Archive for the ‘Traveling’ Category

Christmas trip.

Well, I don’t know when I’m going to be able to post this. My Internet connection has been reduced to a 2.4 Mps pipe. We took ‘E and one of his cousins to the great-white north or close enough to count.  Both of them are Florida boys so seeing snow is always a treat.

First we had to fight traffic and lousy weather . We drove straight through after a long stopover at the step-mom’s family spread (this is where we picked up E’s cuz.) Then we drove and drove, it started raining by the time we reached VA and didn’t get out of it until we reached the In-law’s place. We rested up Sunday, the boys ran around in the snow for a while, most of it has melted off, but we might get a couple of inches Monday.

Popularity: unranked [?]

A few Pennsic photos

Popularity: 6% [?]

So some more Pennsic.

Ok, so I’m a geek. I dress up in this faux roman garb, sit around in a tent and write blog posts on my laptop.

I dug out my armor today, did some adjustments and wandered up to the field to get inspected. Pennsic inspections are supposed to be this big freaking deal but I’ve never had much trouble with it. They wanted a picture ID this year, and that forced me to walk back to camp (all of five min away.) Afterward I did pickups for a while, until it started raining hard. There has been a succession of fronts coming through, today was hot and dry until late afternoon.

Tomorrow is supposed to be wet again. Deb and I might go into town one last time, I’ve got a case of gluten free beer on order and we need to do laundry.

Those camp bunnies are doing fine, all but one are eating regularly and they are starting to crop grass. They plan to release them on the final day of the war, hopefully they will be old enough to make it on their own.

Popularity: 1% [?]

So Pennsic

Well, once again we loaded up the family jalopy and headed out to the Pennsic War.  Deb, E’ and I got on the road at about 3:00PM on Sunday, July 26th 2009. After about 23 hours of driving and several Starbucks’ stops we arrived at Cooper’s Lake PA which is located in the rolling hills of Butler County.

(Monday)

We got unpacked and set up by around 4PM, then we went into town for a shopping run.

(Tuesday)

Some of my campmates found some baby rabbits. E’ is enchanted and (of course) wants to bring one home.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Escape from Foggybottom.

Out of the cold, back to the Grind.

Things get busy at work and we find ourselves with too little time to reflect on things. It’s get up, get breakfast, get the kids off to school and try not to get too stung out at work, rinse – repeat.

I was trying to remember exactly what we did after the Inauguration. We went to the Holocaust Museum,  we tried to explain to E’ why we wanted to take him to such an awful place. He doesn’t understand that what happened to large swaths of humanity in the 19300s and 1940s could happen again and they only way to prevent it is to understand it, talk about it. I mentioned to the  students my take on the Holocaust, that it wasn’t a new thing and that it didn’t end with the fall of the National Socialists in Germany. I mentioned the Khmer Rouge, -  they stared.

We went to the national Spy Museum and the Natural History Museum. We saw the Library of Congress and toyed with the idea of getting a “permit” and doing some research there. (Alas! Another time.) We saw the Washington monument and spent much of Friday morning at Arlington before coming home.

DC has always been one of my favorite places. I’m not sure why. It’s a strange place, we have very little back home that is like it. There is an ornate nature about DC, an American baroque that is hard to define but easily recognized. DC is our place, I felt that again and other people do as well. It belongs to the people, held in common so that future generations will walk down the National Mall and gaze in wonder at what we have wrought, as I did.

Some of my contemporaries are cynics and defeatists. They say that the United States is doomed, that we are seeing it’s last days and an age of terror and ignorance will soon be our lot. But what I saw last week was nothing short of a miracle. Not that Barack Obama is black, It’s not as simple as that. Or I should say, it’s much bigger.

What I witnessed last week was an orderly peaceful revolution. One that did not include the turmoil and violence that always accompanies such things. I watched a new government take control. I watched the old commander and chief just flying away in Marine One, he had them circle the District once before departing to the airfield.

That was our revolution. We had lunch afterward.

How is this possible? In a world where other revolutions seem to require the pathos of complete upheaval and breakdown. Where millions of people are uprooted and thrown about like so much human flotsam into refugee camps. How is it we can do this, for over two hundred years without setting the great city alight and murdering those who live there? How is it we don’t have rioting and people howling for blood?

How is it possible?

The very question gives me hope.  We have a future you and I, if we are only brave enough to embrace it — love it because it is our future, and in it we can do anything!

Popularity: 1% [?]

Hoodwinked to Foggybottom 4.0

Our big plan was to get there early. Everyone we spoke to said we should get to the metro platforms when they open, they open at 4 AM!

So! Up at 2:30 AM. Dressed warmly and go out into the streets by 3:45. The local station was already packed and we waited out five trains before we got one that was empty enough to get on.  We emerged a short distance from the Capital to a scene out of Cloverfeild, darkness, lots of people, helicopters churning the air overhead, sirens and many police.

It was rather cold, around 19 degrees and windy. We lined up about a quarter mile from the “silver gate,’ and waited. The line got moving about an hour later, it was slow going and we ended up just under the gate when the line pretty much froze in place. People in our line ended up dancing the electric slide just to stay warm.  We kept asking ourselves, what the bloody hell were we doing, freezing our butts off this early in the morning?

The sun started to come up and the line got moving, we passed through security and parked ourselves behind a Jumbotron, one of many that lined the mall for the event.  There were squads of sharpshooters everywhere, helicopters and even a predator orbiting overhead.

It was a long wait but the ceremony began after a while. We could see quite a way up the mall and the ocean of people around 2 million was just astounding. The sound was like nothing I’ve ever heard. The throng was like a living thing, once cheering when  a familiar face flashed on the screens, next booing when someone like Newt Gingrich was introduced.

Finally, after all this buildup, the main event. First Joe Biden was sworn I, then Obama. The oath was flubbed ( I heard they redid it so the nutballs would stop fussing,) otherwise it went off and people went nuts! For many, this was an event like that of the moon landing or 911. I was joking with Deb that we just elected the Pope. I spoke to to some of the security people, it was the largest crowd any of them had ever seen. One fellow had worked five inaugurations and he said this was the largest in history

After the main event we started moving towards the Rayburn Building which was nearby however because of the crush of people, it took almost an hour to get there. We went into a side entrance, the main was reportedly socked and the one we lined up for the security screen. All the office buildings have x-rays and metal detectors, even the monuments.

They had lunch for us (and other guests) Congressman Bill Young’s office. The famous congressional bean soup was served and sandwiches (with very strong coffee- thank god!) We warmed up, Congressman Young invited us into his office and chatted with us for a while.  Then we were invited to get more food, it looked like they had more than they could give away, we ended up taking a bunch home with us. I got to thank the people who helped me out with my passport issues a few years ago. We also took some names, Bill Young’s staff has done an exceptional job with us and we need to write some thank you letters.

Back to the hotel where ewe all crashed for a while. We were all very tired but happy to have witnessed history this way, the cold notwithstanding. From my point of view, it made the event that much sweeter.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Hoodwinked to Foggybottom 3.0

Monday was MLK day and we did Deb’s Monumental Death-March which is pretty much the way it sounds. The start is n the very unfashionable Southwest corner of the National Mall, anyone who’s been there knows what I’m talking about. DC is ever a study in contrast, huge stone buildings right up against seeding looking apartment complexes and homeless people.

We walked around the tidal basin to the Jefferson Memorial, I think it would have angered Jefferson to have seen it but it’s always been one of my favorites.

Then we trudged to the FDR memorial, a sprawling thing, really four memorials in one, I highly recommend it. The Park Service allowed the waterfalls to freeze creating wonderful ice sculptures which set of the somberness of the site.

We visited the WWI memorial, its hidden off in a stand of trees and hardly anyone visits it.

Then the Korean War Memorial and its squad of spooky bronze solders.

Lincoln was closed for the inauguration so we visited the Vietnam memorial which always moves me.

But we had an appointment! We volunteered to take part in Obama’s call for MLK day to be a day of service and luckily, Target was sponsoring just such a thing at Marshal Stadium.

We ran through an amusing gauntlet of Obama merchandise vendors, there was an unbelievable array of Obama stuff, posters, clothing, lip balm, even bottled water (souvenir Obama water?) I was kind of disturbed by some of this. Some people are treating the inauguration like its the second coming. More on that later.

Anyway, we got into a queue and marched into the stadium, it was like something out of a really bad dystopian movie, lots and lots of people everywhere, noise and loudspeaker wielding handlers. We were given a short explanation o what was going to happen, then let into a large tent that dominated the center field. Inside we found lines and tables where we “helped” make small care packages for our troops overseas. Mostly this seemed to be a PR thing, get as many people into a small areas as possible and make sure they see the Target logo as much as possible.

There were some VIPs in the tent with us. I spoke to some people that seemed to be “important” (or they certainly dressed importantly.) One of them was asking me a lot of questions, where we were from and that kind of thing.

Then we heard a commotion and saw an entourage come through the line we were in, there were Secret Service people, photographers, media and in the middle of the mass was, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives.

She came through, shaking hands and whatnot, I got some great video, I could hardly help it, she was about five feet from me. That was a little freaky, it’s not every day that one is in the presence of the third most powerful person in the world. (This pic was taken on her way out with my little Instamatic.)

After going around the lines a few times we went out and wrote some cards for servicemen, then back through the gauntlet and back to our room. We retired early because the next day was…..
Inauguration day!

Popularity: unranked [?]

Hoodwinked to Foggybottom 2.0

Ok;  Saturday; January 17, 2009

We started with the Old Post Office building. This has been converted into a mall type place, it’s free and you can go to the top of the bell tower and get a great view of the city.

Then we went to the White house exhibit, the White house is closed and I found the exhibit to be a bit anticlimactic. I’ve been in the White House several times over the years, it’s a very rich – historical place and I love visiting it.  Deb played the “Stump the Park Ranger” game  and did they gave her some books on White house history (not cheap books either! )

Then we wandered to the American History museum , I lunched there and .. um went somewhere else (more on that later.) (Insert how I LOVE a city with a great subway system )

Sunday, January 18th, 2009

We went to the National Archives and managed t get into the Rotunda first. Good thing because the whole city has gone stark raving insane with people and Obama–mania.

We got a few minutes to gaze at the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Spent some time at the Archive exhibits, then spent the rest of the day in the National Portrait Gallery and art museum.

Tomorrow, monuments and service project.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Hoodwinked to Foggybottom, pt 1.2.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Hoodwinked to Foggybottom, pt I.

So here I am in DC, the capital of the most powerful nation on the planet.  I’m here helping chaperone a bunch of High school age kids to the Obama inauguration on Tuesday and incidentally see as much of the city as I can. We got in late Thursday after an uneventful flight, comfortable even! E. and I managed to get in the seats right behind first class which seem to have twice the legroom.

We got to the hotel late, pizza and bed for we had an early day Friday. We had to meet a representative of our Congressman’s office to get tickets for the Tuesday ceremony. We were durn lucky to get those tickets. They are going for around $400 apiece on Ebay. This is a big deal, they are anticipating around 2 million people are going to be in town attending.

So we went to the Capital visitor’s center which is brand new and very nice. Did I mention that the country is in the middle of a cold snap? It was in the teens and windy, bad combination! I’m so glad we didn’t have to wait in line outside. The cold was the type that makes you feel like DeCaprio in the last reel of Titanic. Until you can’t feel your face anymore.

The capital tour was fantastic as usual, It was  early so we had the place almost to ourselves. (Just a few thousand other people, not tens of thousands like they were anticipating later in the week.  We met the rep from the Congressmen’s office and she took us on the House chamber tour. Then we went to the Library of Congress at the Jefferson Building. After all the times I’ve been to the District I’ve never come there. I highly recommend it. The Library of Congress is the true American treasure.  I was very impressed with the building alone not to mention the neo Library of Alexandria aspects of it.

We also went into the Supreme Court  building and closed it up . By that time it was late and we made our way back to the hotel , dinner and planning the next day’s excursion.

Popularity: 1% [?]