View From The Road - Days 5 and 6

Now that I have a moment to work with the pictures, here is the final day in DC, plus the journey home. On Sunday (day 5) we saw the natural history museum; day 6 took us past Antietam National Battlefield. On to the pictures:

- What happened to Calvin?


- Bad day to be the prey...


- This is my distant cousin? Not the last time I would think it might be fun to tour this museum with Sarah Palin...

- Don't mess with the kitty...

- Here is another time I thought I would like to have Mrs. Palin around ... just to ask her if this was the dinosaur who ate her distant relative a few thousand years ago ... you know, when she thought dinosaurs walked the earth. She was almost our Vice President. Wow.

- It's really impressive to see how big a T-Rex is in person.

- Here is the Hope Diamond

- Our view from the right field bleachers during Sunday's game. We were in the first row, right above the Nationals' bullpen. Great seats for all four games.

- Once the Cubs put 7 runs up in the 4th we saw an awful lot of action in the Nationals' pen, right under our feet.

- I think I'm going through President withdraw already

- Four games in four days: four wins. Bring out the brooms, because for once we actually took care of business

- A shot of the church at Antietam, behind which the Confederate ranks of Stonewall Jackson were positioned

- The sunken road at Antietam. A handful of Confederates held this line for quite some time, inflicting heavy casualties. They eventually fell back, but held at a later point when reinforcements arrived. All in all, Antietam was the bloodiest single day of the entire Civil War.

View From The Road - Day 4: Bull Run and Game 3

Today we took the trip down the road to Manassas Battle Field, A.K.A. "The Battle of Bull Run." It was pretty neat to see the place where the Civil War's first battle unfolded, but it was also equally eye opening to note how small the battle field was. I've been to Gettysburg twice; I've reenacted the Battle of Gettysburg once. I've studied the Civil War in pretty strong detail. But until I stepped onto the field at Manassas I don't know that the sheer size of Gettysburg really set in. The first battle of the Civil War took place with the Union and Confederate lines only 350 yards apart. Three and a half football fields; less than three if you factor in the endzones. Mindblowing. On to a few pictures from today:

- Here's a shot of the Union lines at the top of Henry Hill.

- A cannon on the Union lines. The battle ended when the Confederate forces, some dressed in Union colors, took the Union's right flank, and their artillery with it.


- A shot from behind the cannon


- "Stonewall" Jackson's statue. He got his nickname on this battlefield, as his Virginia infantry held the Confederate line.


- The Confederate artillery line across the field.


- A monument erected on the battlefield in the late 1860s by Union veterans. It is dedicated to "the patriots."


- There were Civil War reenactors there ... and I was not missing being in the wool uniforms, let me tell you.


- The grave of Judith Henry, who was in her 80s at the time of the battle, and who died due to a union artilery shot which went through her house. She was born in 1776, at the birth of the union, and died as a casualty of the first battle of the war that promised to tear the union apart.


- Walking into the ballpark ... for a third straight night.

- A shot from behind the leftfield bleechers down the line.


- In Milwaukee they have a sausage race. In D.C. they have racing presidents. I am much more interested in racing presidents. I want the T-shirt that says "let Teddy win." And I'm still glad Randall Simon hit one of the racing sausages.


- There is something about singing the Star-Spangled Banner in D.C. at the ballgame that gets to you. And, let me tell you, the kid who sang it tonight killed it. He was amazing, and couldn't have been older than nine or ten.


- The seventh inning stretch was, once again, Cubs time ...


- ... and this particular Nats fan, #3, was unhappy there were so many Cubs fans. Every time we went nuts he turned and stared. He was mad at the start, but we eventually broke his will. Then we bought him a beer. It was a close game, but he left in the 8th having lost hope.

- 'Nuff said.

View From The Road - Day 3: SCOTUS, Capitol, Space and Cubbies

Day three is in the books, and let me tell you, I think I've walked fifteen miles at least in the past few days. Everything in this city is so big that it seems close, until you walk to it and it just keeps hanging there in the background. Today was a less ambitious schedule, but we still saw alot, including:

- The Supreme Court of the United States
- The US Capitol building
- The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum
- Game two of the Cubs - Nationals series, featuring my man - Big Z

On to the shots:


-The US Capitol as we walked towards it


- The Capitol with the Grant Memorial dead center in front of it


- U.S. Grant: giving hope to whiskey drinkers since the 1860s (at least)


- The back of the Capitol


- The Supreme Court building ... awe inspiring up close. The architecture really can't be done justice here, but through these shots I'll try to give you an idea of how awesome it is.


- "Equal Justice Under The Law"


- The Capitol building from the steps of the Supreme Court


- The best shot I could manage of the court room itself. There was a 25 minute lecture that took place inside (no pictures allowed) and let me tell you, it was awesome. Not the lecture itself mind you; I already knew almost everything that was said, and actually had to correct the lecturer with head nods at one point. What was amazing was sitting there, FEET from the chair the Chief Justice sits in, taking it all in. A special place.


- Statue of John Marshall


- The handwritten notes that Abraham Lincoln used when he argued the Lewis v. Lewis case in front of the Supreme Court.


- John Marshall's bust inside the Supreme Court's main hall. There is one for every deceased Chief Justice, all of them in the main hall. Unfortunately they have not completed the bust for Big Willy Rehnquist. I will have to come back.

- Inside the Capitol done, and a close up of the painting at the top, which depicts George Washington by a rainbow in a purple dress ... um, I still think HGH George is the best George.

- The Library of Congress ... so many books.

- The last remaining piece of Sputnik. I've got to be honest: the Air and Space Museum wasn't as good as it could be. I just felt a little disappointed. Maybe it's how well read I am in regards to astronomy, but it seemed a little more amateurish when compared with the American History Museum.

- An Apollo Lunar Suit ...

- ... and the Apollo 11 rover.

- The actual Wright Brother's airplane. I've got to admit, this was pretty cool.

- At the game, the man of the hour was Z. The crowd went nuts for him.

- Zambrano walking out from the bullpen to start the game, while a handful of Cubs relievers walk out to the 'pen.

- When I saw that Lenny Harris was playing second tonight I was worried The Attorney General was out of the lineup. I was relieved that he was in the lineup at shortstop. He didn't have the greatest night, but at least he had the scorekeeper arrested after he was assessed an error in the first.

- There was a little rain, and some great conversation between us and the people around us, so here is the last pitch of the game, delivered by Kevin Gregg...

- ... 'Nuff said.