Today is museum day. We chose two.
The Museum of American History – inventions, transportation, presidents and first ladies, war -lots of war, and a pretty little pair of ruby slippers (just back from a two year restoration project). One could easily spend a whole day.

The Holocaust Memorial Museum – I have avoided any of these memorials as we have traveled around the country but decided that probably wasn’t right. So, in we go. Exhibits provide broad historical context, lots of facts, heart rending personal stories, and soul searing images. Some people carried out unspeakable acts and millions more looked on and did nothing. It is both depressing and frightening to know that human beings are capable of such atrocity. I realize that knowing we are capable is an important step toward preventing that sort of thing from happening again but it was as disturbing as I thought it would be. Even so, I am glad I went

Thursday we are headed to Arlington National Cemetery. Three lanes of traffic doing the stop and go thing for miles and “bink” the low air pressure light comes on. No berms, few ramps, and aggressive traffic everywhere. Finally get off the expressway and into a residential area to survey the tires. All seem OK. Well it is cooler that it has been for months so maybe it is just one a little low. A quick stop at a station to put $1.50 in a pump and all is well. Turns out all were a little low but one was at 27. So back on our way, into the fray. It really should not take over an hour to go 19 miles!!!

Today our plan was to visit the Goddard Space Center. All loaded up and “click” nothing. The battery is done. Not many people around in camp who are up and the car has the motorhome parked in so the jumper won’t reach from the motorhome to the car. Pulled a battery out of the trailer to use for a jump start. Lynn did some research while I got the car started and it is off for a new battery. Ordered the new battery online with pickup in the store. When I arrived, they said “Oh we don’t have any in inventory and won’t until Tuesday”. As I was giving him grief for why I could buy it and drive straight there to pickup and not get one, the manager corrected him and pointed out my battery sitting there ready and waiting. With a not so quick change in the parking lot we were on our way. It certainly could have been worse. It could have happened yesterday when we were miles back in a Wildlife Refuge or while we were in town. At least we were lucky even if the MegaMillions remains unclaimed.

They have a large visitor center with exhibits that focus on endangered species. A number of the displays were currently being worked on so not as impressive as usual but it is still a good stop. They expect work to continue ‘til some time summer 2019.
Things were pretty quiet on the wildlife front both on the drive and trails but it was still a nice place to spend a beautiful day.

Large monuments with family names and unique shapes catch my eye as we begin our walk along the quiet paths; but it is the row after row, column after column of the plain white markers that are the unforgettable image of this place.

Everything stands on ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown. The click of spit polished heels and the slap of hand on rifle are the only sounds that break the silence as we watch the precisely repeated pattern of the fresh faced, perfectly uniformed, soldier walking guard at the tomb. On the hour there is a perfectly choreographed exchange as another takes over the solemn task of honoring and protecting those whose identity is known only to God.
The wreath laying ceremony is carried out with equal precision. The clear tones of taps fill the air along with reverence and gratitude for the sacrifice these men made.

The Women In Military Service for America Memorial lies between the huge ornate entry gates in the space and incorporating the stonework that was originally designated as the ceremonial entrance to Arlington. The goal is to educate and inspire as well as celebrate past and present service; making it much more museum like than other memorials. It feels sort of odd to need to separately recognize the contributions and sacrifice of women. It makes it feel lessor somehow, like oh yeah, they have done stuff too. It is well done though and certainly educational. I wonder how women will be included in memorials going forward.

Memorials: It isn’t our first visit but there are a few memorials we have not seen before and others touch me in a different way each time I see them. New to me: the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial – it’s a powerful image “out of a mountain of despair a stone of hope”, and the Three Servicemen statue in the Vietnam War Veterans Memorial – the wall goes on seemingly forever reminding us much was lost now this statue puts faces to that loss. It was a revisit to the WWII Memorial. It is huge and hammers home the magnitude of that conflict – today we happened upon an Honor Flight of some 40 WWII Veterans seated within the Memorial – it was/is individuals who carry the weight of war – its victories and its losses. Each time I see the Korean War Veterans Memorial the story is in the eyes of those tired soldiers – how do they ever find peace with that part of their lives? Lincoln, Washington, FD Roosevelt: where are the leaders for our time?

We walked botanical gardens and sculpture gardens and I couldn’t pass up a ride on the carousel. The Mall is a peoples’ park and lovely to just stroll. We plan to do museums Saturday, it is supposed to rain.

It is 8:30 and we are out trolling the change in depth at the entrance to our little bay. There are lots of beeps on the depth finder so we know fish are down there but they don’t want what we have out. We work our way around the island. Still nothing. Enough of this, we are going to troll for muskie in the marina basin. That is a sure bet, right? Wrong, not even a tap on our lures. Then with a gentle tug at his lure Kent manages to bring the first striped bass into the boat. It is a little fellow but hey, it’s a striped bass. Ok, that’s a start but let’s try something else to maybe get a keeper. We head to a bay just a mile or so up lake where “they caught the big one” according to local lore. We find a nest of bass just hungry enough to make the catching fun. Not a one is big enough to keep but it is a great way to spend a few hours on a bright sunny day on the lake.
We move on tomorrow. It looks like catching the big striped bass will have to be our reason to come back this way again.

We head our early. Well, pretty early. We are on the lake by 8:30 and put in our best effort for over 2 ½ hours. Not even a tap. So; no, the early bird does not necessarily catch the fish! It is a beautiful morning though with a cool breeze and very little boat traffic. We are back in camp to relax a bit with the intent to try again this evening.
The evening round? Nope, no fish. I did see something I had not seen before. An osprey fishing from a perch not on the wing. He basically fell out of the tree into the shallow water to grab his supper. Weird but certainly conserves energy compared to the usual way.

We end the day with a late dinner and campfire including s’mores. It is a lovely night. No shooting stars though.

Our new neighbor tells us that there are meteor showers this week so we will be watching for more sky fireworks tonight. Space.com says the shooting stars are Draconids, remnants of Comet G-Z that originated in the constellation Draco-named after a dragon. Some call these tiny light shows dragon tears. Sounds wonderfully fantastic to me. Last night was the prime viewing night but I hope to see a few sky dragon tears tonight as well.