Saturday 26 January 2013

Travel Series: U.S.A. part 3 - Washington


It's been a while since I posted part 2 of my U.S.A. travel story from 1998. In fact, the last post was back in May 2012! But here I am to continue the story.

Last time, we had reached Philadelphia, and you can read about that here. We checked out the steps Sylvester Stallone ran up - or was it down? - then headed off to find ourselves a truck stop for the night. The next morning we headed for Washington D.C., passing through Arlington, VA. You'll be intrigued to know that we stopped at a laundromat at 10:57 pm (these are the sorts of details I recorded, while skipping out on the more massive general details. Go me).


On our first day in D.C., we visited the Museum of Natural History, and I nearly got us hit by a bus while driving. Woo!

I really loved Washington, and would love to go back!
We met a guy called Ed Segal who was a photographer like Dad. Well, okay, not like Dad. Ed used tripods to capture well-arranged images. Dad was more into finding natural tripods, i.e. resting his camera on stone, or a bench, or against a tree.

Ed kindly offered us a parking spot at his home (since parking was a bit of a nightmare in D.C., according to him). So we parked at his place and went off to explore more of D.C. We visited the Jefferson, Lincoln and Washington memorials. I glimpsed numerous groups of school kids on outings around the city. I went to the post office and spent a fortune sending stuff back home.


Washington D.C. - distant blossom trees.
Ed and his wife Louise invited us to stay the night at his place - yes, I was forever surprised at the kindnesses of strangers. They took us out to dinner for Mexican food. The next morning, we were set to depart. Ed roused us early (basically before the sun was up, which was horribly early to seventeen-year-old me) to head down to the water and check out the cherry blossoms. Ed took a photo of the cherry blossoms. Dad took a photo of the cherry blossoms.  I wasn't sure if I had too, but one particular photo told me I did - not that you can tell at this resolution! ;)

After the cherry blossoms, it was time to move on. We bid Ed and Louise farewell and got back on the road, beginning our trek back across the U.S.A.

"Back on the road again..."

Tune in next time for more travel adventures. ;)

6 comments:

  1. What an adventure. Yes, before sun up is horribly early, but I love early starts, provided I can catch up on my rest later. Loved your photos.

    Maria

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  2. What a friendly couple! Nice to know that kind of genuine friendliness and hospitality still exist and that you guys were willing to take them up on it (I feel like a lot of people would be nervous/paranoid about staying at a stranger's house)! I need to go back to DC~ haven't been since I was a kid.

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  3. Sounds fantastic - I'd love to visit too - it's lovely to hear about people surprising you in a good way instead of bad. USA is high on my list!

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  4. Wow. What an awesome story...that's so cool that you meant such nice people! Great photos...

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  5. Ed and his wife were just 'good people.' Your stay was much richer for having met them.

    I've been to DC before and parking IS a nightmare.

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  6. Ooo looks like fun! Thanks for sharing!

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Thanks for your words, me hearties! and don't forget to leave a link to your blog somewhere I can find it!