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.