Friday, October 6, 2006
We are ending week 7 of our trip. We really could do this for another 3 months, but our California kids and our cats would kill us! We talked to Bob and Leo on the phone the other night. Bob just walked away, but Leo rubbed the phone and cried and told me all about his day - 'Meow, meow, meow, meow'.
We were able to visit Missy last Sunday. We met her at Three Bridges Reformed Church in Thee Bridges New Jersey. It is a homey church with a very friendly congregation. A little smaller than her Alton, Iowa church. We think she will be very comfortable there. We returned to Princeton for lunch and a little shopping before leaving her to study in the evening. It was so good to be with her again. We'll miss her - until we meet again in December in Iowa.
Monday we drove to the Washington DC area. We were stunned to hear of the school shootings and deaths in Paradise, PA - amish country. We were just very short distance away as they happened, and had driven right past 2 weeks earlier. Such a sad event for such a quiet, gentle place that seems set apart from our worldy world.
We visited DC on Tuesday. We rode the bus/train in - which was such a great idea. We started at the Smithsonians - Air and Space first. We could have spent days there. I was so touched by the Apollo exhibits - I saw the work my Daddy had done on the program. His flight manuals on display - possibly even some of his handwriting. We also really enjoyed the Wright Brother's exhibit, and their first plane and an early bicycle.
Then on to the Art Museum, where they were showing 17th century French and American works. After a tasty lunch in their cafeteria (better than most nice restaurants), we were off to the Capitol building. Sadly, you must arrive early in the morning and get a pass for a tour. They have very limited admission, since 9/11. So, we went over to Library of Congress. The architecture is incredible. We wandered around rare books, hispanic studies and the Bob Hope exhibit.
We caught the train to Arlington, but got off at 4:50pm - to late for admission. We hoofed it across the Potomic River on foot and collapsed at the Lincoln Memorial. Abe is a big guy! I was ready to crawl up on his lap%