Dr. Heimlich Went to Washington

Veteran's Day is drawing to a close as I write this. I clearly remember where I was for the occasion last year -- in Washington DC. I was on what turned out to be my last work trip at my old job (though I didn't know it at the time), a road trip up the coast. I had two-and-half days in the DC area, and only in the evenings did I have actual obligations related to the job. So my mornings and afternoons were mine to do with as I pleased.

My pleasure: to go into DC and be a tourist. I didn't realize at the time that one of the days I was going into town was Veteran's Day, but it became readily apparent once I got there. Yes, some things were closed for the holiday, but really not that many. And of course the big landmarks are mostly open spaces anyway.

The instant I saw the crowds at all the war memorials, I remembered what day it was. The Vietnam Memorial was so mobbed, I chose not to even try to get near it. People were piled up 20 deep along every single inch of the wall:



Still, I got to see pretty much every other landmark in DC I would have wanted to see, including one or two I didn't even know existed:



A good trip. Pretty much the last good memory I have of my old job. (Though fortunately, there were lots of other good memories in the earlier years.)

I know these sorts of memories aren't the sort of thing one is supposed to think of on Veteran's Day, but I suspect I'll have this association for many years to come.