2-20-2011 The Air Force Band

For our Sunday event, we went to the DAR Hall (this quite a sight, in and of itself) to see the Air Force Band perform with several dancing and singing starts from the TV dancing shows. Of course, Sue and I didn't know the singers from hot rocks. But the folks that sang with the band were great themselves and it was generally a very good show - and free!

2-19-2011Natl Crypto Museum - Annapolis

Time to get out and see some sights. The Nation Cryptologic Museum has been on our list since we saw a sign for it on the way to BWI airport. It took a bit to find it once we got to the NRO campus - including being stared down by a very gruff looking guard who was simply tired of pointing people to the little side road to the museum. The museum is full of spy stuff - codes, ciphers, Enigma machines, space spook stuff. It was very interesting but we didn't want to spend too much time there.

The wind was howling outside and after about an hour and half, the power went out - and that was the end of our visit. On going outside we saw smoke from a wildfire off to the west. The wind was really strong.

We drove to Annapolis for a visit to the Academy. The wind was down some what but it was still a cool blustery day as we walked around the campus. we went to the chapel, John Paul Jones' crypt under the chapel, the museum, and toured the grounds. The back story about John Paul Jones was interesting -  the President at the time made a big deal about forcing the Navy to honor Jones as a hero, in order to produce a more dedicated professional corps of officers and thus the building of the crypt and making Jones into a theme was somewhat forced upon the Navy.

Afterwards we went into town and visited the Statehouse, which was closed the last time we visited Annapolis. It is a really fine little town.

2-13-2011 Prince Willaim Forest

We felt like taking a walk in the outdoors and looked around for someplace we had not seen yet. We came across the Prince William forest, south of Alexandria, west of I95 by Dumfries. The day was overcast but not too cold. We took the trail down to the river, by the old Pyrite mines. We saw some trees cut down by a beaver. A nice quiet day in a wintry Eastern Forest.

2-12-2011 Cupid Undie Run and Folger Museum

Saturday and time to do something. A road trip to the Coast is not a good idea - too cold and grey. We had the Folger Shakespeare Library on our list for a long time so that was it. First we went to the Textile Museum by Dupont Circle. This small Museum, in an old house among the Embassies, is real a treasure. There were two displays, one on "Ikats" - very colorful clothes and robes from Uzbeckistan, and one on repurposing fabrics - making new things out of old fabrics. Learned lots about weaving and dying.

Lunch at one of the many restaurants by Dupont Circle - this time an Italian place, pretty empty at noon. They had a brunch and I had Blueberry pancakes - with Italian sausage - Mmmmmm good.

Caught the Metro over to Union Station and walked south to get to the Folger. On the way, we came across the 2nd annual Cupid Undie run, where lots of 20 and 30 somethings, dressed only in their Valentines underwear, run for about a mile on the streets around the Capital. We had read about it and had tried to get there on time - we made it. Quite a show. It was sunny but very cold and windy - more than the undies were red!

 

The Folger was neat too. It had a display on home remedies by women of Shakespeare's time. The theater was in use so we couldn't see that - have to go back for a show I guess. Found the well known statue of Puck outside the Building.

2-6-2011 Chinese New Year Parade and Car Show

Looking for something to do in town on Sunday, since it was pretty cold and we had just gotten back from a trip and not feeling much like travelling, we decided to check out the Chinese New Years parade in DC's Chinatown. This is a few square blocks by the Verizon Center - easy to get to on Metro. Lots of people lining the street but the Parade was so lame! It sealed our opinion of parades back here - they are just an opportunity for random folks to walk down the street and be seen. Lame bands, lame dragons, lame, lame. No more DC parades.

After that, we went to the final day of the DC New Car show. Got all enthused by the new Chevys, amazed by the hybrid engines in the Fords and wowed by the $185K Mercedes - now that's my kind of car. Lots of fun.

1-22-2011 U-H Air&Space with Mike McElwee

Our buddy (nephew) Mike McElwee came back for another visit! We went out to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum on Saturday. Mike had never seen it while this was our third visit - it is such a big place that even the third time had new finds. We watched an IMAX on a new Boeing airplane being made. Then split up to wander. We found an early helicopter prototype made by a person with the same last name as our neighbors in Albuquerque. I wonder ... And we saw the gondola from the balloon flight across the Atlantic made by the two fellows from Albuquerque, Anderson and Abruzzo.

1-16-2011 Rock Creek Park visit

Rock Creek Park was on our list to see so we drove into DC and drove through the Park. We went to the visitor's center, saw the exhibits on flora and then took a walk through the woods, along Rock Creek. Very wintry, but it was a pleasant day. A good outing for a Sunday.