Sunday, June 5, 2016

Our hearts hurt today.  I don't think anything can prepare you for seeing the Vietnam War Memorial in person.  Replicas of the wall came to Boise twice and I went to see it both times, but it didn't have the impact that the real one had this morning.  So many names.  So many names.

We also saw the Korean War Memorial, the World War II Memorial, the memorial to the women who serve in the armed forces. After Arlington yesterday and all the war memorials today, I just thought "why can't we live in peace?"  It's heart rending, it really is.

We also saw the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, the White House and the Capitol, both from a distance, and the Smithsonian American History Museum.  Our step monitors were about 12,000 steps today.  Lots of student groups again.  The noise level in the museum was deafening.  There are signs next to the statue of Abrahan Lincoln that say "Silence, Show Respect" and you could hardly hear yourself think.  Maybe all the foreign tourists can't read English.  We've decided that maybe fall would be the best time to visit here again.

The forecast today was for thunderstorms this afternoon so I carried my rain jacket with me and Stella took her umbrella.  It was a beautiful day even though it was 90 percent humidity when we left the hotel.  I'm sure it was because I had my jacket.  If I hadn't taken it, it would have poured buckets of rain.  It had just started to sprinkle when we got on the metro back to the hotel and wasn't raining here.  But!  It just thundered and poured rain a few minutes ago so we are lucky that we're in for the night.  Looks like it might be here to stay for the evening.