More D.C. Sights

July 4th

It's July 4th, Independence Day in America. It's hot. I hear firecrackers in my neighborhood. I'm a little sad because I miss the old days, the days of my childhood. We always had a picnic. My dad always set off firecrackers, and we kids held sparklers after dark.

Now my dad is gone and my mom is an hour away. My husband is playing golf. We have no plans for later in the day. Normally, I would love a quiet day to myself. I have time to read a novel if I want, go shopping if I want, go to the pool when it opens at 11:00 a.m. But today is a holiday and I feel like I should be doing something special. I have no children or grandchildren to entertain; it's just me and my four cats in the nice, cool, air conditioned house. I wish I had a beach to go to, but I am landlocked in the American Midwest. I'm not sure I want to go outside anyway because we are in the middle of a heat wave; it's ten degrees warmer than normal for July. Everything is dry, the grass is crunchy.

I feel lucky that I have my home, because I realize that people in western states have lost their homes to wildfires. I feel lucky because we still have power; people in eastern states have no power so no air conditioning. I shouldn't feel sad. It's just a weird holiday, I guess.

Washington D.C.

We visited Washington with our good friends from Philadelphia.

We stayed here. It was wonderful! They took such good care of us; I really didn't want to leave. We had breakfast, lunch, snacks, dessert and drinks here. It was so hot outside that we didn't spend much time outside!

We did take the Metro.

To the Smithsonian...

We saw Kermit:

and Dumbo...

Dorothy's ruby slippers...

and the Scarecrow's boots and hat.

We saw ancient treasures...

and modern marvels:

A Long Hot Drive!

We just got home from a long weekend. We drove to Philadelphia to visit friends, then drove with them to Washington DC. It was 108 degrees down there on Thursday! Too hot to go outside. We stayed at the Ritz and paid to join the concierge lounge. That allowed us to have breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, desserts and drinks just about all day long. We spent a lot of time there. The hotel was full because of people who checked in after they lost power at their homes.

As I write this, I am exhausted. We just drove ten hours back home, and it was a hot, sunny drive. I will write more after I have recuperated.