Monday, July 21, 2008

A weekend of cemeteries

It was actually more cheerful than it sounds for the most part. Work last week went quickly. Having Monday off helped a lot. I scanned for three days and was out at Fullerton again on Friday where I finished the collection I had started the week before so that was good. I also finally got a chance to meet with my supervisor for a bit and got a lot of questions cleared up I had lingering from the appraisal I had tagged along to plus some questions I had about the scanning project I was working on. Friday night I stayed over at Mackenzie's since we planned on leaving at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning.

Actually, it wasn't even dawn yet. We left DC at 4:30 AM and arrived in Gettysburg a little before 6 AM. We headed up to Little Round Top to have a view of the battlefields before the sun rose. I have to admit, seeing the misty fields and the sky lighten purply red was beautiful. I lived there for four years and didn't see it. Funny the things you never get around to doing just because you assume you have all the time in the world to do them in. We continued on down into the park afterwards, watching the sun come up before we had breakfast at LD's after a brief side trip onto campus to get to the ATM. Campus is a bit torn up at the moment. They're building the new athletic center but the new child care center they opened last year looks beautiful even if it was weird to see a building where Stone Lot used to be. After breakfast, we walked the National Cemetery all the way down to the Lincoln Memorial Wall at the back with the Gettysburg Address engraved next to a bust of Lincoln. We then drove up to the Peace Light and did a lot of the Auto Tour. We also climbed to the top of Big Round Top - not that you can tell from the pictures - not much a view through all the trees up there.

We stopped at the new Visitor's Center on the way out of Gettysburg and it is HUGE! I think the new store is bigger than the entire old building. I didn't like that the old buildings were just sitting there crumbling though - they need to tear them down or find a use for them - they look awful. The new center is beautiful though and huge and fits the needs of the area much better so kudos to the designer. We headed over to Lancaster next and explored Amish Country. We just drove around, picking a few side roads to explore down, to see off the "real" Amish, not the tourist displays. Their farms are simply beautiful - so big and in perfect condition. A lot of farms were bringing in their hay so they had these beautiful Belgian work teams out in the fields. It was different to see work horses actually "working" instead of the hitch classes I loved watching at the state fair. I have a lot of respect for their way of life but I don't think I'm signing up for it any time soon. I wouldn't last long anyway. What would they do with a girl who can't sew or cook to save her life? I might not be such a hopeless case with baking...hmmm....something to think about. Maybe I could do a vacation to Amish Country and stay on a farm for a week. I think that would be enough time for me to miss my computer and air conditioning sufficiently enough.

We made one more stop in PA - Harrisburg. We visited the Capital building which is very ornate and decorated within an inch of its life. It also looked very rich - something tells me Albany would not be this impressive. One of these days I should visit my home state's capital though...add that to my list. We got back to DC around 6 PM and I had a quiet night after that.

I didn't start as early the next morning as I had wanted to so it was already blazing when I got to Arlington National Cemetery. Visiting a place with little shade in a Code Red Heat Advisory is a bad idea - I advise against it. I especially advise against climbing hills and stairs to visit graves in this heat. Just some friendly advise. However, I liked seeing the Kennedy graves again - they are beautifully presented on the hill overlooking DC. I then walked up to Arlington House and saw the house (not much there currently) and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers from the Civil War. I started the trek then to the Tomb of the Unknowns. Made it there in time to see the Changing of the Guard which was great - such ceremony to a little thing. Must be the British left in us. I felt bad for those guys though in full outfit under than sun. It must have been 100 by then.

After the Changing, I walked over to the Challenger memorial. I was pleased to see a memorial had been added for the Columbia crew as well. Not a tear shed yet which was impressive as I'd even listened to John Denver's tribute to the Challenger crew (They Were Flying For Me) before I came (I swear my iPod is psychic - what song does she most not want to hear on the way to Arlington?) which never fails to tear me up on its own. Lastly, I walked up to the mast of the USS Maine, the ship sunk off the coast of Cuba during the Spanish-American War. After that, I had to hike all the way back to the start of the cemetery. At that point, the $15 tour bus looked like money well spent but I stuck it out. Luckily, all of Kathy's reminders of sun screen and water had been remembered before I left the house so I didn't melt.

Once back on the Metro, I had some time to kill so I found a bookstore off Metro Center and succeeded in only spending $10 - this is impressive people, look impressed - before I headed over to Chinatown to see Mamma Mia! In not spoiling the movie for anyone, I was pleasantly surprised by the film. They stayed very close to the musical's original plot - always keeps me happy - and even kept a lot of the fun dances I remember from the stage show. My one gripe is that, I am sorry, but Pierce Brosnan cannot sing. It was painful at times. This is why James Bond does not sing people and he shouldn't have too. Even Meryl Streep, a woman who I didn't think had a musical bone in her body, sounded better than him. In fact, I was very surprised by Meryl's performance. She had me won over by the end (although, I would have staged The Winner Takes It All a bit different but that's just me). Other than that, it gets three stars from me.

This week is looking fairly standard. I have another report due on Friday so I need to come up with a topic for it here soon. I also am hoping to go see The Phillips Collection on Thursday night and then I think my museum/gallery list is complete - I may have a few stragglers to finish up. I'm actually not down here for much longer which is blowing my mind - I'm not quite sure where the summer went to be honest. However, I have a full couple of weeks left so I'm making the most of it.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

On my honeymoon in early July, we trekked around the end of the Mall, behind the Lincoln Memorial, and across the bridge to Arlington, figuring it couldn't be that far. This was, by far, the hottest day of our trip. My half-Mexican husband wiped his brow a couple of times; meanwhile, my northern European heritage and northern Michigan upbringing were collaborating to induce heat stroke. By the time we got to the visitor center, I was trembling all over and having trouble seeing. Hubby ran and got a cold lemonade for me. We ended up taking the tour bus through the cemetery (and getting the Metro on the Arlington side of the Potomac). Thank you for reminding me of a most memorable day. I am so glad to know that I should go back and see everything else.