction going around the area, so it's a strip of road surrounded by plywood to segregate the public and construction areas around it. There were cops with K9 units milling about for safety and crowd control, a few vendors, and street musicians. I got in front of Nats park and took a few pictures. Also got some of the Presidents who run in the race around the park. They have Teddy Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson all race around the warning track in the outfield and down the first base line into home plate. Before the game I decided to get a souveneir of some sort and lo and behold there was a Teddy doll so I got it. :) And a keychain.
I got to my seat where there was no one else sitting in my row. It's the second row a little bit past first base. Wonderful. They were playing the LA Dodgers and I expected a loss due to the strong playing that they had been doing for a while. Still, the Dodgers were on a losing streak at this point, so anything could happen. After the Dodgers got a hit and Manny Ramirez was up, I realizes this could be trouble and a long game. He hits a homer and the crowd is silent. 2-0 in one pitch. The inning ends and the Nats get up to bat. Guzman gets up and gets a solo shot and thankfully it won't be a shutout or no hitter. lol The inning continues and the hitting keeps going to eventually they regain the lead 5-2. Ok, maybe this won't be as simple as I thought it would be. Well the Nats keep hitting throughout the game and keep tacking on 1 run here, 2 runs there. Finally towards the end, Christian Guzman gets a hit and rounds 2nd for a triple. The crowd goes wild, as expected, but then we learn that he just hit for the cycle too. I didn't even realize this while watching the game, but I've never seen that before so that's actually pretty cool. It's only been the 2nd Nat who's ever done that and the 1st in the new ballpark. History in the making. The Nats (with the worst record in baseball) end up clobbering the Dodgers (a playoff contender) 11-2.
Before and throughout the game, between the innings, the place had the feel of a minor league team. The way they got a kid to hand the lineups to the ump, one to throw out the first pitch, one to say play ball, etc. It was a family oriented environment, with lots of amusement activities to keep people engaged. I suppose it's so if the team on the field ain't doing well, you keep people in their seats and engaged. The President's race happened in the 4th and I cheered Teddy on, only to see him lose again and still keep his losing streak intact without a single win to his name. Aww poor Teddy. :) With the great game, I went to the hotel happy, and hoping that the team will play better next year. It's so young without pretty much any history or any players to call their own legends. Unlike the Sox who've been around for a 100 or so years, there's been the "greats" throughout its history. The Nats don't have that only being around for 3 years. It's an interesting perspective to see such a fresh professional team from the ground up. I only hope fans in DC don't give up on em too early and drive them away to another town once again.
I've got one last day tomorrow, finishing out the trip before I have to head back home. I've felt really refreshed with this trip and I realize...I need to take more in the future. Plus I need to see more ball parks too. :)
tomjoad