Lincoln and Washington Monuments

These were really fun to see. I've seen them in pictures, movies, on TV - but to see them in person was something else. First thing - the walking! Oh the walking! You think you are getting closer to the Washington Monument because you can see it so well and it is so big and you keep walking and walking and walking and its like a mirage- and you think your feet will fall off before you make it there. The Capitol Building and the Lincoln Memorial are on opposite sides of the National Mall and they stand just over 2 miles apart. After making our way to the Washington Monument we walked along the Reflection Pond to the Lincoln Memorial. My feet were dying and I thought "Did they have to reflect so long? What is it they were reflecting on for so long?" Ha ha jk.This picture will give you an idea if you compare it to the one I took looking from the other direction from the Capitol towards the Lincoln Memorial of just how HUGE the Capitol Building was. The Lincoln Memorial was tiny in the other picture and the Capitol building is huge in this one.

The kids liked the Lincoln Memorial because it was like in the second Night of the Museum movie.
Here we are next to the Washington Monument.

Overall impressions and thoughts: These buildings are iconic and valuable to our country. They are the images that people see in their minds when they think of Washington DC. The monument was so tall, I couldn't see the top once I got closer. I didn't go up because I didn't want to get up and wait at 5 am to get a chance at a ticket for the day. It was neat but didn't really make a huge impression on us. Maybe we need to learn more about it and why it was erected. The Lincoln Memorial was something else. It paid tribute to one of the most valuable citizens our nation has ever had. I had always though of Lincoln as the one who brought slavery to an end with the Emancipation Proclamation. But he was responsible for much more. He saved the Union and this great country from utter destruction from within. There was a really neat feeling in that Memorial as you stood and looked at such a humble face. Down the stairs a Ranger was playing loudly on a stereo Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech and the emotion was electric. To have been there would have been amazing. To be there now, the feeling was still there, and Lincoln encompasses it all now. He represents the darkest part of our nation's history and the brightest hope that was born from it - from his earthly sacrifice. It was a much more humble building (though still beautifully big) than the Capitol building bookending on the other side. It was like being back in time and looking towards the future. I wonder if Lincoln's eyes would see progress or not?