A Boyhood Dream Fulfilled: Space-Geek Tour of the USA

[Human]

There were two more stops before the end of the tour. First stop was the huge (7 acres) Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. The Memorial was interesting and notable for its two areas of focus. First, it focused on FDR’s amazing achievements – the New Deal, his other efforts to drag America out of the Great Depression, his efforts to support the Allies before America’s official entry into WWII, his accomplishments as a wartime President. There was a large block of land devoted to each of his 4 terms as President (yes, his fourth term only lasted a few months, but a lot was happening in 1945!).













The second focus of the Memorial was on FDR’s disability. He caught Polio in 1928 and was elected President in 1932 – so he accomplished everything as President from a Wheelchair. A passer-by whose son died from, I think, MS last year described the Memorial to the tour group as “a Mecca for people with disabilities”. The first thing a visitor sees is a statue of FDR in his personally-designed wheelchair, and the Memorial has a number of specific features designed to make it easy and welcoming for people with disabilities.

 

[Pushka]

It looks a fabulous tour.

 

[Human]

Our final stop was this place:


We couldn’t get too close, because it’s all set up for the Inauguration on January 20. It was amazing to see the Capitol itself, but also amazing to see it in “Inauguration mode”. It was incredible to be able to look across at the actual place where, next week, President Trump will swear the oath of office.







That was the end of the tour and, as the sun was setting, I decided to walk back to my hotel. The temperature had briefly reached a balmy 4 degrees Celsius during the day, and it was interesting to see that there was noticeably less ice and snow on the path.



My day had, once again, been incredible. I’d seen sights that for my whole life I’ve only seen on TV (and in the movies). I had been moved, inspired, humbled, provoked and stimulated. Once again, I cannot believe that I am so blessed as to be on this holiday.

And I now want to watch every episode of The West Wing all over again.

That’s a wrap on DC – tomorrow I fly to New York!

 

[Coathanger]

DC would have had a bit of a buzz with all the preparations for the inauguration next week, which is perfect for a memorable first visit.

The Lincoln Memorial is majestic and wonderfully lit at night. The planes passing on final approach to DCA were a bonus!

Really enjoyed The West Wing when it was running, and put DC on my must visit list.

 

[VPS]

Fantastic - brings back great memories of my Washington visit which was 1983 - your writing style and photos are excellent

 

[drron]

Fantastic - brings back great memories of my Washington visit which was 1983 - your writing style and photos are excellent

I didn't see you there. But in those days Aussies could still tour the White house. We had a tour booked but the US Embassy in Beirut was bombed and so crisis talks in the White House. So our tour became a tour of the Rose garden. We did see President Reagan stroll by at a distance.

 

[Human]

It looks a fabulous tour.

It definitely was. The tour guide was excellent: he had an encyclopedic knowledge, was passionate about his subject matter, and was a great communicator. I found the tour on Viator but this is the tour company. I'm seriously considering doing a NYC tour with them on the strength of this one.

Home

Explore DC and NYC With Guided Washington DC and NYC Tours Led by Expert Local Guides. Award-Winning Bus Tours, Private, and Guided Walking Tours!

usaguidedtours.com

 

[Scarlett]

Wow, DC looks so different from a week ago. Loving the passion in your TR!

Thanks also for whetting the appetite about the U.H. Center at Dulles. All going well I’ll be there in less than a week and am looking forward to it even more having read through your posts on it. Not sure I have enough warm clothes… might have pop these on underneath my real clothes as an extra layer!

 

[Quickstatus]

might have pop these on underneath my real clothes as an extra layer!

If not enough consider Icebreaker.

 

[RooFlyer]

was a large block of land devoted to each of his 4 terms as President (yes, his fourth term only lasted a few months, but a lot was happening in 1945!).

I never realised he was elected 4 times! You visited a number of spots in DC that I never knew about or got to (MLK and FDR memorials). Excellent tour.

And I now want to watch every episode of The West Wing all over again.

I loved that show, Still have it on DVDs . When I was in DC - a while ago - I went on one of the sides of the White House. Street blocked off permanently, barricades etc I think and a few police with guns. All of a sudden many more guys with guns came out and I and other got shouted at to move back. BACK!! BACK!! BACK!! Then a motorcade swept past - at speed! A bit of googling that night indicated that it was the VP.

I'm seriously considering doing a NYC tour with them on the strength of this one.

When are you going? This trip? May be too late to book, but please check out

Big Apple Greeter

bigapplegreeters.net

A personal, free (no tips!) guided tour by a volunteer personalised on things that interest you. History, architecture, shopping, icons etc.

 

[Pushka]

I never realised he was elected 4 times! You visited a number of spots in DC that I never knew about or got to (MLK and FDR memorials). Excellent tour.



I loved that show, Still have it on DVDs . When I was in DC - a while ago - I went on one of the sides of the White House. Street blocked off permanently, barricades etc I think and a few police with guns. All of a sudden many more guys with guns came out and I and other got shouted at to move back. BACK!! BACK!! BACK!! Then a motorcade swept past - at speed! A bit of googling that night indicated that it was the VP.



When are you going? This trip? May be too late to book, but please check out

Big Apple Greeter

bigapplegreeters.net

A personal, free (no tips!) guided tour by a volunteer personalised on things that interest you. History, architecture, shopping, icons etc.

Yep. The only DVD set we kept. Given to MrP by sons for Fathers Day. Fascinated by every thing Washington. I have this dream of flying on Air Force One

 

[drron]

I have been on an Air Force 1. In Ronald Reagan's library in California.
Fortunately it seems to be a bit of a distance to the Pallisades fire though that is still not contained.

https://www.reaganfoundation.org/library-museum/

 

[Human]

Not sure I have enough warm clothes… might have pop these on underneath my real clothes as an extra layer!

Not sure how serious you're being but here goes...

When I'm in cold climates (and the coldest I've been in is Iceland in December/January) I wear merino t-shirts underneath all my layers. They're absolutely perfect for travelling -- lightweight, comfortable, breathable, and they have this magical way of being warm in the cold, but not too warm when you get inside and remove layers. An additional benefit of wool/merino is that you can genuinely go several days wearing the same one without needing to wash it which is massively helpful when travelling. I have a couple of long-sleeve merino t-shirts which I've bought from Kathmandu over the years. Most of my short sleeved ones are from Aldi which sells them every year at the beginning of winter.

As for legs, any pair of el-cheapo thermals/long johns will do the trick -- the ones I'm wearing on this trip, I bought from Amazon a couple of weeks before I left, and they're fine.

My one indulgence before this trip was purchasing a waterproof, windproof, hooded down overcoat from Mountain Warehouse during the Black Friday sales. I've only had to wear it once so far but I anticipate giving it a good try-out in NYC!

 

[Scarlett]

Not sure how serious you're being but here goes...

When I'm in cold climates (and the coldest I've been in is Iceland in December/January) I wear merino t-shirts underneath all my layers. They're absolutely perfect for travelling -- lightweight, comfortable, breathable, and they have this magical way of being warm in the cold, but not too warm when you get inside and remove layers. An additional benefit of wool/merino is that you can genuinely go several days wearing the same one without needing to wash it which is massively helpful when travelling. I have a couple of long-sleeve merino t-shirts which I've bought from Kathmandu over the years. Most of my short sleeved ones are from Aldi which sells them every year at the beginning of winter.

As for legs, any pair of el-cheapo thermals/long johns will do the trick -- the ones I'm wearing on this trip, I bought from Amazon a couple of weeks before I left, and they're fine.

My one indulgence before this trip was purchasing a waterproof, windproof, hooded down overcoat from Mountain Warehouse during the Black Friday sales. I've only had to wear it once so far but I anticipate giving it a good try-out in NYC!

To answer you and @Quickstatus, I’m only serious if it’s going to be really cold in DC and there is enough outside area to cover at the Udvar-Hazy Center.

I’m currently in the Bahamas, sitting beside a pool drinking a coffee, wearing a T-shirt and shorts. I have a (light) jumper and (thin, spray) jacket that I used to spend the day walking around the DC sights the week before you were there. It was about 7degC and wind chill taking a couple of degrees off. Now it’s a little cooler.

So the real question is, how much is there outside at U-H and how long do you reckon it takes to look at that outside stuff? I’m assuming inside is heated sufficiently.
I’ve got a full day planned for out there.

 

[Human]

Before I write anything else I should mention (and this is something the tour guide reminded us of yesterday) that today, January 13 in the USA, is the anniversary of the Florida Airlines flight 90 disaster. On January 13, 1982, a freezing cold day, the 737 took off from Washington National Airport, from where I am writing this. It had been de-iced but then waited on the tarmac for 40 minutes in a blizzard before take-off, without being de-iced again. As a result of the ice build up it crashed into a bridge on the Potomac river and sank under the ice. Of the 79 passengers onboard, 5 survived; 4 people on the bridge also died. Washingtonians certainly have not forgotten.

 

[Human]

So the real question is, how much is there outside at U-H and how long do you reckon it takes to look at that outside stuff?

There's nothing outside at Udvar-Hazy. It's all indoors and well heated. If you get there by bus, it will drop you right outside the entrance; the bus stop to catch the return bus is about 40m down the road. The car park is a little further away but not too far.

 

[Human]

It's another beautiful Winter day in Washington! Before I checked out I had one final look outside at my WW/BD.


Check-out was 10am; even though my flight doesn’t leave until 1pm I called an Uber to take me to the airport. I was at the airport about 20 minutes later – it’s nice that the airport is so close to the centre of the city (although of course DCA, while huge, is not an international airport. As I discovered on Saturday, IAD is considerably further out).

I crossed the frozen Potomac and reflected that it was also frozen like this on January 13, 1982…


I really do appreciate these messages that United sends on the day of the flight. It makes things so much easier.


I arrived to find a well-laid-out, not-very-busy, pleasant airport scene.

I made my way to the “Premier Access” line and my luggage was dropped off within a couple of minutes.





There was no Premier Access security line but I was through Standard Security in about 10 minutes. The security staff were even courteous to me!


After Security, I turned into Concourse B to find, wonder of wonders….. a Lounge that I had access to!





The AmEx Centurion Lounge is about 80% full – there are a few spare seats available. It’s reasonably large and well laid out, with oodles of natural light.





I got myself a late breakfast from the buffet. The scrambled eggs are nothing to write home about, but the pancake was excellent.


So with an hour and three quarters before my flight, I’m more than happy to be here.

 

[Human]

Reflections on my three days in Washington, DC:

Well, I’m aware that adjectives such as “amazing”, “incredible”, “wonderful”, “moving”, “fantastic” and so on get a little repetitive, and I’ve certainly been using them a lot. But I’m out of words that do justice to my time here. Let’s be honest: Johnson and, especially, Kennedy Space Centers were out of this world in every possible way. I don’t expect to have many more days like that in my lifetime (did I mention that I saw a rocket launch?). Nevertheless it was equally a long-term dream to visit the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. Udvar-Hazy wasn’t on my radar as much, but it should have been, and was (sorry, I’m using that word again) amazing.

I’m surprised by how emotionally moved I’ve been on this trip. It probably shouldn’t have surpised me, but I’m not normally an emotional person. It’s as if my pent up emotions were waiting for a time to gush out, and gush they have (in a very good way!). This trip has been an absolute feast intellectually, emotionally and spiritually.

I haven’t even talked about yesterday yet. It was an absolute thrill to see the places that I’ve been watching, reading about, and hearing about from afar. And it was encouraging to reflect on the fact that, for all the present day flaws of the USA (many of which, I think, have been there from the beginning) the ideals on which the nation was founded and from which it has flourished are worth emulating and, yes, fighting for.

So as I wait to fly to NYC for the final leg of my trip, I can happily report that I have not yet experienced a bad day in the USA. In fact I have not yet experienced anything less than a awesome day. I am once again so humbled, so thankful, so astounded to be here.

Finally, some reflections on staying in central Washington DC. Before Washington, I hadn’t stayed in an inner city. Space City is a fair distance out of Houston, and Kennedy Space Center isn’t in Orlando itself (I’d classify Titusville, where I stayed, as a small regional city). I would use the words “grandeur” and "gravitas" to describe parts of DC (eg. the National Mall and surroundings). But other parts have a gritty, inner-city feel to them. I never feared for my safety, but for the first time I had an awareness that I did need to be alert, and to take precautions.

Now to take on Manhattan!

 

[Human]

One more thing:

New York City really is "the city that never sleeps". Unlike my days in the USA so far, where I've basically been able to come back to my room at the end of a day out and do things such as write up this trip report, I'm actually envisaging that I'll -- gasp!! -- go out at night in NYC!

So I might not be able to keep up with writing this TR in "real time" (ie. write about what I've done at the end of each day). I'll try, but please understand if there is a lag from this moment on. Never fear -- this TR will be finished if I'm still breathing!