Travels And Other Thoughts

We are home! After getting up at 4:30 am yesterday morning (that’s 1:30 am Pacific time), we caught an Uber taxi and headed to Dulles Airport. There was no traffic that early in the morning and we easily were checked in and headed for our gate. After a three hour lay-over in Salt Lake City, we finally arrived in Portland at 4:17 pm, greeted by sunshine and warm temperatures. We were glad to be home, thankful for a safe trip.

We had a wonderful trip. The first half we spent near Washington DC in Maryland for the Wilberforce Weekend. I’ll write more about that another time, but briefly, Jim completed a one year study program with Colson Center in their Fellowship Program for Christian Apologetics. He did a tremendous amount of reading, writing reports, and learning more about the Christian Worldview. During the weekend, those who’d participated in the program were commissioned. We met many interesting scholars, and heard renown Christian apologists. For more about the program Jim participated in, go here:http://colsoncenterforchristianapologetics

For the second half of our stay, we ventured in to Washington DC, our Nation’s Capitol, and stayed near Embassy Row, where there are beautiful old homes that house many embassies. Our hotel was near Indonesia’s embassy.

The days were cool and cloudy and it felt like we were in our own home state! I wrote some about the first few days here: https://goo.gl/FT7iBt, where I wrote about our visit to the White House and Department of State.

On our third day in DC, we walked to our destination, Ford Theater, where President Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. Below, is a photo of the box where he and Mrs. Lincoln were seated.

President Lincoln’s Box Seat at Ford Theater

We had some time before our tour, so we walked across the street and visited the wax museum. I’d heard so much about Madame Tussand’s, but it seemed creepy to me. There was no life in the figures, unlike photographs. We had a little fun, though.

Our next stop, The Supreme Court. Our appointment was at 12:30, and we quickly walked there.

The Supreme Court Building. At the top, in the center is Moses.

The docent gave an interesting talk about our third branch of government. It was a  beautiful building, completed in 1935.

Spiral staircase in the building. Quite an architectural accomplishment. You can only look at the stairs, not use them!

We were not allowed to photograph anything in the courtroom and I was surprised that it wasn’t that large. There were nine chairs at the front behind a dais for each justice, the center chair for the Chief Justice. There are 80 – 90 cases heard each year.

We had some time to walk to the National Mall where the Smithsonian Museums are located. We were tired by this time. I’m sure we walked at least five miles and stood and looked at exhibits for hours. We decided on only one museum–the Museum of American History, for we’d visited the others during other visits to DC. I learned about the Tucker automobile. Only 50 were built and they only made one model in 1948. It was said  to be too futuristic for that era. Note the three headlights.

1948 Tucker

We were really tired by now and ready for our hotel, and began our trek back. We enjoyed the beautiful homes as we walked the quiet neighborhoods just off from noisy traffic and congestion. As we walked, I snapped photos.

We purchased  a two day pass for “Big Bus”. The travel agent said we’d love the ability to hop on and off. We chose Tuesday and Wednesday to use the pass. On Monday, it seemed we saw the Big Bus all the time. Jim would say, “There’s the big bus. We’ll be using that tomorrow!”  I wouldn’t recommend them. On the two days we had our passes, the busses never seemed to be there when we needed them or it was the “yellow line” and we needed the “red line.” We actually used it only once on our ride back to our hotel and found Uber the best mode of transportation, if you needed to drive. We walked for the most part and didn’t feel guilty when we indulged in some food treat because of all the walking.

While waiting in line for the White House tour, the Supreme Court tour, and Department of State, we visited with people in line. We didn’t discuss our party affiliation and who we voted for. Instead, we talked about where we were from, our families and what we’d seen so far. It was so nice to visit with others and enjoy our nation’s capital. I’m so proud to live here. All of our drivers were from other countries and were very happy to live here. Certainly we have our problems, our differences, but we enjoy so much. Most of all freedom.

One of the speakers at the weekend conference asked us to think about something. What if the church wouldn’t have been persecuted in England. Maybe our country would never have been founded. It was religious persecution that caused our founders to seek another land. My great grandparents on both sides of my family emigrated here from another country to have a better life–and escape their own religious persecution.

I’m grateful for our country and what it stands for. I’m reminded of these words after seeing the many monuments and buildings, meeting other Americans from Michigan, New York, California.

I’m reminded of the words from “America the Beautiful”: