Last month I got to go to Washington DC for a conference, and of course, Rubber Duckie came along. A few snapshots of him about town....
The Supreme Court Building...right after we left a woman started yelling at the security guards. I heard the words "duck" and "justice" and "bathtime" and just hurried along the way.
Across the street from the U.S. Capitol. I love the building, but think a lot of the people inside are kinda idiots. Still. Nice dome. Baby.
I had been to Washington DC several times before ever visiting the Library of Congress, but it is one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever been in, ever. I love the Beaux-Arts style of over-the-top ornamentation. I wouldn't want my house done in that style, but when I visit something as internationally significant to history, science, literature and culture as the LOC, I want to be impressed. They do it right.
The Washington Monument just before sunset--it turns out that this same evening, Kermit the Frog was helping the Obamas light the National Christmas Tree or something. And I was right there. I knew it was a good night.
This is the most recent memorial dedicated on the National Mall--it's the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, and it's located adjacent to the Lincoln Memorial along the tidal basin. It's an interesting experience, walking through the cleft rock and then into a sort of open plaza dominated by an MLK statue, with quotes from him engraved on walls of stone.
Something I loved seeing was the numbers of African American kids and couples and families there running up to the statue to get their picture taken in front of it. Not that Martin Luther King is just "theirs," or that the other monuments and memorials in DC are any less important to people of color--but this was something special. I had to wait several minutes to get a clear shot of Rubber Duckie--because MLK is his hero too.
The most disturbing/possibly disrespectful photo of this trip: inside Ford's Theater. The site of Abraham Lincoln's assassination. I'd been outside before, but never made it in for a tour. I happened to have time before I flew out, and Rubber Duckie and I got in and enjoyed the presentation. It was sad, moving, and poignant. And then I took a picture with my Rubber Duckie. The lit balcony behind R. D. is where Lincoln was shot, and then the stage below. No disrespect was intended.
Besides, we've done worse.
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