Fun in D.C.

 We had three full days in Washington, D.C., from the evening of October 16, 2014, through the evening of October 19, to attend Kent's award ceremony and sightsee. 

 On October 16, while Kent and Toshiko prepared Kent's talk, Dave and I walked the 17 blocks from Kent's apartment to the White House, and then on to the Mall.

The Lincoln Memorial and Vietnam War Memorial are old favorites, but the Second World War Memorial was new to us.  We read the inspiring inscriptions, etched in marble.

 

 

The Korean War Memorial was new to us, and it immediately became a favorite.  The statues of individual soldiers trudging up a hill with their billowing coats and individual faces evoked the cold and discouragement of the Korean campaign.  Another touching feature was the 250 anonymous faces etched on the black glass wall to the side--the faces were taken from records of actual soldiers in the war.

On Saturday morning, all the Calder families shared a buffet brunch (Scott's treat) at the downtown Hyatt.  Ryan and Elizabeth Calder joined Dave and me on another walk to and around the Mall.  We enjoyed the Korean War Memorial again, and also stopped at the Martin Luther King Memorial, which was new to us. The statue was based on a quote from Dr. King.  We then browsed an exhibit on East Indians in America that spoke to us all.  I both love India and have Indian friends and clients.  Elizabeth had visited India, too, and had done volunteer work with a group that has projects in Nepal.  Ryan, a sociologist who was born abroad, was fascinated by the immigrant experience--what challenges do different immigrant groups face.

 

We finished our afternoon at the Museum of the American Indian.  One of Ryan's girlfriends came from a small town in Minnesota that was mostly American Indian--Chippewa, as I remember.  We hurried back to Kent and Toshiko's apartment for a delicious dinner cooked by Toshiko.  Mari said that the entrée was from the Lion House Cookbook my mother gave Toshiko soon after she moved to America.  "My mother went through the cookbook, making all the recipes," Mari said.  Toshiko's version of chicken in a spicy sauce beat any similar recipe I remembered from that cookbook!

On Sunday morning, Kent and Ryan drove Dave and me back to the monuments.  Kent gave us a tour of the city as we drove.  He knows the world of think tanks and government offices.  Kent pointed out the offices of the Brookings Institute, the private, unmarked door of the CIA, the State Department, and other highlights.  We wandered about the huge Roosevelt Memorial, with statues and favorite quotes disbursed over several acres.  Dave and I recently watched a 12-hour retrospective on Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt.  I was impressed by Roosevelt's courage and brilliance, but I also remembered by Grandfather Eyring stating that he'd rather vote for a "yellow dog" than Roosevelt.

There was a moving statue of men in a Depression bread line.  Eleanor Roosevelt appeared alone, in a side nook.

 

Washington is heavily adorned with statues and monuments.  There was even a small park honoring George Mason, a forefather with only middling prominence (but a local university named after him with many large donors).

On Sunday afternoon, Elizabeth returned from Church at a singles ward with friends, and Mari, John, and Mari's baby, Cornelius, joined us from their own services.  Kent took us to his two offices--one at the Johns Hopkins SAS campus and one for his private consulting work.  We paused by a block from the Berlin Wall which was presented to SAS.  Cornelius wore the coat I brought him as a belated birth present.