Touristing in DC

June 5, 2019

iThe next two days were set aside for us to play tourist in DC. I think this trip is, perhaps, our fifth visit to the capitol over the years. It's like an onion. Each visit we think, "this will be the last time we need to come because we'll have seen it all," but no ... always another layer underneath ...

On Tuesday it was outdoor oddities. We spent about 3 hours wandering around the National Congressional Cemetery, a place where many famous and not-so-famous but historically interesting folks are buried. Not sure what the qualifications are one needs to be buried here, but its a neat, eclectic spot. It is also an off-leash dog park! I kid you not. In our wanderings we had the chance to pet at least 10 dogs and have a quick chat with their owners. At first it seemed a bit incongruous that a graveyard would also be a dog park, but frankly, it makes it a happier place ... filled with some life instead of all musty history and death.

Grave of Native American Leader forced to come to DC to "show off" to the white dignitaries and then died of a disease for which he had no immunity.

We visited the grave of John Phillips Sousa and Matthew Brady as well as several other folks I'd never heard of but after reading about their lives I was embarrassed that I had somehow managed not to know about their massive contributions.

Matthew Brady, famous civil war photographer.

The next stop was to the highest natural elevation in DC. This strange little hobby of ours is called high-pointing. It is the quest to try to visit the highest elevation (or highest point) in as many of the 50 states as you can, including DC. This spot makes for nine states reached on our list, and now DC.

Marg providing the exclamation point to our arrival at the highest elevation in DC

Finally, we decided to go visit the National Park Service's Aquatic Plant Gardens. It is far to the east side of DC and probably not visited very much by out-of-towners. But what a find! A Civil War veteran started a water lily "farming" location here after the war, and they gradually became the largest growers and sellers of water lillies and other aquatic plants both domestic and foreign. All the original ponds still exist and they have a wide variety of plants that bloom in late June through August. Peaceful. There was also a walkway that led to the freshwater estuary of the Anacostia River.

The next morning we slept in and then spent the entire day at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Margaret, being an art major in college, is a great guide in any art museum. She's a wealth of knowledge and information. We also specifically found the Obama portraits, which we had not seen. Judging from the many, many people crowded in front of them, we aren't the only folks who miss them desperately. *sigh*

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