Lately (Marine Musem, WWII Monument, MLK Jr Monument)

A few weeks ago we went to the Marine Museum.  It's down by Quantico.  It's a lot like the "Price of Freedom" exhibit at the American History Smithsonian (it talks about all the wars and it's free).  T had fun dressing up in the period costumes in different sections.  This one was from The War of 1812 (I think).

The museum covers everywhere / time the Marines have fought, so obviously there was a section within WWII about Iwo Jima.  It's a great exhibit and it is staffed by former Marines, some who fought there.  It's pretty amazing what they accomplished.  It's close to my heart because my grandpa was a Marine who fought at Iwo Jima.

I'm a fighter pilot!  And T is... French?  (Obviously, not really.  We all know the French don't fight! Ha!)

Separate from, but near by, the museum is a beautiful Marine Chapel.  We didn't go in (I didn't want to intrude on people actually using the chapel), but it looked beautiful.

The atrium has really cool architecture. 

If you live in the area (or really like the Marine Corps), the Marine Museum is definitely something you should check out.  If you are in town for vacation and have limited time, skip the Marine Museum and just take a bit more time in "The Price of Freedom" exhibit at the American History Museum.


The Friday of Labor Day Weekend, T only had to work a half day so we moseyed about part of the National Mall.  We hadn't been back to the WWII Memorial since our first cross country trip together in 2007.  Here I am with our new state.

The WWII Memorial has a great view of the Washington Monument.  The Washington Monument is totally two different colors.  No, really, it is.  They started building it before the Civil War.  Construction stopped during the war.  After the war they went back to the exact same quarry and the stone had changed color, but they used it anyway.  T and I haven't been to the top of the Washington Monument yet.  We're not sure when that will happen... it was cracked near the top during the earthquake and it has not re-opened yet (though you can still walk around it).

Here's T with our new state.  I'll have to dig up the photos from 2007 where I'm with Utah and T is with California.

It's a really lovely memorial.  They all are.

That same day we went to visit the new Martin Luther King Jr. Monument.  It opened to the public the week before the hurricane, even though the official dedication was postponed due to the hurricane.  We are pretty great at those self-photos!

The stone that the carving of MLK Jr is in is actually the center part of one giant boulder (this center part is in front of the two sides - this isn't making sense; check it out here).  On the side of the MLK Jr stone it says "Out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope."  So this monument has some pretty great symbolism going on.

The monument sits right on the Tidal Basin and has a great view of the Jefferson.  If you were to rent a paddle boat, I do believe you could almost pedal right up to it.

Okay, in this one you can kind of see the boulders on either side of the MLK Jr statue.  The MLK part would fit exactly between the two other boulders.  I really wonder how those giant boulders were transported.

Another gratuitous self-photo.

My two favorite MLK Jr quotes from the wall. 

If you're in town for more than one day, you should definitely see both of these monuments.