Day 5 continued...

When I left off, we had just seen the Vietnam Memorial. We made our way through the woods to the Lincoln Memorial.

I knew it was big, but some things are just bigger in person than you can imagine (look at all those stairs to get up to it!):


Along the top all of the States are listed:


The actual statue of Lincoln is ginormous:


This memorial was lovely. The Gettysburg address is carved into the side walls. It was amazing to stand in that beautiful place, read those words, and ponder the profound impact Abraham Lincoln had on our nation and the course of slavery and our history:


Walking back out I caught Spencer lounging on the pillar enjoying the view (or maybe he was just ready to move onto the next spot!):


As we walked out I looked down and found this engraved:


I realized again what an amazing place we were visiting. The day that this march on Washington took place leaders of several religions and groups came together to help a great movement progress. I was filled with gratitude at that moment, in a way that is hard to describe.

We had an appointed time slot to go up in the Washington Monument so we headed back. It was incredibly windy as we walked back and stood in line. We huddled together to try and block the wind. Or rather some of us did. Others frolicked in the "breezes".
During this waiting time, Joe got the picture he had been dreaming and planning to take for weeks. Before the trip we read a book that told of the building of the Monument. He had in mind the way he wanted to capture this amazing place. His picture shows the difference in color of stone it was built out of. After construction began, they ran out of money and had to put off finishing it for awhile. When they started back up they had to use a new kind of stone. Photo by J. Carson, age 8:


The ride up in the elevator was fast! On the viewing floor are windows on each side of the Monument. The view is great! The condition of the tiny windows for taking pictures...not so great. Here is the view back to the Lincoln Memorial:


And the opposite direction down the mall to the Capitol Building, the mall is not very green right now!:


We spent the rest of the afternoon traveling to the Spy Museum (the kids were done in about 1 hour, but I could have stayed for several more!).

We wanted to see Ford's Theater where Lincoln was shot, but it was closed for renovation:


Instead we toured the house across the street where he was taken after he was shot, and where he died a few days later:


Our day touring was done. The buildings, Smithsonian and so on, close at 5PM. Perfect time to head back to the hotel, fill up with a delicious dinner and head up to the room for homework time. Mark and his mom headed out for a night view of Washington. Here is the Jefferson Memorial across the water: