Playing Tourist in DC

We played tourist a few days ago and had a nice day downtown.  We went to the National Museum of the American Indian, had lunch on 7th Street at some food trucks, then went to the Ford Theater and Peterson House.

This post is about our experience at the National Museum of the American Indian and lunch at the food trucks.

After living in Fairfax VA for 17 years we saw a lot of new museums and monuments get built in the downtown DC area.  A few of the new ones we haven't seen.  Yesterday was a mix of that.

We started off at the National Museum of the American Indian.  We drove in from our campsite from Haymarket, VA which is about 37 miles and took an hour.

The traffic was typical morning rush hour and we were glad we were able to cruise along in the HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle - 2 people) lane.  After finding our way to the Washington Mall and heading toward the U.S. Capitol (near the Indian Museum), we saw that there was plenty of parking.  What?  Yes!  They no longer have meters with coins but use one every 5 or 10 cars and they all take credit cards.  I like the fact that the parking spot was limited to 3 hours which makes it very convenient for tourists and visitors.

We arrived about 9:25 AM, got our parking spot near the museum (and there were plenty more on the street available).  Next, we asked around for the nearest rest room.  Since the museum didn't open until 10 AM, we had some extra.  And a McDonald's was about 2 blocks away.  Perfect.  We used the facility, got a couple of cups of coffee and split a sausage biscuit.  And then we people watched for a few minutes.  The McDonalds may have been the nicest one I have ever seen.  Large,  updated furniture and traffic flow, fast and friendly service. It was exceptional.

We were only a block away from the museum and walked around to the front and took two pictures.

The fountain was a very beautiful one.  I could imagine sitting near it for lunch our just spending time enjoying it.

This is a better picture of the fountain that I got off the internet.

This notice caught my attention.

Inside, we stopped at the front desk and talked with a couple of people in charge.  They explained this was not a museum of US American Indians but of the Western Hemisphere Indians.  That included North, South, and Central America.

During our 90 minute stay we saw 13 minute orientation film, and the galleries:  Nation to Nation; The Inka Road, Native American's in our Nations Armed Forces

We have been to a few really good museums that had galleries and artifacts of (US) American Indians and I expected a more complete group of galleries explaining the hundreds of different tribes and a lot of their history and such.

The museum was more about a sampling of a lot of Indians in the Americas/Western Hemisphere including the Native American Indian.

The museum was a large and beautiful four story structure with an open area in the middle.  Almost like a rotunda of a capital building without the murial or guilded ceiling.  Or like an Embassy Suites hotel with the walkways around the center of the building which is open.  It was an impressive looking building both inside and out.

The structure itself cost $199 million with an additional $20 million for exhibits, public programs, and opening events. The facility itself was quite large and sits on a 4.25 acre site near the U.S. Capitol.

We went to the top/4th floor and began our tour walking through the explanations and artifacts of the diplomacy, treaties and betrayals of the U.S. government with the Native Nations.

The gallery was very well done with enough information to explain the agreements while not getting too complicated.  It very informative.

 In each of the nine treaties on display, viewpoints of the Indian and the US government leadership were explained.  It did not seem to be too harsh on the injustices the Indians have endured time and again.

After time in that exhibit we viewed the 13-minute Orientation film:  "Who We Are".  It sets the tone of the museum with a documentary of Indians in the Artic, Northwest coast, and the plateaus of Bolivia while introducing themes of the cross cultural lives of Indians throughout the Western Hemisphere.  No photography or video recording was allowed in this exhibit.

The next gallery we walked through was The Great Inka Road: Engineering an Empire.  A bilingual series of displays explained one of the engineering marvels in history.  The road is a network of roads spanning rivers, deserts, mountains and tropical lowlands.  It traverses the countries of Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Boliva, Argentina and Chile.

I snapped a few photos of some of the many displays:

Our niece was Peace Corps volunteer for two years in Peru and we have since been interested in learning more about that country.  My brother and wife (her parents) visited her and have since volunteered for that last ten years and participated in a Disability effort of providing wheelchairs to those in Peru.  They are going to Peru again in November for their 11th trip.

The last gallery we visited was about American Indians who were veterans of the U.S. military:  Native Americans in our U.S. Military.  Though it was off to one corner and relatively small, it was one of my favorite.

 The last display discusses Ira Hayes who was part of the famous Raising the Flag at Iwo Jima.

He is pictured on the left side of the men raising the flag.

We also visited the bookstore and gift shop but didn't find anything we couldn't do without.  Next, we headed over to the other side of the mall and parked near the Ford Theater in an underground parking lot.

The costs were a little different, ($24 vs $6) but all in all it was nice to get a safe spot to leave the car and walk around downtown DC.  By now it was lunch time.  We asked around and were directed to 7th Street over by the National Portrait Gallery.

Wow - 7 or 8 trucks of delicious food.

I got the falafel and hummus plate and Pam had a burger.  A definite treat on both accounts.  It was fun to see the customers walk up and order.  The clientele were all quite different.  It was great for the taste buds and a time of some more interesting people watching.

That's a quick look at our time in the National Museum of the American Indian and lunch at the food trucks in DC.  Look for my next post on Ford's Theater and the Petersen House.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles.

Plans Change for the Winter

We had thought we were going to be spending most of the winter in Florida.  There's something about the warm weather and great beaches that we find very attractive.  Plus there are so many other things we like about Florida.  I think we have spent four of the last five winters there and love it.

There is lots of history, things to learn, places to see we have never been and a generally welcoming atmosphere in Florida.  We need to go see the World Golf Hall of Fame again in St. Augustine.  We've been there once, but I don't think I was able to absorb all of what it had to say.  Golf being my favorite sport and a wonderful pastime, I look forward to seeing that place again.

Then there is the weather.  Usually during the winter months, Florida manages to escape some of those cold temps. At least in Southern Florida.  We like Key West for a few weeks and it is very affordable at the military campground at the Navy Base there.

We also have some great friends who live in Florida and / or 'winter' there.  So it would be great to see them again.

But this year we will spend a few weeks in the late fall in Florida, but mostly spend our December, January, February and ??? in Virginia.  We intend to be in Virginia Beach mostly, but will likely take a few days at a time and come up to the Washington D. C. area for visits.

As you know, our daughter and son-in-law live in Virginia Beach and our son and his fiancé live in Chevy Chase, MD (really about a block from the D.C. line).  And we have absolutely loved the weeks we have spent in each place and getting to see them all.  Whether it is a night or two during the week or time on the weekend it has been great to dip into there worlds again and see them.

Our goal is to do that as much as we can without over doing it.  There is a balance here and we aim to find it.  So we are going to keep at it and plan on seeing more of them.

We leave this weekend for Pennsylvania and the Amish Country.  And we will be seeing some of Philadelphia again and then heading down the Eastern Shore and back to Little Creek Navy Base Campground in September.  We also have plans for some time in Myrtle Beach and Tennessee and probably Red Bay, AL before returning to Virginia Beach for the holidays.

During the holidays, (and maybe before) we will probably be honing up on our cold weather camping and hoping that Virginia Beach doesn't get 8" of snow like it did in the winter of 2010-2011.  We got caught in that one and waited for the snow to melt enough to make a bee line South.

This winter we will hang around and wait for the birth of our first grand child which is scheduled for mid-February.  After two years of marriage Kelly and Jon are expecting their baby to be here.  We are VERY excited for them and want to be there to help.  So there will be more on that later I am sure.  We found out a while ago and were sworn to secrecy.  Once she posted it on her blog and FaceBook though, we figured it was OK to spread the news!

Which brings me to my question of the day:

Any advice for new grandparents-to-be?

Thanks of joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles! 

Berry Pickin'

Adam and Melissa knew of a place to go blackberry picking and we went on Sunday.  It was supposed to be overcast and rainy but really was a very nice day.

We are about 45 minutes away from them.  We are staying at Fort Meade RV campground.  It is a bit of a drive, but there are not a lot of good choices in the area.  We like our campground (especially the $28/night price which is very good for this part of the country) and are glad to make the drive to spend time with them.

We met them in Chevy Chase, then all drove out to Butler's Orchards, parked the car in the field and boarded the wagon out to the area.

We arrived at our area and found other folks already there among the rows.

I think it is toward the end of the season, so lots of berries had already been picked.  We were prepared with our own tupperware and small buckets and we wandered up and down the rows getting all we wanted.

It was easy to pick the ones that were ripe and leave the rest.  There was some good looking berries waiting for us!

After we spent about 45 minutes picking, we had all we wanted and rode the tracker wagon back to the cashier.   $12.45 for about 1/2 gallon of berries.  Good price plus a nice outing.  Sadly no pictures of the berries...

Then we made a stop at the produce store and bought some jams and jellies that always make good gifts.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Time in DC

We recently spent some time in Washington DC seeing our son Adam.  I was working online for the first week but we managed to get together and go out to eat and see some sights.

This is Mother's Day when we got together for lunch in Alexandria with Kelly and Jon, Melissa and Adam.

Later we got tickets to the Evening Parade as the USMC Marine Barracks downtown at 8th and I.

We have seen this excellent concert/performance four or five times since 1993.  It is always a marvel to see these young men and women from the USMC Marine Band (The President's Own) and the USMC Drum and Bugle Corps perform.  In addition, Marines perform a precision 'silent drill' and marching sequence that is quite something.

We love baseball and got some tickets to see the Nationals play at their gorgeous new downtown stadium.

We arrived early, had excellent seats and watched the Nats play the Mets.  It's been a while since DC had a contender but they are near the top in the National League East.

We stayed the Andrews AFB FamCamp in Maryland.  I got to play golf a couple of times on Saturday morning and that was fun.  We also had a chance to host some old friends at the campground.

Pam, Jayne, John, Mike, Sue, Dene

We have known these folks since we moved here in 1992.  As a full-timer, folks are always having us over when we come visit, so it was nice to finally cook for them!

The FamCamp is very convenient to downtown Washington and the price for a night's stay is $16.00.  We usually check out three places when we look for a place to stay:

1. Woodalls
2. RV Parks Review and for potential military campgrounds, we check out
3. U.S. Military Campgrounds

We have found over the last couple of years that we have stayed at a lot of military campgrounds.  They usually are adequate and prices usually range from $15 - $22 / night.  We like that.

A feature on the US Military Campgrounds web site is a customer evaluation link where we can rate the campground. I filled out the Interactive Customer Evaluation for the Outdoor Recreation/FamCamp and was not complimentary about the care of the campground.  I thought some aspects of the campground could be improved and listed them.  To my surprise, the Director of Outdoor Recreation asked if we could meet.  Ali and the Lt Col who run Morale, Welfare and Recreation sat with us for an hour and I went through my list.  I had 7 items in 'Good Things' and 7 items in 'Things that could be improved'.  I was very impressed they took my comments and concerns, were not defensive, and even said we were the first people in her four years she has been Director, that have take the time to offer constructive ideas.  So, if you get the chance, I'd recommend you provide an evaluation -- you never know, you may find a receptive ear!

That's all for now and for this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles.  Next -- our journey to the Northeast and Maine!

Thanks for joining us!  Until next time...