Hi, Everyone!
This weekend Grandma and Grandpa took me to Washington DC to visit Uncle Steven and Aunt Kara. It’s a short airplane flight from Rochester, but we had to wait three extra hours on Friday evening for the plane to be ready to go. Uncle Steven had to stay up very late to pick us up at the airport. Grandma said it’s a good thing neither Uncle Steven nor I get cranky when we’re up after our bedtimes! On Saturday morning, Uncle Steven baked a loaf of bread for us to eat for dinner. Doesn’t it look good? Then we drove back near the airport to visit the Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. There are lots of planes to see there, and some of them are very famous!!
I got to see a real astronaut space suit and even try on the glove. Did you know the glove has a mirror on it, to help astronauts see what they are doing? If I were selected to be an astro-lion, I would need a much smaller glove!
Then Uncle Steven took me to see a real space shuttle, the Enterprise. The Enterprise was the first shuttle built and was only used for practice. But it looks just like the shuttles that actually went into space. It’s really big! The nose looks friendly, like Snoopy, but the rockets at the tail look very powerful. Uncle Steven knows a lot about planes and spacecraft, and he explained the exhibits to Aunt Kara and me.!
After we visited the space shuttle, I climbed up the stairs to the overhead walkways to get a better look at some of the planes. The Concorde was a passenger jet that flew faster than the speed of sound, just like some of the military jets do. I had to climb up on the rail in three different places to see all of it!
Then I saw the Enola Gay. During World War II, this plane dropped the first atomic bomb. The damage from the single bomb was so great that it made powerful countries think very hard about fighting wars. That’s a lot of history and importance for one airplane! Then I got to see the SR-71 Blackbird. Airplanes like this flew very, very fast — how fast is still a secret! It looks fast even when it’s standing still in the middle of a museum.
When we got home from the Udvar-Hazy Center, I helped Uncle Steven make a special chicken dish for dinner to have with the bread he baked. Aunt Kara made a peanut butter pie for dessert. Dinner was really yummy!
On Sunday morning, we went into downtown Washington to walk around the Eastside Market. First, we were going to take the Metro, but the trains were running very slowly because of track repairs. I guess roads aren’t the only places construction starts in the spring! So Uncle Steven drove us there, instead.
There were lots of people and fun things to see at the market. One artist was making animals out of strips of aluminum soft drink cans and let me see what he was doing. There were stalls inside and outside the market building with food and clothing and art. We had to park several blocks away, right behind the Library of Congress. It was fun to see the beautiful gardens along the street, but I needed a nap when we got home!
In the afternoon, we visited Arlington National Cemetery, which is not very far from where Uncle Steven and Aunt Kara live. This is a famous and solemn place, because soldiers and others who have served our country have been buried there when they died since the Civil War. Lots of people come here to feel close to their loved ones or to honor the sacrifices soldiers make. There are so many graves!
We visited the section honoring the astronauts on the two space shuttles that exploded and then I got to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The honor guard reminded me of the ways people show respect for the King and Buddha in Thailand.
Grandma and Grandpa took Uncle Steven and Aunt Kara out for dinner to celebrate their one-thirdiversary, while I took another nap. Then we watched part of a World War II movie before it was time to go to the airport. (The photo doesn’t show the projection screen image on the wall very well.) Many of the soldiers killed in the battle shown in the movie are buried at Arlington. Grandma says one of the soldiers who survived that battle goes to our church!
When we got to the airport, we learned that there were flight delays and cancelations all over because of stormy weather. We were very lucky that our flight was only one hour late this time, instead of three!
We got home way after my bedtime, and I’m going to have to take LOTS of naps to catch up my sleep. Today (Monday) is cold and rainy, so it’s a very good day for naps!
Love,
Lion-san