Travel log

One of the best things about being married to an airline pilot is occasionally getting to travel with him on a trip. Tommy had a 30 hour layover in Washington DC last week. Thanks to a wonderful boss and a rearranged schedule, I was able to tag along. (An aside, for those of you who think the life of an airline pilot is all glamour, try getting up in time to be dressed and ready for a 5:50 a.m. pickup by the shuttle driver for the return trip. Then fly an all-nighter to Alaska 28 hours after returning to Utah.)

Washington DC has become one of my favorite cities. I think it would be neat to live in our nation's capitol where history was and is made and there are so many things to see and do. Although, realistically I wonder how many times I'd make the effort to see the sites if I lived there. I've lived in Utah since 1980 and still haven't made it to the re-enactment of the driving of the golden spike which created the transcontinental railroad system.


We were blessed with a beautiful day! Sunny skies and temperatures in the 70s. For this trip, we chose to see the World War II memorial and the Jefferson monument--neither of which I'd been to before. The WWII memorial is beautiful. Lovely fountains, a pillar representing each state, and two larger sculpture representing the Atlantic and Pacific battles.

Then it was on to the Jefferson memorial. We were too late to see the Japanese cherry trees in bloom, although we did find one blossom left. :-) A friend who lives in Virginia told us there were four million people there to see the trees a couple of weeks ago. I'm not sure fighting those crowds would have been worth seeing all the trees in bloom. We did see other trees with lots of blossoms. There were people in paddle boats in the tidal basin. We thought about joining them but decided our feet were already tired, so they didn't need the additional workout. Getting old is NOT for the faint of heart! We spent a couple of hours wandering through the memorial and the displays downstairs. Afterwards, we sat on the steps facing the tidal basin to rest, people watch, and enjoy the sunshine. Suddenly, we hear a helicopter. It was President Obama's helicopter! The pilot circled the tidal basin several times before flying on to the White House--to the delight of the crowd. Two more helicopters followed and did the same thing. Way cool!!!

One other fun thing. While we were sitting and resting, this sweet lady asked me if I'd hold her hand as she went down the steps. There was no railing. As I was helping her, she thanked me profusely and said next Sunday was her 84th birthday; and she didn't want to miss it. Hope I'm in good enough health at almost 84 to be sightseeing.