Fight and Flight
Comment via blog
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Day 5: October 7, 2014 Fight and Flight Comment via blog |
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William E. Ebbitt established Washington's first known saloon in 1856.
It's been moved and refurnished a few times since then and today may be a
little classier than the joint that Bill initially operated but
Old Ebbitt Grill is
still going strong. That's "honey pecan butter, local apple maple
syrup and artisan breakfast sausage" accompanying my better than
average French toast. Bet they didn't have that in 1856. Excellent.
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A short walk from Ebbitt's brought me to this scene of the
Zero Milestone being used, as it typically is, as a
camera stand. That's somewhat understandable, given the background view,
and, to give this particular photographer his due, he did notice the
stone's engraved lettering and did take a shot of the side facing the
White House. Not many do. I did get several moments alone with the stone
before the next group in search of a camera support arrived. The affect
of just over ninety years of human contact is evident on the stone.
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I vaguely recall seeing this building as I drove by on US-50 but don't
believe I've seen it close up or knew what it was. Once upon a time, there
was a Washington City Canal and in 1833 it was connected to the Chesapeake
& Ohio Canal at just about this spot. This toll house is the only
thing remaining of the Washington Branch of the C & O Canal.
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I entered the World War II Monument from the north. The memorial is
trully impressive and the pools and fountains are certainly beautiful but
I can't help wondering what it will look like when the electricity goes
off. Without whirring pumps to spray and circulate the water, I fear it
will look a lot like an idled swimming pool at another defunct Holiday
Inn. I much prefer the simple "self powered" elegance of
monuments like those for the Vietnam War or Napoleonic Wars.
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Groups like this add a lot more beauty than the dancing waters ever will.
Seeing this Veteran's Honor Flight from New Mexico was a wonderful
coincidence and the highlight of my day.
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Those veterans were no doubt still on my mind when I snapped this picture
of an older (i.e., my age) couple pausing to watch some ducks in the
Reflecting Pool. Reflecting is good.
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Each of these pictures of the Korean War Memorial contains a granite wall. In one it is the wall
backing the semi-circular reflecting pool. In the others it is the wall
along the walk running beside the statues of the soldiers. The wall
reflects the nineteen statues and makes it look like 38 which represents
the 38th parallel which was an important line in the war. Very clever, I
suppose, though I knew nothing of the trick before today. This was at
least my third visit to the memorial but I have no memory of ever even
seeing the wall before. So sure was I that it was a recent addition that I
asked a ranger when it was built. Confused by my question, he explained
that the whole monument, walls, pool, and statues, had been dedicated in
1995. Pictures of the dedication confirm that the wall was there. From the
minute I first saw them, I've felt that the trudging soldiers -- not,
marching, not walking, trudging -- were the perfect illustration of
everything I knew about this war. They don't need no stinking wall or
pool. Maybe I really didn't notice the wall and pool or maybe I chose to
pretend they weren't there. Old photos I've taken don't really help.
This one from 2004 seems to
show that there is no wall but I believe it's just framed, perhaps
intentionally, to keep the wall out of view. The expressions, stances, and
overall appearances of the statues are all this memorial needs. They tell
the war's story with uncommon elegance. Now that I've had to acknowledge
the existence of the wall and pool, I'm going to try to re-forget -- or at
least ignore -- them.
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When my great-grandparents passed through Washington in the spring of
1921, Granny wrote of seeing "the monument". The Lincoln
Memorial was entering its final year of construction then and I've always
assumed it was what she meant. Maybe not but it seems reasonable. The
Reflecting Pool was not there yet so Granny would have had to do her own.
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The Vietnam War Memorial could be the best example possible of that
"self powered" elegance I spoke of. No tricks or mirrors and no
batteries required. Just a simple and solid listing of the cost of a war.
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I had left the hotel with plans for breakfast and a walk by the Zero
Milestone before boarding the Metro for the museum I'd missed yesterday.
But I got tugged toward the Washington Monument then the World War II
Memorial and beyond. Fortunately I realized this before it was once again
too late. The trip requires both train and bus and can take a couple of
hours. I boarded the train a little after noon and reached the
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center about a quarter to 2:00.
The timing was perfect for the next guided tour.
The place is huge and hours or days could easily be spent exploring. The two hour tour covered just highlights and I'll cover just the highlights of the highlights. The first picture is of a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. The Air Force museum in Dayton has one so this wasn't new to me but the mach 3.3 aircraft is still an attention getter. Next up is the Enola Gay, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Her last surviving crew member, navigator Theodore VanKirk, died just weeks ago at age 93. The Boeing 307 Stratoliner was the first commercial airliner with a pressurized cabin for high altitude cruising. The Air France Concorde was the world's first, and so far only, supersonic airliner. The fifth photo shows a Martin X-35B lift-fan propulsion system with one of the aircraft behind it. Note the swivel nozzle on the engine (left) which, along with the lift-fan (right), support short takeoff vertical landing (STOVL). The production version is the F-35. The aircraft in the last picture, which may be a little tough to make out, is a reproduction of Samuel Langley's 1903 Aerodrome A. Langley had successfully flown unmanned models of the tandem winged craft but the full sized human carrying version naver quite made it. |
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Udvar-Hazy Center's latest star is the Space Shuttle Discovery which went
on display in 2012. It's very big and very impressive. An only somewhat
blurry picture of the no-two-alike tiles is
here.
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