We had a big thunderstorm shortly after going to bed last night. And some gusts of wind…the guy near us had his satellite internet dish blow over. Sometimes we miss tent camping, but when it’s raining and windy it sure is nice to be in a motorhome!
We walked out of our campsite at about 9:10am this morning, and we were in the middle of downtown Washington by 10:20am. They have a fantastic subway system…very efficient and inexpensive. Our 13 mile (21 km) ride from near the campground to downtown cost $1.85 each way per person. The walk from the campground to the subway station was about a mile and a half each way.
So when we got off the subway, the first sign we saw was pointing in the direction of the White House, so that’s where we headed. When we got there, we weren’t 100% sure that was it. We were at the north side of the White House, and that’s the side you don’t see as often in the pictures. It still looked like an official type of building, but it didn’t look quite as impressive as the view of it from the south side. Apparently there is no front or back to the White House…just the north side and the south side.
The White House from the north side
Across the street from the north side, there was a protestor set up with all his anti nuclear stuff. We were speaking to a police officer, and apparently this guy has been there in that same spot since 1981. Apparently he and his wife take turns sitting at their protest spot. There is now a law against protesting at that spot, but because he happened to be the lone protestor set up at the time the law was passed, he is “grandfathered” and is allowed to be there until he moves on. So now, he’s never going to move on and provided someone is manning the spot, he’s allowed to stay. Too funny. What a waste of a life sitting in the same spot across from the White House for almost 30 years!
The protestor guy who has been there since 1981
We then headed to the south side, and this definitely looked like the White House. We got tickets to the free 11:15am tour of the White House gardens. All very nice, and set up with pictures of the various Presidents over the years who had planted trees is the gardens and of course you could see how big some of them are now. Our timing was lucky because the gardens are only open during April and October.
Ruth at the White House gardens
The Washington monument
George's house from the south side
We tried to get into the museum at the Department of the Interior. Not even sure what’s in there. But it is closed every third Saturday. I wonder what civil servant thought up that great idea. How would a tourist ever know if the Saturday they pick happens to be the “third” Saturday. What a stupid thing. Then, we walked up to the Brickskell Pub to have lunch…but guess what…only open for lunch from Tuesday through Friday. This is the bar we had read about that has over 500 different types of beer from around the world. Now, the sign there says over 1,000 different types. Oh well…we had lunch at Subway for $5 each for a footlong sub. We stopped at a used book store, and I bought a book about travelling to “The World’s Most Dangerous Places”. Not that we have great intentions of doing so…it just looked like an interesting read. For $2.
Then we walked back to the central subway station, and took the train back to the campground. Whiskey had been alone for almost 6 hours, which is no problem, but she was happy to see us. I had a nap for a bit while Ruth did some reading.
Sherman's spot at Greenbelt Park
Tomorrow we’ll explore some more of the Capitol area.
Total Nights Sleeping in the RV… 176
April Fuel $ 330.63
April Grocery $ 186.06
April Overnight Costs $ 66.33
www.nps.gov/gree great campground
ReplyDeleteWe agree. Hard to believe that a nice park like this is so easily accessible to downtown Washington, DC.
ReplyDeleteKevin, Ruth and Whiskey