Elvis

Don't step on his blue suede shoes

This barn in Annapolis, MD has a big picture of Elvis painted on it. It used to be a barber shop, but now it’s just another photo op.

Baltimore

One day we decided to drive out to Baltimore for awhile. It’s only about an hour away. Many people who live in DC work in Baltimore. Many people who live in Baltimore work in DC. The air is very filthy.

Baltimore

As you come into Baltimore you see this big smoking tower with the word “BALTIMORE” written on it.

Bromo Seltzer

This clock tower is another one of Baltimore’s major landmarks. It’s the Bromo Seltzer Tower. It was built in 1911 as a factory for Bromo-Seltzer, a medicine for headaches and upset stomachs. When Baltimore fixed up the downtown this building was turned into an art studio and coffee shop.

Shot tower

This is the Phoenix Shot Tower. A shot tower was used to make ammunition for old weapons. Melted lead was dropped from the top. As it fell the lead would form a ball and start to cool. At the bottom the lead ball would fall into a vat of cold water. They could change the amount of lead depending on whether they needed bullets for pistols, rifles, or cannons. This tower was used to make bullets for the Civil War.

Pratt Street Power Plant

This building used to be used to create electricity. When they fixed up the downtown the building was emptied, except for a few pieces of machinery that looked neat, and filled with shops and restaurants.

Coast Guard

In Baltimore Harbor there are several old ships used as museums.

This is an old Coast Guard ship.

This is a fishing ship.

Old sailing ship

This is the USS Constellation. It’s the last ship from the Civil War that still floats.

USS Torsk

This submarine is the USS Torsk. It’s the last ship to sink an enemy vessel in World War II.

Aquarium

The building behind the ships is the Baltimore Aquarium.

SEAGULL!

Baltimore Harbor has a lot of seagulls.

Domino Sugar

Across the harbor is the Domino Sugar factory.

Avast!

Rudder

These two pictures show a display that explained how rudders used to work. You can see how the ropes go around the steering wheel, under the deck, and out to the rudder.

USS Constellation

Look! It’s the Constellation again.

Theresa and Alice in a silly hat

Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse

Same lighthouse

The Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse is a kind of lighthouse called a screw-pile lighthouse. Instead of being put on land, this kind of lighthouse is put out in the water. Giant screws are twisted into the mud and sand and the lighthouse is built on top of top of them. This lighthouse used to be at the end of a river.

Waste Water Treatment Museum

That building is the Baltimore Public Works Museum. It still functions as a pumping station, but the museum closed about a month ago.

Holocaust memorial

This Holocaust memorial was designed to look like a railroad car. Railroad tracks run through the park. The statue shows people in the fire.

Charm City Cakes

This is “Charm City Cakes”. This is where they film the show “Ace of Cakes” for the Food Network.

Cherry Blossoms

Cherry Blossoms

The Cherry Blossoms were just coming out before Alice had to leave.

At the circus

Clown

While Alice was in Washington, DC the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus was in town. Alice got to go down on the circus floor before the show began and visit the performers.

This clown was confused by Alice.

BAD CLOWN!

So he tried to eat her.

Dancer

This clown was much more friendly.

National Mall – part 6

Korean War Memorial - reflections

At the far end of the National Mall from the Capitol Building is a group of memorials. The Korean War Memorial has this wall covered in faces. The are pictures of soldiers who served in Korea that were found in the National Archives.

If you look carefully you can see Flat Alice’s reflection in the wall.

Korean War Memorial - marching

The Korean War Memorial also has a bunch of statues of soldiers walking through rice paddies. They’re marching toward an American Flag.

At night blue lights cause the faces in the wall to appear blue. If you go to this memorial on a foggy night, the reflection of the soldiers on the polished wall with all the floating blue heads makes this memorial really creepy.

Lincoln Memorial

Flat Alice and her friend Theresa standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

Inside the Lincoln Memorial.

Horse!

This is the security guard in front of the Lincoln Memorial. He’s almost as much of a draw as the statue.

Vietnam Memorial

The Vietnam War Memorial is a wall that lists the names of all American soldiers who died in the Vietnam War. There were so many people in front of that memorial that it would have been hard to fit Alice between them. So we took a picture from way back here.

At the White House

This is the White House, where the President lives. With all the protesters in the area that weekend there were fences keeping people way back from the White House. With the new health care bill up for a vote there were a lot of extra threats against the President.

We didn’t get a picture, but as we walked along E street we saw the President’s motorcade zoom by a block away on Pennsylvania Avenue.

FDR Memorial (National Mall – part 5)

My favorite monument is the FDR Memorial. Besides being beautiful and educational it’s just a great area to hang out and read.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, also known as FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States. He was the only President to serve more than two terms in office. He died during his 4th term of office. It was after his passing that The Constitution was changed to limit The President to two terms in office. To reflect his four terms, the monument is divided into 4 areas.

Soup line

When FDR took office the country was in the middle of The Great Depression. The Stock Market had collapsed causing many people to lose all their money. People tried to get what money they had left from the banks. But the banks didn’t have enough money either. Businesses failed and as much as 20% of people who worked in those day couldn’t find jobs.

A drought that had lasted 3 years and would go for 3 more had turned Kansas and the rest of the mid-west into a Dust Bowl. There was so much dust that it blew like snow and would bury houses. On really windy days there was so much dust that it would block out the sun all the way in Washington, DC. Many of the farmers gave up and moved away hoping to find jobs. Mostly they made the homeless problem in the cities even worse.

There were so many hungry, homeless people that many charities started soup kitchens to get food. In the picture above Flat Alice is standing in line for free food.

FDR is credited with creating the programs that ended the Great Depression and prevent another depression as bad as that one.

Fireside Chat

Radios for home was a fairly new invention. There were no TVs. FDR started making Fireside Chats, a weekly radio address to the people of the United States. He was the first President to do this and it has continued ever since.

FDR

FDR had a disease called Polio. It’s almost extinct today but back then anyone could get it at any time. Polio damaged nerves so your muscles would stop working. Many people, especially children, would spend months or years in the hospital when they got Polio. The game Candy Land was created specifically for children stuck in the hospital with Polio. The game Candy Land was created specifically for children stuck in the hospital with Polio. The doctors wanted the kids focused on the goal of getting to go home.

Polio made it very hard for FDR to walk and he spent most of his time in a wheelchair. But the newspapers tried very hard to hide the fact that FDR was in a wheelchair. They didn’t want him to look weak. This statue shows FDR sitting in one of his wheelchairs, but you can’t see the wheels.

the wheels

But if you crawl behind the statue you can see where his chair really does have tiny wheels.

The other chair

Wheelchairs back then all had those tiny wheels. You needed someone to push you around. FDR was a busy man. He didn’t want to have to wait for someone to push him from place to place. So he invented a new type of wheelchair. One with bigger wheels that he could turn himself. The wheelchairs you see today are based on his design.

The design

The back of the statue shows FDR’s design for his wheelchair.

Fala

This is a statue of FDR’s dog, Fala.

Eleanor Roosevelt

FDR’s wife was named Eleanor. She was the niece of Teddy Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States. She was the first American delegate to the United Nations General Assembly.

Don't slip

The FDR Memorial has fountains everywhere. I’m not really sure why. I like ’em though.

National Mall – part 4

Alice in Wonderland

A tree that fell over near the Tidal Basin called out for an Alice in Wonderland reference.

Jefferson Memorial

Across the Tidal Basin is the Jefferson Memorial. Thomas Jefferson was the 3rd PResident of the United States, the writer of the Declaration of Independence, a principle contributor to the U.S. Constitution, the President who bought the Louisiana Purchase from Napoleon, and the principle architect of the idea of the separation of church and state (no matter what the Texas School Board says).

Jefferson also collected fossils. In his time it was only recently realized that fossils were the remains of dead animals. Some of the bones that people brought Jefferson were different from most. They weren’t completely fossilized. They were the remains of Woolly Mammoths who hadn’t been extinct nearly as long as the dinosaurs. Jefferson didn’t think the Mammoths were extinct. When he sent Louis and Clark to explore the Louisiana Purchase one of the things Jefferson told them to look for was living Woolly Mammoths. They didn’t find any.

National Mall – part 3

Man hauling food

empty suit

Across the street from the Air and Space Museum is the Hirshhorn Museum. This is where the museum with the Abe Lincoln stuff used to be. Outside the Hirshhorn is a sculpture garden. These are two of the statues.

tasteful use of glass balls

Behind the Smithsonian Castle, the first of the many Smithsonian Buildings built here, there’s a beautiful garden. You can see Alice climbing on the decorative glass globes. Probably the first time I’ve seen that yard decoration used in a way that wasn’t tacky.

This is the back of the Smithsonian Castle and the main section of garden. Much more of the garden and many statues stretch off to either side.

Protest preparations

In front of the castle were hundreds of portable restrooms, a stage, and towers for lights and speakers. Later that day the protesters near the White House would come here.

National Mall – part 2

More indian museum

Another shot of the National Museum of the American Indian

Pedicab

Alice was getting tired of walking. She didn’t realize that our walking was just getting started. She hailed a pedicab before realizing that she left all her money in Kansas.

Earth

Earth from a distance

Starting outside the Air and Space Museum there’s a model of the Solar System at 1:10 billionth scale. 10 stations similar to the one shown here show the sun, the 8 planets, and Pluto. That tiny dot by Alice’s head represents the Earth 1:10 billionth of it’s real size. If you walk from the station with the Sun to the station with Pluto you’ll walk 650 yards.

Tulips on Alice

The tulips in front of the museums were blooming. Here’s Alice riding tulips.

National Mall – part 1

Newseum

This is the front of one of the newest museums in Washington, DC. It’s a news museum called The Newseum.

Every morning newspapers from all over the world e-mail the front page of that day’s paper to The Newseum. They are then printed and displayed on the sidewalk in front of the museum. This shows what different parts of the country think is newsworthy. It’s common to see the same pictures and articles appear in several newspapers as they buy them from the Associate Press and similar sources.

Protesters

On the weekend we walked around the National Mall there were several large protests happening. South of the White House people were protesting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here, outside the Capitol Building, people were protesting a bill that would try to make sure that everyone in America could afford health care. The next day there was a crowd of people wanting to see immigration laws reformed. It’s common to see large crowds on the National Mall. Sometimes they’re protesting, sometimes they’re attending special events, and sometimes they’re flying kites or visiting the many museums and monuments that line the Mall.

The Capitol Building is at one end of the National Mall. It’s where the two houses of Congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives, meet to debate and vote on new laws.

The other direction

After looking at the Capitol Building you can turn around and see the rest of the National Mall. The tall, skinny tower is the Washington Monument. It’s more than a mile away.

Buffalo headdress

Walking along the National Mall you find a strangely shaped building called the National Museum of the American Indian. This statue looks like a native american doing a dance in a buffalo headdress in the hope of having better luck in an upcoming hunt.

The National Museum of the Native American

This is one end of the National Museum of the Native American. During the summer there are running fountains on one side and a garden full of corn, tobacco, and other plants that native americans are thought to have grown.