Ode to the Makers of Monuments

I spent last week from Sunday through Friday in Washington DC for a week long training at the GAO Headquarters. They put me up in a really nice hotel (where presidential hopefuls and former presidents have stayed) at the government rate of course! Even though I was in training all day-I did have some time to see lots of friends from grad school and old work buddies for dinner. It was nice to visit with everyone and I learned a bit about GAO too!

My hotel (The Mayflower) is a historic building that they've restored. It's pretty fancy and very close to lots of great restaurants and just a few blocks from G.W. Bush's current home.

I met my friend Maggie for dinner one night in Georgetown which is just rows of little shops like this (though they are mostly chain stores like Ralph Lauren and Banana Republic).

On my last night in DC my friend Vered and I went to dinner and then took a hike around the monuments because I had been in DC all week but hadn't seen anything yet!

Our first president

The Washington Monument after dark across the reflecting pool

the first glimpse of Honest Abe (i was struck at how busy the monument was at dark on a weekday night)

I always get a little choked up at this memorial because it's so well done.

I had never been to the Korean War Memorial which is very close to Lincoln. It's extremely moving. The wall along the middle of the memorial is etched with the faces of soldiers and lit from the ground. And then on one side of the wall or life-size statues of a platoon of soldiers seemingly marching through Korea. They are also lit from the ground and the look like ghosts. I could hardly breathe when I was walking through it.

World War II memorial was very different with every pillar marked with a state name in an elipse with lots of water rushing along the outside and the inside of the monument. Standing in the middle is overwhelming and loud with the water. It was grandiose but really didn't affect me as much as Korea.

And last but not least...the White House

Stay tuned for pictures of Nantucket...Joel and I just got back from a long weekend!

Just a second...

If you have a moment this week please head over to my godson Anderson's website and leave a note for his family. He was scheduled for an MRI yesterday but he was running a really high fever and the MRI will have to be rescheduled. He is still running a fever and I'm sure his parents will appreciate any notes/thoughts/prayers of encouragement. THANKS!

Opening his birthday presents (he turned 2!!)

Playing with cars

Market Daze, Elvis and Dim Sum

This weekend was great! Joel and I were around Chicago and spent it with friends going to a festival, running a 5K and eating dim sum in Chinatown for the first time! During the summertime in Chicago the city neighborhoods hold street festivals from mid June through the end of August and it usually involves street closures, lots of music, and food. Joel and I went to the Wicker Park festival a few weeks ago and loved it. This weekend we went to the festival in boystown (the gay neighborhood in Chicago) called North Halsted Market Days. It was really hot but we walked through with our friends, Lindsay and Jeremy and their family and had lots of fun. This festival has a different flavor than some of the other festivals.

The entrance

One of the bars had an outdoor patio and there were lots of men sans shirts crammed into it. Everyone was staring as we walked by...so I took a picture!

Earlier in the week, I decided to run a 5K on Saturday night so after the festival Joel and I headed down to the race start. IT WAS SO HOT! I knew it was going to be rough but it was a fun theme! It was called the Elvis is Alive! 5K and you can see above that a bunch of people dress head to toe as Elvis and run 5K like that! Crazy.

Run Elvis Run!

Run Mollie Run! I was hurting-it was really hot and I was struggling. But I finished!

On Sunday, Joel and I headed down to Chinatown for dim sum (it's like chinese tapas...small portions for the table). It was the first time we had ever been down to Chinatown to eat-it was great. But the company was even better than the food! We met Chris and Christine who are living in Hyde Park for the summer. It was great to catch up (they were living in Seattle last summer...when I was there!) and visit.

North Dakota's Goodlands

On the way home from Glacier we stopped in North Dakota at Teddy Roosevelt National Park. We camped one night in the park and had planned to do some hiking the following day-as we set out on our hike we encountered a herd of buffalo across the river...blocking our trail. We stood there for a bit but it was obvious the herd was in no hurry to move on. So we scraped our hike and drove around the park and we saw so much wildlife! Lots of bison, wild horses, and prairie dogs. The scenery was breathtaking and totally different from Glacier. Enjoy the pics!

The river through a canyon

A herd of buffalo across the river-Joel and I watched them for quite awhile

A herd of wild horses resting by the river (they were very close to the buffalo)

Another herd of horses-there were so many of them

We watched the prairie dogs for a long time too. They are so entertaining!

The young male bison (below) walked to the middle of the river and watched us to make sure we didn't come any closer (and we didn't!). Here he is giving us one last look...