I Love Our Nation's Capitol

World War II Memorial
Korean Veterans Memorial

Washington Monument

Recently I traveled to Washington, DC for a short weekend meeting. Most of my time was spent in a hotel conference room, but I was lucky enough to spend some time outside, and even luckier that our hotel was fairly close to the Mall (not the shopping type, but rather the one by the Smithsonian).

Saturday morning I went for an early run around the monuments. It was one of those days, just enough chill in the air that you don't get hot and just the right amount of sunshine to make you feel good about being outside. I saw the WWII Memorial, est. 2004, for the first time as well as the Washington Monument, the Capitol, and the Lincoln Memorial.

That evening, at about 9pm, my long time friend Marlene and I went walking around the monuments at night. We saw the above ones as well as the Vietnam Memorial and my personal favorite, the Korean Veterans Memorial. These are the words on the ground next to the statuary garden:

Our nation honors her sons and daughters

who answered the call

to defend a country they never knew

and a people they never met.

and nearby:

"Freedom is Not Free"

Wow. Statements like these, and the monuments themselves never fail to amaze me when I go to Washington. They have a huge impact on me and my general overall impression of the country. It also brings to mind that no matter how much you disagree or agree with a war, the ones fighting for us deserve our respect.

As an aside, as I was running I wondered what I would say if I saw George W out running with his secret service (I didn't, but I did see someone who looked a whole lot like Karl Rove). Finally, I came to the conclusion that I would tell him that running on these concrete paths is terrible for your joints, and they should think about a rubberized surface for the trails around the monuments... At this point, what else can be said?