College Park, Maryland, Washington D.C. and a little info on Delaware

Happy Mother's Day! We are currently driving from Delaware and heading to New Jersey.  

This is my mom, Nancy, on her 80th birthday. We couldn't make it, 

but my sister-in-law was awesome and took a few pictures of her for us.

This is my stepmom, Connie. I tried to get a picture just of her but didn't want 

to cut people in half. Behind her is my sister, Stefanie and our stepbrother, Robert.

This was a busy and fun week. It was supposed to rain, but just rained a little on Monday. So, that was great for us to go and do some sightseeing. Saturday, after we arrived, we set up and then waited until 4:00pm to go to a class on how to use the Metro buses and subways. Sunday, we braved the subway and went to Washington D.C. I think we did a pretty good job. 

Our site for the week.

This is a very pretty RV park, I would come back here again.

Waiting for our subway.

General Winfield Scott Hancock. He served with distinction in the Army for four 

decades, including the Mexican-American War and as a Union general in the American Civil War.

Federal Triangle Building.

Art and Sculpture Garden. Didn't have a chance to go inside, 

but I like the flowing fountains.

The red building was an insurance company 

in the 1800's, it now is a Starbucks.

The Pentagon building. The wall on the left was the one destroyed. 

They did a good job building it back and looks like the original.

We went to the Pentagon Memorial.

A friend from High School was at the Pentagon for a 

meeting on September 11, 2011.

He lost his life that day. This was an emotional, somber 

moment for me. I love that someone left a rose for him.

We also were able to take a Hop On/Hop Off tour. It was nice to see and hear about the buildings, monuments, history and area while riding on the bus. It was a nice day, so hubby and I decided to sit in the open on the top of the bus.

Gorgeous day!

China Town was once home to thousands of Chinese immigrants, 

but fewer than 300 remain there now.

Hotel Harrington was built in 1914. It was the first hotel in DC 

to have air-conditioning, which was installed in 1938.

George Gordon Meade Memorial. He was a career military officer from Pennsylvania

 who is best known for defeating General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg.

President James A. Garfield served as our 20th president, he served 

from March 1881 until he was assassinated in September 1881.

John Ericsson Memorial. This is dedicated to the man who revolutionized 

naval history with his invention of the screw propeller (a rotary propelling 

device, as for a ship or airplane, consisting of a number of blades that radiate from a central hub).

"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important 

thing is not to stop questioning." Albert Einstein

We also had the opportunity to play some putt putt golf. They have a course at the RV park, along with a splash pad area, tennis courts, swimming pool, game room, hot tub, cafe, gift shop and probably some things I am forgetting. 

So nice to have the sun shining, thank You, Lord!

On Thursday evening we were able to go to a Monuments by Night Tour. We were scheduled to board the bus at 5:15pm, but the bus driver had a little accident. A semi-truck pulling a trailer got in the right lane before he should have and hit the front of the bus. Fortunately, our driver was not hurt. The driver of the semi admitted it was his fault as well. So, we left about 45 minutes later. Originally our time to return from the tour was 10:30pm, we arrived at 11:00pm. We were both very tired and hubby had almost 10,000 steps. I was in the 9000. It was a fun night and we met new people who want to go full time rving as well.

Grant Memorial in front of the Capitol was built in 1922.

The White house was built in 1792. It was on August 24, 1814, that the British 

troops arrived at and feasted in the empty White House before torching the 

Executive Mansion along with a good part of Washington, D.C. 

The British left two days later.

In 1833 the Washington National Monument Society, a private organization, 

was formed to fund and build a monument to the first president that would 

be "unparalleled in the world". The Society solicited for donations and designs 

for a decade. They also settled on a design by Robert Mills in 1845.  They 

started building 1848 and it was finished in 1888. If you look closely, 

you can see that they have used a different color of stone because 

of money issues. 

Andrew Jackson was our 7^th President and was our 2nd tallest President. 

Abraham Lincoln was 6'4" and Andrew was 6’1” tall.

Front of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.

The Jefferson Memorial was built in 1943. 

Jefferson was our 3rd President.

Franklin D. Roosevelt our 32nd President.

He spoke often on the radio to let the people know what was going on in America and 

around the world. Those chats were named "The Fireside Chats".

He was the only President elected four times. He served from 1933 to 1945. 

He died a few months into his 4th win as President and Harry S. Truman became our President.

His wife was Anna Eleanor Roosevelt and she was an American 

political figure, diplomat, pacifist and activist. 

The gift of cherry blossom trees to the U.S. was made possible by the contribution of many people including then U.S. First Lady Helen Taft, journalist and world traveler Eliza Scidmore, the renowned Japanese chemist Dr. Jokichi Takamine, famous for his pioneering research on Adrenaline and Taka-diastase (a digestive enzyme), and then Tokyo mayor Yukio Ozaki. In 1909, Mayor Ozaki made a gift of 2,000 cherry blossom trees to Washington D.C. as a token of friendship between Japan and the U.S. However, all of those trees had to be destroyed because they were found to be infested with harmful insects. In 1912, another 3,000 cherry blossom trees were presented to the U.S., the first of these were planted at the Tidal Basin by First Lady Taft and Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese Ambassador Chinda, in a ceremony on March 27, 1912. Many other individuals and organizations dedicated to deepening the tires of friendship between Japan and the U.S. played a part in the presentation of this historic gift.

Cherry blossom tree that was planted in 1912.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. "The Stone of Hope" built August 22, 2011.

Across from the MLK Memorial you can see the Jefferson Memorial. 

It was so pretty with all the lights.

Hubby took this beautiful picture of the Washington 

Memorial all lit up.

On our way to see the Korean, Vietnam and Lincoln Memorials I saw Venus. It is always so mind blowing to me to be able to see planets that are so far away. I am just in awe of God's beauty and wonder. "For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God." Hebrews 3:4 (NASB).

There is Venus.

The Korean Memorial wall of faces.

It is a very interesting memorial, weary soldiers in what looks like grass. It was a very important war, 

just like all the others, but this war helped break the bonds of communism for Korea. 

The war is actually still going on as no peace treaty has been signed.

The Memorial was dedicated in 1995.

The Lincoln Memorial built in 1922.

Lincoln was the first Republican President.

It has been interesting in the Civil War states, I have learned a lot about a 

war in which 620,000 of Americans died fighting Americans.

You can see the Washington Monument from the Lincoln Memorial.

The Vietnam Memorial. 

This was a very emotional memorial for me, I guess if I am "keeping it real" it is 

because it was on the news when I was a child, some Americans treated our vets 

horribly, instead of coming home heroes they were spit on, sworn at and humiliated. 

They were brave soldiers and deserved better for a war they fought for the freedom of 

others. They are the ones that raised money for the memorial. 

They memorial was dedicated in 1982. We had 58,220 men 

and women that died in the war.

World War II Memorial built September 2001.

I am not sure why, it was a horrible war and horrible things were done to people, even 

experimentations, but for some reason, many of the fiction books I am drawn to are this war. 

One of my favorite authors, Kristen Hannah, has written a few books on this war, "Winter Garden" 

and "Nightingale" are amazing, hard, emotional books that I have enjoyed reading. 

The Great State of Texas wreath.

Friday was our out to eat night before packing and leaving for Delaware. We went to Seasons 52 and had a nice dinner. As I was people watching, we saw a table with parents and six little girls. The mom made sure we knew that they were not all theirs, but we had already guessed it was a birthday party. Then a large table to beautiful teenagers all dressed to their nines where having dinner before going to prom. It was fun watching them all excited about their evening.

Last night in Maryland.

Another new state (actually two new states in one week)! Here are the state bird, tree, flower and motto for Maryland and Delaware. 

 
*Maryland: Baltimore Oriole (Bird), White Oak (Tree), Black-eyed Susan (Flower), and "Fatti Maschii, Parole Femine" loosly translated from Italian "strong deeds, gentle word. (Motto). 

Fun fact: Maryland is the only state that has an Italian motto.

*Delaware: Delaware Blue Hen (Bird), American Holly (Tree), Peach Blossom (Flower), and "Liberty and Independence" (Motto). 

This was so pretty I needed to show you what the

 Delaware Blue Hen looks like.

We were only in Delaware for one night, so not that many pictures were taken. 

We stayed at the Yogi Bear RV park, it was nice and we were able to connect to water and electric, so that was nice. 

An overhead of the park.

If there is something special you would like me to take a picture of, please let me know!
 
Drop a comment for me and let me know your thoughts on the blog.
 
God, the RV & me...