The Library of Congress

Place Visited: Library of Congress, Washington, DC, USA
Date: September 2017

One fun thing about the Library of Congress is that every single one of their exhibits has its own brochure.  Echoes of the Great War: American Experiences of World War I was chock full of information, so much that I didn't have time to see it all.  So I picked out the images that spoke to me the most, like the haunting "Enlist" poster at the bottom right corner of the second page, a Fred Spear poster depicting a woman and infant drowning after the sinking of the Lusitania.  And the bizarre "War Gardens Over The Top" poster that appears to have a pumpkin trying to eat a potato.  Look, I don't know.  It was war.  Times were crazy.

The Library of Congress

Place Visited: Library of Congress, Washington, DC, USA
Date: September 2017

Drawing Justice: The Art of Courtroom Illustration is an amazing exhibit.  The speed and talent of these sketch artists is amazing.  Too bad it's dying out.

Washington, DC

Place Visited: U.S. Capitol, Washington, DC, USA
Date: September 2017

My visit to the Capitol started with breakfast at Pete's Diner, a delightfully eclectic little place with the cutest business cards I've ever seen.  I met up with friends for some sketching, after which we ate lunch at Union Station, where I experienced Bold Bite (which was tasty but not extraordinary).  Later that afternoon I took a break for coffee at Firehook, where I sat at a table on the sidewalk for over an hour, writing a bit and otherwise just watching the world go by.  Quite the lovely outing.

The Library of Congress

Place Visited: Library of Congress, Washington, DC, USA
Date: September 2017

I kind of want to live at the Library of Congress.  I had a few hours to kill before meeting up with friends so I took my time and really saw everything.  I'd taken the tour a few years ago but this was really nice.  Mapping a Growing Nation was a collection of old US maps, including an early Confederate map of Virginia that included my tiny hometown of Centreville.  Hope for America was about political satire and humor - mostly Bob Hope, but other stuff as well.  I'd forgotten how funny Bob Hope could be.  The most fascinating exhibit was Exploring the Early Americas, full of artifacts from the civilizations first encountered by European explorers. The maps were probably my favorite part.

Washington, DC

Place Visited: Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, Washington, DC, USA
Date: November 2016

I'd never been in Frederick Douglass's house before and it is amazing.  I went with some sketching buddies and we sat on a stump in the front lawn and drew the house until the staff told us they were closing.  (The gold foil is from a delicious candy one of my friends gave me.)  I wish I'd had a chance to see the informational video beforehand, but that's all right.

Washington, DC

Location: Washington, DC, USA
Date Visited: August 2015

This was my first visit to the National Arboretum. Very pretty. We toured the herb gardens and the bonsai and penjing displays. There were some bits that were confusing, where a mystery plant was very clearly not any of the nearby tags (for example, we're fairly certain this pretty purple pea pod is neither corn nor cotton nor barley nor millet nor sugarcane), but that's okay. We still had a good time. I'll have to go back in a different season. Or at least when it's not quite so beastly hot.

Afterward, we grabbed lunch at Hogs on the Hill, which was decent but not too memorable. The milkshakes from Checkers next door were, though. Wow.

The National Book Festival

Location: Washington, DC, USA
Visited: September 2013

The National Book Festival is an annual event to celebrate books and reading. It's mostly author talks and a Pavilion of the States, where each state library system with information and stuff for the kids. It's not my favorite festival (too crowded and usually none of the authors are anyone I'd want to see) but sometimes I go with some of my fellow BookCrossing buddies. I particularly liked the artwork on the program this year. Too bad it poured rain all afternoon.

The National Holocaust Museum

Location: National Holocaust Museum, Washington, DC, USA
Visited: September 2013

I almost didn't make a spread for this museum, thinking it might be construed as disrespectful, but I think it's more important for me to remember my experiences here. You can't take photographs inside, so these pamphlets are my only real reminders of the collection and its impact on me.

The National Postal Museum

Location: National Postal Museum, Washington, DC, USA
Visited: June 2013

This is a cute little museum and a definite must-see for any lover of snail mail. It's kind of a pain in the butt for me to get to (as is anything on the red line of the Metro) but well worth visiting. I was there on a day when they had a stamp collecting kiosk, so I pasted the ones I picked out on this page.

Washington, DC

Location: Washington, DC, USA
Visited: June 2013

My friend Ruby was moving to upstate New York, so we all gathered in DC for one last day of cavorting around the city. The DC Aquarium is just a teeny collection of tanks in the basement of the Department of Commerce, and takes almost no time at all to see, but I always enjoy looking at critters. Afterward we got drinks and snacks at Old Ebbitt Grill on 15th Street. It was tasty but the waiter never did figure out that I was being completely serious about just leaving the pitcher of water on the table.

The Textile Museum

Location: The Textile Museum, Washington, DC, USA
Visited: January 2013

I'd never been to this tiny museum hiding back in a Dupont neighborhood. They're preparing to move to a new building, so the only exhibit was The Sultan's Garden. It was kind of nifty but after about five minutes we were done.

Renwick Gallery

Location: The Renwick Gallery, Washington, DC, USA
Visited: January 2013

My friend and I biked from Tenleytown to the Renwick Gallery, where we spent most of our time exploring the 40 Under 40: Craft Futures exhibit. There was a lot of truly strange stuff, but also a fair amount of beautiful and/or ingenious items. The huge installment on the left side of this spread was made entirely of paper.

The Newseum

Location: Newseum, Washington, DC, USA
Visited: December 2012

Though extremely well done, I found this museum far more depressing than I'd expected. Of course, I should have known: what makes the news, after all? Crime, tragedy, and politics. I loved the section with the old newspapers, and the 9/11 and Oklahoma City Bombing exhibits were interesting and heartbreaking at the same time, and the assorted homages to fake news (The Daily Show, SNL, et al) were fun. I'm not sure I'd go back, but I'm certainly glad I went.

The Kennedy Center

Location: The Kennedy Center, Washington, DC, USA
Visited: November 2012

This was my first visit to The Kennedy Center and my second time seeing the musical Jekyll and Hyde. I had loved it the first time around and my husband had enjoyed listening to the soundtrack, but this version was kind of flat. The show itself had changed a little bit, with some songs replaced and others rewritten. A few of the changes made sense, making the story a bit clearer (I can recall, for example, not quite getting that the people killed were the board of governors when I first saw it, for example), but all in all there were far too many ballads. "Murder Murder" was slowed down and the new song "Bring on the Men" just didn't fit at all. The two leads were pop stars - Constantine Maroulis and Deborah Cox - and while the singing was excellent, the blocking left a lot to be desired. There was a lot of standing still with arms hanging at one's sides while singing. The lighting was also rather dark, making it quite difficult to discern details. I was especially disappointed with the song "Confrontation", which had so impressed me the first time around. It's a "duet" between Jekyll and Hyde, played by the same man, but for this production they chose to prerecord Hyde's part and project it onto a screen while Jekyll sang live. Oh well. We still had a great time, as we always do at the theater.

Washington, DC, and Colesville, MD

Location: Washington, DC, and Colesville, Maryland, USA
Visited: June 2012

Though they're not actually all that near to each other, I put these two trips on the same spread because I visited them on the same day.  We started the morning with a muggy tour of Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, ate a delicious pizza lunch, then wandered up to Maryland to ride the trolley at the National Capital Trolley Museum.  I had a grand time, but I think I'll wait to visit Kenilworth again until it's a little bit cooler out.

International Spy Museum

Location: Washington, DC, USA

Visited: May 2012 

 When my in-laws visited a few weeks ago, we decided to visit the International Spy Museum for the first time. It was interesting but not worth the $20 admission fee. Still, it's nice to have done. Afterward we stopped by the American Art Museum where we visited the Art of Video Games exhibit and I finally found the DC Art-o-mat machine. Good times!

Washington, DC - and beyond!

Location: The embassies of Indonesia, Dominican Republic, Chad, Haiti, Peru, Bahamas, Australia, Kazakhstan, Guatemala, Trinidad & Tobago, and Japan in Washington, DC, USA

Visited: May 2012

When a friend invited me to the Around the World Embassy Tour, I knew I couldn't resist. The best one, in terms of scenery, was Indonesia, but the best in terms of free stuff was Kazakhstan. I learned a lot and had a really great time. Highly recommended, but don't expect to be able to visit every embassy in a single day - there's way too much to see. Maybe I'll check out the EU embassy tour next year.

Washington, DC

Location: Washington, DC, USA
Visited: February 2012

My husband I enjoy going to plays, and when he stumbled upon this interesting retelling of the classic Peter Pan tale, we decided to head into the city and see "Peter Pan: The Boy Who Hated Mothers". And we really enjoyed it. My husband has a more thorough write-up. We'll definitely have to check out more productions by the No Rules Theatre Company.

Washington, DC

Location: Washington, DC, USA
Visited: January 2012

I had expected the stuff from this particular night to take up more space on the page, but that's okay. This was from our journey into DC to see The Dreamscapes Project at the newly-opened Hamilton Live.

The Hamilton is quite lovely. The upstairs dinner portion is extremely posh, but the concert venue was comfortable with good sound and tasty (somewhat overpriced) vittles. Taylor Carson opened for TDP, and we liked him enough to purchase his CD. I also got a free hug later. He's a cutie.

TDP was, as always, excellent. They just keep raising the bar for themselves, and I am impressed anew every single time we see them play. They've been spreading out, musically, incorporating blues and Celtic and bluegrass and other styles into their set. At one point Keith (vocals), Gordon (drums), and Jeremy (bass) all shifted one to the right - and did one hell of a performance. I hadn't even know Keith and Gordon could play those instruments! Of course, I hadn't known Jeremy could play trumpet either, so I was just learning new TDP facts left and right.

They brought Ted from Ted Hovis and the Stolen Camaros up on stage for the last two songs. For a band already consisting of 12-string acoustic guitar, cello, electric bass, drums, and a whole range of percussion, I was pleasantly surprised at how much Ted's electric guitar added to the performance. He should join them again sometime. In short, it was an excellent night.

Washington, D.C.

Location: Washington, DC, USA

Okay, this post is a bit of a cop-out, as these pages are from three different spreads in two different journals. The first is from a trip with a couple of good friends to the house where Lincoln died (across the street from Ford's Theatre) and the National Building Museum. The second is from one of my favorite spots, the Old Post Office. The third is a generic catch-all page from my 2011 BookCrossing Convention journal. All the same, I do drop by DC from time to time, and I often pick up pamphlets of the places I visit, even if I've visited them a hundred times before. It's all part of being a tourist everywhere you go.