Saturday January 12, 2008

Washington DC

Date of Trip:  October 30 to November 4,  2002

Summary

In the fall of 2002 I attended a portal summit in Virginia.  After the conference I set out to explore Virginia, North Carolina and Washington DC.  At the time of my trip the DC Snipers were still killing innocent citizens and thankfully they were captured the day before I left for the conference.  I would to have hated to sightsee while running zigzag patterns down the Mall.

As part of my quest to visit all of our states, I decided to make a run to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.  Being the eve of the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brother's first flight was also a draw.  One thing that amazed me was the short distance of the flight.  We are talking yards here not miles.

Also on this trip I visited the homes of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison on James Monroe.  This was an easy task as they are all within 20 miles of each other.  Had I not visited it previously, I also would have taken in Washington's Mount Vernon as well. 

On my way south, I made a stop at Williamsburg, Yorktown and Jamestown.  All of these sites are important to our history.  Jamestown being one of our original settlements, Williamsburg being the early capital of Virginia and Yorktown being the site of the defeat of the English during the Revolutionary War.  Williamsburg is pretty interesting in that you get to see restored building of the era just prior to the Revolutionary War. 

After my trip down south I spent the weekend in Washington DC.  I had previously toured the White House so was not to upset when the tours were closed due to our heighten state of alert.  I did get to see Marine One take off from the White House with the President on board.  The interesting thing about this was that I was deemed a threat as a DC cop told me I could not stand in front of the south lawn and had to move about 100 yards away.  I was able to take in the new Franklin Roosevelt Memorial, George Mason Memorial and the Korean War Memorial.  All of which I had to do while dodging Chinese tourists.

Photo Gallery

	North Carolina		Virginia
	Washington DC

Me at the Capitol

Trip Map

Miles Driven:  716

Hotel

• Holiday Inn Patriot - Williamsburg, VA

  This is a basic tourist destination Holiday Inn.  The room and facilities could have been a little cleaner, but it was OK.
   

• Holiday Inn Nags Head On The Beach - Kill Devil Hills, NC

  Not the nicest hotel I have stayed at.  The rooms were dirty and very small.
   

• Capital Hilton, Washington DC

  This hotel is excellent.  The staff was exceptional.  From my room I could see the Washington Monument.  The White House was a short stroll down the street (somehow the President's invitation was lost in the mail).

Points of Interest

• Montpelier

  Home of James Madison.  The grounds are beautiful.  The house is being renovated which helps illustrate the steps taken in renovating a historic home.
   

• Ashlawn Highland

  Home of James Monroe.  Smaller than Monticello and Montpelier, but the furnishings and tour are worth the stop (besides it is right next door to Monticello.
   

• Monticello

  Home of Thomas Jefferson.  Hey, where else could you go and see the back of the nickel in person.  The grounds are impressive and seeing the architectural designs of Thomas Jefferson is interesting. 
   

• Williamsburg

  See colonial history at Williamsburg. I recommend the Kings Arm for eating an authentic (at least they say it was authentic) colonial meal.  Tour as many buildings as you can.

   

• Kitty Hawk

  One of the things that sticks out from this site is the actual distance the Wright Brother's flew.  Their first flight was something less than 100 yards.
   

• Franklin Roosevelt, Korean War and George Mason memorials. 

  As this was my third trip to Washington DC, I visited the newer memorials on the National Mall.  The whole time I was at these sites I had to dodge Chinese Tourists.