Gary-Summer: March 23, 2023

Thursday, March 23, 2023

March 23, 2023 - Washington DC

Title: March 23, 2023 - Washington DC

Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's

Hike Info:

Type: Tourist

Walking: 4.1 miles

Description:

National Archives Building

I got up at 7am. But then I read for a while and played Worldle and Statele. Sherri fixed french toast this morning for our morning meal. I think we are a bit tired from being continuously on the go. But we have a pass for 10:45 at the National Archives today. So we cannot lounge around too much today-maybe tomorrow if the rain comes as predicted. We have three passes today: National Archives, a tour of the Capitol through our representative, and the Library of Congress. We also would like to see the Emancipation Monument and the Capitol’s Botanical Gardens

We decided to take the Metro downtown. There is a station closer than Union Station. That is the NoMa station, about two blocks from us. Pretty easy to get to. So we take that to the Gallery Place-Chinatown. Getting out of a subway station is always a little disorienting. But this time, I get myself oriented with help from Google maps and we are off down 9th Street to the National Archives.

There is a long long line to get into the Archives. But then we notice a sign for timed passes without anybody in it. So we take that line. There is no waiting and we are wondering, what is wrong with this picture. Particularly since we go through security and no one asks for our pass!

This is definitely not the Archives which I remember from 50+ years ago. The only thing I remember from then was going into this cavernous room with the faded print of the Constitution under glass. But the Archives have changed. Right from the beginning, it is set up to tell stories. We go into an exhibit which talks about how our rights as a nation have changed and developed. It caught my attention from the beginning. There are a series of pictures showing the founding fathers in various scenes. But the pictures are holographic and as I move, they change into images of current peoples. The captions around them give a similar reflection. This shows how the rights of Americans have undergone a development, giving a fuller interpretation of these rights.

Andrew Mellon Fountain

Gary at Costa's Office

There is a table top set up with about a dozen different stations where you can integrate various subjects such as Equal Rights, Workers Rights, Workers Rights and other subjects on rights. To my mind, they are very effective.

We also went through an exhibit which showed how NARA collects and takes care of documents. It ranges from ship’s logs to military documents to Presidential paraphernalia. It left me wondering, where do they house all of these original documents? I am thinking of a series of warehouses like we saw in the Indian Jones movie.

Painting around the Rotunda

And then to the main event: the national documents such as the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution and the Bill of Rights. When we get there, there is a Disneyland level line waiting to see these documents. We go and stand in line with them. We are told, no photography and no disorderly conduct. We are let in waves. There are other documents leading up to the big documents. One of them talks about Elizabeth Burgin who rescues captives during the Revolutionary War. There is a document noting she is entitled to a pension. Or the written speech of Lincoln’s Fiery Trial speech. It is hard for me to read these, mostly because both the writing is very fine and the spelling is different.

Suffragettes

And then there are the Big Documents. The writing is very faded. Other displays talk about how they have been exposed to light, so these containers are under special glass and the light does not contain UV rays. Also according to Atlas Obscura, the containers themselves are designed to drop into a specially protected space which could even withstand a nuclear blast. To me the thing which strikes me is the size of the documents. They are not on 8½ x11” paper or even legal. These are about 29x24” in size. The thing which strikes me is that these pieces of paper are more symbolic than magical. Which is powerful is the words which evoke a sense of what it means to be human. The power of the ideas stir the heart. I must go back and read these documents.

We have about an hour and a half to kill before going to our representative’s office. We walk along Constitution and find a small plaza with a fountain named after Andrew Mellon. It was pleasant enough, so we stopped for lunch. There is something relaxing eating by running water, whether it is in the Sierra or on a busy street. We take full advantage. The Canadian Embassy is across the way with construction right beside it.We enjoy the time here.

Then it is off to the Rayburn building. It takes us a little while getting to it. Then a bit of a security check to get inside. We are to meet Jake from Rep Jim Costa’s office. But finding the office is another trick. We start wandering the hallways. While I think we look lost, no one stops us to ask: What are we doing here? It turns out we almost go around the entire building before we find the office. When we come in, Jake is right there talking with an intern. Later we find out that Jake has only been there for a couple months himself.

After introductions, he shows us Costa’s office-I recognize several of his pictures. Then he guides us into the underground maze of tunnels connecting the various offices with the Capitol building

. At one point he asks, if we are interested in attending the House and Senate chambers-yes. So he runs back and gets the passes. But then he finds out he cannot take constituents through the tunnel to the Capitol building. Oh shucks. So we reemerge into the sunlight and enter through the normal security.

At the LOC, a rare children's folding book

Jake gets us our passes for the Capitol tour and then leaves us. The tour itself is very much like yesterdays. But different. First, the tour guide. has a sense of humor which could get her a job on Disney’s safari jungle cruise, like mine. She is also very knowledgeable. So even though the tour is similar, we are not bored. After the tour, we went to hear the House debate. It takes awhile to get in as there are many other people waiting to hear them.

Capitol Building at Dusk

We are seated right smack center.When we look over the chambers, it is nearly empty. Is this how major pieces of legislation heard? How is Congress really run? Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene is the one presiding. That in itself is jarring. The debate is on a bill about education [H.R.5 - Parents Bill of Rights Act]. The Republicans want to make access to the governing more open. Things like allowing unlimited time to be heard. Also Rep Lauren Boebert from Colorado wants to ban competing trans athletes from being outside of their born gender. All swiftly pass. I also see Elise Stefanik in attendance, looking like she is surveying the chambers to make sure all is right with the world. I am tired and try to keep myself from nodding off. We leave after half an hour.

When we emerge, we realize it is too late to wander down to Good Stuff Eatery on Pennsylvania Ave. But there is a hot dog stand right there and the ladies are friendly and we all share some good laughs. Sherri and I have a hot dog apiece. This may be our cheapest meal in DC for the whole week.

And now it is time to visit the Library of Congress. We wander through for a while, when we meet an off-duty librarian who is going up to a rare-book collection which is being displayed. If she finds this fascinating, then let's take the lead from a professional. We follow her into a children’s collection. What interests me is that there are some folding books that are very intricate.

Supreme Court

And then we go across the way and there are rare books from back 400-600 years. Books by Galileo and old texts transcribed from books by Euclid.We spend over an hour just wandering through these wonders. As we pass by a security guard, he asks us, do we have a library card? No. Then he pretty much escorts us into a room to get a card. At first, Sherri does not want one, but the librarian convinces her to get one.

Then the same guard waves us into the next room now that we have a card. Looks like a normal room, nothing special. But then we went into the next room. You know those pictures of the Library of Congress main reading room on the LOC website? This is it! It is even more awe-inspiring than the pictures. No pictures allowed. But in some ways, it would be like taking pictures in the Holy of Holies. What more can one want? I have died and gone to heaven.

Library of Congress at night

By this time, we had missed our lecture. So we wander the hallways, getting lost. We cannot figure out where to leave until a kindly cop points the way out. What a full day! Now to get back to our room. Along the way, a section of the Capitol area is lit up. This presents the cherry blossoms in a different “light”; a starkness we do not see during the day We find a way back to a Metro station and take it back to NoMa .Then walk to our room and crash there after an exhausting but so filled day.