The Shining City Upon a Hill

"…in my mind it was a tall proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace…"  President Ronald Reagan

Carol writes:  After almost a week spent visiting some of the most well-known sites in Washington, D.C., I found myself recalling the words used frequently by President Ronald Reagan to describe his feelings about our country—a “shining city upon a hill.”  Our nation’s capital is a city without  equal in terms of American history, American values, architectural beauty, and world power. 

By chance, our first day coincided with the peak of the cherry blossoms, so we chose that day to take a walk on the mall along the reflecting pool, starting with a visit to a memorial that we had never seen before--the WW II memorial to honor “the greatest generation.”

 

 

 

 

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall--so many names, so many families changed forever.  We will never forget the sacrifice made by our generation.  So many of our high school classmates made the ultimate sacrifice, and some still suffer mentally and physically as veterans of that war.

I cannot add anything original to more than 15,000 books that have been written about Abraham Lincoln except to reiterate that he was God’s most valuable gift to America in one of its darkest hours.  An incredibly moving experience for me was the opportunity to visit Ford’s Theater, sit in the audience seats and look up to the presidential box where Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth.  After President Lincoln was mortally wounded, he was carried across the street to a second floor bedroom in the Petersen boarding house, where an all-night vigil was kept at his bedside until he died the next morning at 7:22 a.m. on April 15, 1865, 148 years ago today.

   The majestic Lincoln Memorial

 

    Presidential box where Lincoln was shot

 Room where Lincoln died

For us, the most noticeable change to Washington, D.C. was the security presence--everywhere.  Our last visit was some time in the 80s with my brother, his wife and family.  In more carefree times, our most vivid memory of that visit was the free access we had to the Capitol Rotunda, followed by a memorable adventure on a Senate elevator that we took by accident.  Somehow that elevator delivered us to the bowels of the Capitol.  As the elevator door opened, we saw Senator Edward Kennedy and his entourage pass right in front of our eyes.  Then, Senator Howard Metzenbaum (Senator from Ohio for almost 20 years) got on the elevator, whereupon my brother (never one to be shy) took the opportunity to shake the Senator’s hand, tell him he was from Ohio, then proceeded to chat with him until a security guard kindly pointed out to us that we were not supposed to be in that part of the building.  How times have changed! Today access for tourists to most buildings is limited and is by ticket only, except for the Smithsonian museums, and visits there are still free and are the best deal in the city.



The White House, sparkling in all its majesty

The Natural History Museum—as in the film Night at the Museum, I kept waiting for the skeletons to come alive.  This was the ‘best of the best’ of all natural history museums I have ever visited.

 

Michelle Obama's inauguration dress

 The Hope Diamond
 

 

Chairs and desk used by Grant and Lee at Appomattox Courthouse

 

The National Gallery of Art became a primer for future visits to many art museums in Europe:

    Ginevra de' Benci by Leonardo da Vinci

 The Sacrament of the Last Supper by Salvador Dali

Main atrium of the National Gallery of Art

Napoleon by Jacques Louis David

Washington, D.C. was our first real test getting around on our own solely by means of public transportation in a big, bustling city.  We quickly learned how to obtain a senior discount metro card (just show picture ID and Medicare card, thank you), and used that, in addition to various free shuttles from our inn on Bolling AFB, to get wherever we wanted to go each day.  Al’s first learning curve was discovering he couldn’t enter a metro station gate by tapping the appropriate electronic hotspot with his room key card—that was nicely pointed out to him by a young teenage girl!  He used his metro card after that and had no problems.  LOL

I couldn’t think of a more appropriate city to visit than Washington, D.C. before we hop on a Space-Available flight out of Dover AFB to Germany.  Yesterday we took a short Amtrak ride from Washington’s magnificent Union Station to Wilmington, Delaware, then walked across the street for a last-leg Greyhound bus ride to Dover.  In the Greyhound terminal we were suddenly and graphically made aware that sadly, even in the "shining city upon a hill," there are still so many who have not even begun to experience the American dream. 

We sure felt proud to be an American after our brief visits to so many Washington venues that represent our nation’s core values and symbolize all that has been sacrificed for us in defense of our freedom.  It is no exaggeration to say we had goose bumps in the National Archives when it was our turn to view the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.  Mindful and proud of all that it means to be an American, the words of Ralph Crawshaw best represent what we hope to accomplish on our RV adventure:

“Travel has a way of stretching the mind.  The stretch comes not from travel’s immediate rewards, the inevitable myriad new sights, smells and sounds, but with experiencing firsthand how others do differently what we believed to be the right and only way.”  Ralph Crawshaw  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Work and Play in Baltimore

"A journey is like marriage.  The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it."  John Steinbeck


Al writes:  After Charleston, it was time for us to get serious about getting the RV to Baltimore for shipment.  We stayed 3 nights at Fort Meade Family Campground and spent the last day packing our duffel bags and backpacks in addition to preparing the RV for shipment.  For shipment we were required to get the propane tank certified as empty, which was a very complicated process.  The propane technician gave the relief valve a quarter turn and came back three hours later to proclaim...."yep, it appears to be empty."  The fee was $59.  To get a little ahead of the story, no one at the loading docks asked me if the propane tank was empty.

Although we had been reassured by many that vandalism on the docks is very rare, we felt that we had to remove temptations.  So everything left in the RV was basically put out of sight.  I have a few hidden compartments which we stuffed with stuff we would hate to replace--I look upon this as a test on the customs inspectors to see what they can find.  Our final action was to put a holy card of the Virgin Mary in a prominent place to appeal to the conscience of any potential looter.

Friday, April 5th was the big day.  It was sort of analogous to transporting your home to downtown, leaving the curtains open and the doors unlocked, then hoping it will be teleported to a new city with all belongings intact.
 
A working harbor like Baltimore is a hectic, bustling, blue-collar, chaos-filled experience.  We made a few incorrect attempts to get into the harbor and discovered that security is very layered and intense.  Just to U-turn because of making an incorrect turn required me to give up my driver's license and have my undercarriage inspected with mirrors.  To get to the appropriate dock, we had to hire an escort (at $50 per hour) who I might add was unionized.  I thought we were doing well that we got this all arranged by 10:30 AM and were ready to proceed to Customs in the dock area.  Not so fast!  Lunch for the unionized port was from 11:30 to 1:00, so I was told it would not make any sense to go in this close to lunch.   Hmmm.....this evolution was turning into an all day affair.

Finally, the hour arrived to enter the inner sanctum of the port.  I have never seen so many vehicles in one place.  Acres and acres of new vehicles, construction equipment, tractors, and wheeled transformer bots that I did not recognize covered massive parking areas.  Customs took two minutes to stamp a few papers.  Then on to the shed to gain entrance to the pier for our ship.  I was warned by my escort to not knock on the window.  There was also a large sign next to this window that said, "If you knock, you will wait longer."  I was totally intimidated.  I had visions of waiting until next winter because I was afraid to knock, but the wait was short and I was directed to drive into the pier area and park near some school buses.  The vehicle checker inspected the outside of the RV, measured the dimensions, and pronounced that it was ready to go.  So I was back to the escort trailer to get Carol in less than an hour.

 The Cruiser on the Baltimore dock

 

The rest of our stay in Baltimore was made very enjoyable by my Academy classmate, Chris Everett.  I had not seen Chris since we graduated, and he graciously invited us to stay in his historic row house near the inner harbor of Baltimore.  What a wonderful time!  Baltimore is Chris's hometown, and he took us on a walking tour of the refurbished neighborhoods around the inner harbor.  Baltimore has done a great job making this area attractive not only for tourists but also for residents of the area.  We enjoyed the horse races at historic Pimlico (home of the Preakness), visited the National Aquarium, and were properly instructed by Chris on how to eat steamed crabs.  I tried to take a photo of the crabs but the camera kept slipping out of my grasp because of crab goo on my fingers. 

Federal Hill overlooking the Baltimore inner harbor

 

 

National Aquarium in background along inner harbor

 



My first horse came in!

 

 Enjoying sunset on Chris's rooftop deck

Naval Academy classmate Chris Everett

Al and Chris at the Cross Street Market

 

 

So, Baltimore turned out to be a wonderful surprise--made all the more rewarding by our stay with Chris.


"All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware."  Martin Buber



 
 

Yanks in the Southern Heartland

"The world is a book, and those who don't travel only read one page."  St. Augustine of Hippo

 

Carol writes:  We were relieved when the third attempt at sending us our proof of insurance “green card” was successful— correct dates and no typos!  We looked forward to heading toward Baltimore, but first a detour to Marietta, Georgia, to visit with Pem and Lucy Ellen, another friendship begun in the 60s at the Naval Academy. Pem and Lucy Ellen showed us good ole southern hospitality, and we thoroughly enjoyed catching up on old times and sharing travel plans with each other.

I have vivid memories from my childhood when my mother would talk about the summer she spent working as a seasonal worker at Sea Island, Georgia.  I have always wondered what it was like there, why a young teenage girl would leave her home in Cincinnati and travel so far away for a summer job.  My vague memory is that she worked at a resort on Sea Island called the Cloister.  Unfortunately, because it has been remodeled several times over the decades, I would have to be content to look at pictures of the present-day Cloister ; more importantly, however, access was strictly controlled at a security gate, and we were denied!  Only hotel guests and island residents were permitted entrance to the now privately owned island.  Sometimes disappointments in life open new doors that turn out to be even more rewarding, and so it was that our change of plans treated us to a marvelous day on nearby Jekyll Island.  I remember Mom mentioning Jekyll Island when she talked about her time on Sea Island, so a visit to Jekyll Island would have to satisfy my curiosity to revisit a place where she was very happy.

How to describe Jekyll Island…will our pictures do it justice?  The island was developed as a turn-of-the-century hunting retreat for a small group of what was at the time some of our country’s wealthiest men.  The seminal ideas for our Federal Reserve banking system were hatched by these men in the meeting rooms of the Jekyll Island Club.  The wealthy developers of Jekyll Island built a central hunting lodge and then over the years their families constructed grand cottages in their favorite architectural style.  Unlike many of our southern beaches, Jekyll Island escaped development of a glut of super-high-rise condos and hotels.  Thankfully, in addition, the private home area has remained “stuck” in its early 1950s rancher style architecture—no McMansions here.  A spot of trivia…the grand dining room of the main lodge was used in the movie “Legend of Bagger Vance.”

 Crane cottage built in Italian Renaissance revival style

 

 Faith chapel with signed Tiffany windows

 

 Gardens of Crane Cottage

 

 Jekyll Island Club

 

 Breakfast in the Grand Dining Room

 One of the grand cottages, circa 1884

 

 Unspoiled beach on Jekyll Island

 

This tree with natural built-in seat is the scene of many a marriage proposal on the grounds of the Jekyll Island Club

From Jekyll Island, the next day we drove to lovely Savannah for a day of walking in the wonderful historic district.  A tourist could spend many hours here touring a number of restored historic mansions.  Our pick was the Mercer-Williams house, known in recent times for the setting of the movie “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.”  Savannah fascinated and charmed us with its beauty and numerous historical locations relating back to both the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. 

 

 Colonial Park Cemetery
 

Mercer Williams House--used in the film "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil."

 

 Fountain in Forsyth Park

It was a short drive the next day up to Charleston.  Our last visit to Charleston was a very brief stop on a 1989 Christmas trip to visit my family in Ohio, at which time I have vivid memories of damaged property from Hurricane Hugo.  Once again, we felt the best way to see the historic areas of the city would be by taking a day walk down to Battery Park and along the waterfront of Charleston harbor with its ever poignant view of Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired.  I couldn’t pass up one more “historic mansion tour,” this time of the Edmondston-Alston House.  This lovely antebellum home was built in 1825 and at one time provided refuge for General Robert E. Lee during the burning of Charleston in the Civil War.  
 

 

 Edmondston-Alston House
 



Homes along the Charleston waterfront

 



We could not have had three more beautiful days for our short visit to some of the south's most beautiful cities.  The timeless beauty of Jekyll Island and the historic districts of both Savannah and Charleston were captivating at every turn! We thoroughly enjoyed taking long exploratory walks back in time.

 

"It is a great art to saunter."  Henry David Thoreau