Day at the Monuments

On New Year's Eve Day, Eliza and her Welsh friend Madeleine and I took a stroll around the Mall in DC. Madeleine is taking full advantage of all DC has to offer before returning to the UK next month (snif!). We live in the area and do this very infrequently...so a good excuse. And a beautiful sunny day to be walking around.

Madeleine very artistically composed this photo, with the Washington Monument coming out of Eliza's head:



We strolled down to the World War II Memorial first. This memorial is extremely moving, the more so for the experience of the last few years.



As you enter the memorial, the walkways are lined with bas-relief panels that depict scenes from the war and wartime. Apologies for the resolution--they were a bit difficult to photograph:

This one depicts women serving in the military:



This shows Rosie the Riveter:



The following depicts flight crews prepping their bombers, faithful mascot standing by:



Here's the fountain at the center:



From there we walked to the FDR Memorial. This memorial is laid out as a journey through the four terms, highlighting the challenges and accomplishments of each.

Visitors are greeted by FDR in his chair, a modified dining chair:



Here he is with Fala:



Here's Eleanor (we tried to capture a lot of the engraved quotes, here and at the World War II Memorial, and just couldn't get good resolution...):

1994

Eliza's pictures from Scotland in the Black Cuillins post reminds me of a trip we took together back in 1994. Do you remember, Eliza?

Eliza and I took two weeks to camp and hike in Oregon. We visited Crater Lake, my personal favorite, but we also traveled to the Three Sisters area. This used to be the site of an active volcano, and the evidence of eruptions can still be seen.



I was so struck by the contrast between the green of the pine trees and the black of the volcanic rock. This trip was the last camping trip I made before I got sick. We traveled at the end of July 1994, and I fell ill in October. It is so weird to think that this was the last time Eliza and I slept in a tent, made a fire, and hiked in a forest. At the time, I expected we would make a trip like that every year.