Stephen at Jefferson Memorial
The week after Memorial Day I took my fifteen year old grandson Stephen up to Washington DC to immerse him in our Country's heritage. We spent two days seeing the museums, monuments and memorials including Natural History, Air and Space, the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, and the National Archives. Also we visited the Arlington Cemetery and observed the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Stephen's favorites were the "mint" and the gem room at the Natural History Museum. He's been to the Pensacola Naval Aviation Museum and lives on the Space Coast so the Air and Space Museum was great but he's "been there, seen that".
Of course we attended the Vietnam Wall and paid our respect to company mate JB Worcester and the other twelve Class of 1963 classmates who died in the war.
Ann and Tom O'Brien provided us with room, board and great company during our stay and couldn't have been any more gracious. Tom and I could sit forever and never run out of stories from life at the Academy and the succeeding forty-five years. It was wonderful after a hard day of touring to kick back at their home.
Stephen and I spent a day at Gettysburg and despite the low tech aspects of the battlefield light show he got a lot out of its orientation to the battle. Then we spent three hours doing the drive through the battlefield and being in awe of the courage and scope of those historic events. Standing on the top of Little Roundtop and looking down into the Valley of Death and the Devil's Den is nothing short of awesome. And standing at the "High Water Mark of the Confederacy" picturing the hand to hand combat and resulting Union victory is humbling. We heard one tour guide telling his group that during the two hour cannon bombardment preceding Pickett's Charge there were seven explosions per second for that two hours. Anyone who hasn't read "Killer Angels" go get it today for a wonderful Pulitzer Prize fictional account of the battle. My grandson learned a lot about Gettysburg and really enjoyed the tour.
Finally I took Stephen over to Annapolis where we met Pete Quinton for lunch at the Fleet Reserve Club. Again Stephen had to listen to the same stale stories as Pete and I caught up on the past years. What a great location the club has on "Ego Alley' in the harbor. Pete used his DOD ID to drive us around the Academy grounds and then dropped us off at the museum where we viewed the marvelous model ship collection and all the other artifacts. I think Stephen was about museumed out by that time. He was impressed by John Paul Jones' crypt, Memorial Hall, and the Halsey Field House. I took him into Legune Hall to see my tennis photos on the "Wall of Also Rans" after seeing Lee Pekary's photo right next to Staubach's on the Wall of Fame. Would you believe that every team photo for all sports from 1961 through 1964 had been removed and there were just blank spaces. So my grandson said, "Sure Pops, you're picture was never here". I have no idea why we've been banished. In DC I had told him that on my way to Plebe Summer I walked up the Washington Monument and he replied," But you only had to walk up 138 feet because they didn't complete the monument until after the 1870's.' Got to love that kid.
Ended the trip with a visit to my Aunt Nancy in Alexandria and made the fourteen hour drive home in one long stretch with the kid driving a goodly portion on his learner's permit.