Let's Go to the Mall!

My recent visit to Washington D.C. began early. So early that I can't even say "bright and early," because it wasn't bright -- the sun had only just come up as the plane took off. But with the early departure came an early arrival; my husband and I arrived with plenty of time to do plenty of things on our first day.

We grabbed lunch and a "gold pin" beer at Capitol City Brewing Company. If I haven't explained the beer pins on the blog before: many years ago, I bought a neat map of the U.S. showing every then-operating craft brewery. Over the years, I've dutifully stuck silver pins in the breweries we've sampled, and gold pins in the ones we've actually visited in our travels. While we may never collect a gold pin in every state, we never miss an opportunity to grab one on each vacation.

After lunch and hotel check-in, we headed down to the National Mall to walk a long circuit of the monuments. We began at the Washington Monument and worked our way west, stopping first at the World War II Memorial. It's an especially beautiful site, incorporating numerous elements: huge granite pillars, the Rainbow Pool that previously existed on the site, a wall of stars commemorating the dead, and several bas relief scenes of the war. I've read that the site of this memorial was somewhat controversial in the early 2000s, but there was a rush to complete it in light of the advancing age of WWII veterans. Regardless, the end result is beautiful.

From there, we walked along the length of the Reflecting Pool (which looks so much cleaner and appealing in the movies) to the Lincoln Memorial. That site is undergoing a rather extensive renovation right now, in preparation for the 250th anniversary of the U.S. in 2026. The Memorial presents a rather less impressive figure with most of the steps shrouded in scaffolding and plywood walls... though you can still get in to see the massive Lincoln statue -- and (just barely outside the construction walls), the marked spot where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech.

The nearby Vietnam Memorial is markedly different from every other memorial. It is famously jet black, in contrast to the white marble of all the other sites. Its statement is deliberately simple; though there are a few statues at the perimeter, the focus is the long walls with the names of fallen soldiers. It's also the last war memorial where you can still expect to see veterans and their families -- on personal visits, or attending reunions. (And perhaps that won't be part of the experience for all that much longer, with time marching on.)

Next we moved back past the Lincoln Memorial to reach the sites on the south side of the Mall. But since our afternoon walk was not even half done, and I think this post has already run long enough, I'll pause at this moment to pick up the tour next time.