After Einstein we went by the Vietnam Memorial. After having lectured Christina the day before on the role of government, it's structure, responsibility and authority, I think it finally hit home that this stuff is important when, as we sank deeper and deeper into that black wall with the thousands and thousands of names, I told her of people she knows who lost loved ones in Vietnam, and that's why it's important for government to behave responsibly. I saw the light come on in her eyes, and I think all the marble and granite started making just a little sense to her.

We then went to the Lincoln Memorial. This is just a pic of us sitting on one of the four score and seven steps leading to the memorial. If you want to see the memorial, Wiki has better pics than I could've taken.

The Einstein Memorial and National Academy of Science

One of the advantages of doing the guided bike tour was that the guide took us to some little known places. This is the Einstein Memorial in front of the National Academy of Science. Being the science geek I am, I really appreciated coming by here. The memorial is pretty neat. The artist gave Al a head proportioned like a child's because he was known to be very childlike in many of his behaviors. He is also wearing sandals, which he apparently wore regularly. Local legend has it that rubbing his nose will impart some of Einstein's intellect. Rub away, Christina! (I fell off before I could reach it!)

The White House

Next we rode by La Maison Blanche. You can't really get close to it and we didn't plan in advance to take the tour, so really it's just another building with snipers on the roof in Washington, DC.

The World War II Memorial

Most of my time in DC was when I was in the Marine Corps back in '85 and '86, and back then the World War II Memorial hadn't been built. It's tough to photograph with an iPhone so I just took a pic of Christina in front of the Texas monument, but it's an impressive work of art. I'm not sure how I feel about it's effect of breaking up the mall though.

The Washington Monument

I think, in retrospect, that my favorite part of the whole trip may have been the bike tour through the monuments. We rented bikes from the same company we used in New York (Bike and Roll), but this time we paid for the guided tour. It is THE way to see the monuments, especially in the summer. We saw almost all the important sites in three hours, a feat that would've consumed an entire, exhausting day had we done it on foot. They also have evening tours (my plan for next time) that would be substantially cooler. I highly recommend the bike tour if you are visiting DC.

Anyway, here we are at the Washington Monument, our first stop. We didn't go up but it was still pretty cool.

Arlington House

On the way to see the changing of the guard we walked through Arlington House, the ancestral home of Robert E. Lee's wife's family (her grandfather fought during the Revolutionary War, and was so taken with George Washington that he named his son, her father, George Washington Custis). She inherited it from her father only to lose it six years later when the War Between the States broke out. After the war, the grounds of the plantation were used as a cemetery that would become Arlington National Cemetery. The main house, pictured here, is absolutely beautiful on the outside (my picture doesn't do it justice), but the inside is still fairly primitive and is being renovated.

After leaving we saw the changing of the guard. It was touching, but nowhere near as inspiring as the Evening Parade at 8th and I.

Semper fi, Mac!

Friday morning it's time to put in another few miles, this time trough Arlington past the Marine Corps Memorial (seen here) and the Netherland Carillon, to the gates of Arlington National Cemetery. We'll come here today for the changing of the guard before heading into D.C. for seeing the monuments.

The Evening Parade

Thursday night is the highlight of our time in D.C., at least for me. This is the night of The Evening Parade at the Marine Corps Barracks at 8th and I, the oldest post in the Corps. Every Friday during the summer (it's Thursday this week because of July 4th), the Barracks hosts The Evening Parade at sunset featuring The President's Own U.S. Marine Corps Band (seen here), The Commandant's Own U.S. Marine Drum and Bugle Corps, and two infantry companies including The Silent Drill Platoon. It's really a phenomenal, breathtaking show. I highly recommend it when you visit Washington in the summer. Many thanks to my brother Kirk and his old Marine Corps buddy LtCol Meyers for securing tickets for us.

A room with a view

Our room here in Rosslyn (Arlington) is across the Potomac River from D.C. We have two balconies and are on the 10th floor, but our views aren't great. But if you lean out over the rail and around the corner you can see the river and some of Georgetown, as in this picture.

Mosaic ceiling

All the ceilings in the building are tile mosaics and are breathtakingly intricate in their design. Everything in The Library of Congress, at least in this building, has some kind of cryptic meaning- the statues, murals, mosaics, columns, stair rails- all have embedded within them some meaning that is deeper than their surface appearance. It's like walking through a Dan Brown novel, or being in a real live National Treasure movie.

Library of Congress

The Library of Congress now occupies several buildings, but this is the old, original one as seen in National Treasure, where the library was moved after it outgrew the space in the Capitol Building.

Texas statue- Sam Houston

Each state provides two statues for display in the Capitol. Texas has Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin. Alabama's are General Joe Wheeler and Helen Keller, and Georgia's are Alexander Hamilton Stephens and Crawford W. Long.

The Capitol Rotunda

Our first stop in Washington is a tour of the Capitol Building, graciously arranged by David Lassester and his staff in Congressman Farenthold's office from the 27th district of Texas. Here we are in the rotunda looking up at the dome at the painting The Ascension of George Washington.

Thursday morning run

Here I am back on the bridge looking over The Potomac after an early morning run in Georgetown. There are so many great places to run in NY and DC!

Francis Scott Key Bridge

Our hotel is at the foot of Francis Scott Key Bridge. Here we're walking back from dinner towards our hotel (the building with the little pitched roof in the upper left corner). This bridge has some history for me personally. While in Marine Corps Officer Candidate School in Quantico, VA (the officer equivalent of boot camp) we would, on the infrequent occasions we had liberty, take the train to Alexandria, ride the subway from King Street Station to Rosslyn and stay at the Key Bridge Marriott (the building in the center of the photo). From there we would walk our baldheaded selves across Key Bridge into Georgetown and try to blend in as best we could (not well, being 21 with no hair). You see, in those days being in the military didn't make you a hero. There were no applauding crowds at the airport to show their appreciation. We were happy just to feel normal for a few hours before we had to report back.

The Rumble Seat

For dinner tonight we walked into Georgetown to the historic Martin's Tavern on the recommendation of a friend. Martin's has been a favorite of dignitaries and politicians, including several presidents, for decades. In this picture Christina's seated in The Rumble Seat (table #1), the favorite seat of President Kennedy. Two booths down is the table where he proposed to Jackie, and in between was Nixon's favorite seat. Our table was singularly unfamous, but was right close to these other famous tables. The food was good and the service even better. Our waiter was a pleasant young fellow from the suburbs of Atlanta.

Union Station, Washington, D.C.

Gone are the days of truly majestic transportation corridors. I missed a pic of the main room at Union Station, but this one will suffice. Our rail trip was enjoyable and uneventful, and I even managed to take a little nap :-) The pleasant, quick and affordable nature of this trip leaves one to wonder- why don't we have easy and affordable rail all across the US? Somebody must be making a bunch of money to prevent it.

Leaving New York

The next morning we were up and moving, saying goodbye to the Big Apple and boarding a train at Pennsylvania Station bound for Washington, D.C.

After the show

We loved the show! The set design was phenomenal and the acrobatics were fun. Personally, I wasn't that crazy about the score, but then again I'm not a big U2 fan. But all in all it was a good show, and definitely a great night!

Inside the Foxwoods Theater

A lady with style in a stylish theater!

Spiderman!

Here we are at The Foxwoods Theater going in to see Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark! Big fun!

And a whale!

Sorry for the bad lighting. Big room, little flash!

Look out Christina!

There's a T-Rex behind you!

The Museum of Natural History

After a walk across Central Park and a quick lunch at the famous Shake Shack we went to The Museum of Natural History. It was more up Christina's alley. She loved it!

Street music

And here they are. There were a good couple hundred people sitting on the steps listening while we were there.

Christina goes to The Met!

Here she is in front of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. What an amazing place! Actually I think her favorite part of it was listening to the street singers perform on the front steps, but I thought the art and the history were fantastic.

Tuesday morning run

This time I made it around the reservoir, seen here from the north side. It still amazes me that New York has been able to preserve a park of this size on Manhattan Island in the midst of all the skyscrapers.

Pickles and celery

Carnegie Deli is an interesting place. Before your meal they bring you a big plate of pickles in varying degrees of, well, pickleness. Very good. Very different. They also have a celery flavored soda called Cel Ray. I typically don't like celery, but this wasn't too bad. Nothing I would want to drink with every meal, but different. And part of the "New York experience".

A lotta help from my friend

For dinner tonight we took the advice of my friend Rachel, who I know from last September's mission trip to the Dominican Republic, and went to Carnegie Deli. Rachel has actually given me a wealth of advice for this trip, as she lives on Manhattan between Central Park and Times Square (primo location). Almost every activity we have planned for the New York stretch of our trip has been on Rachel's advice and I am eternally grateful to her for guiding us to such a great time. To express our gratitude we asked her to have dinner with us tonight, and she did. The pic below is living proof- the three of us outside Carnegie Deli.

For dinner I had a Woody Allen- corned beef and pastrami on rye- and I know three cows must've made the ultimate sacrifice for my sandwich because this thing was ENORMOUS! After eating a fair amount of her salad, Christina had a piece of strawberry cheesecake and, in addition to being delicious, was big enough to feed a small family. So I helped. I don't even want to THINK about how many fat grams I've poured down my throat today, but I'm getting up in the morning and hitting Central Park again.

More High Line

As you can see here, they're actually planting some substantial greenery on the High Line, and it's pretty well utilized already. If you look at the path you can see the old rail is still in place. There is a good bit of seating along the High Line, and in some places the path broadens and has large clusters of seats and places to congregate or for vendors or, possibly, street musicians to perform. All in all it's a great use of old subway rail spaces. The third phase is ready to be started but I think there are budget constraints hindering its progress.

The High Line

This is interesting. It's called The High Line Park, and it's an old elevated railway (subway) track that's been abandoned now that the subway is truly a subterranean subway, and the old elevated tracks have been converted to green spaces. Here is where we got on, looking south from 20th St toward the first phase that was completed a year or two ago.

And in the lobby...

Out of order

This pic was on Christina's camera so it's out of order. Here we are at the foot of the Empire State Building before going up.

Lunch at Union Square Green Market

After the Empire State Building we were starving so we walked a mile down to Union Square where there's a farmer's market on Mondays and Wednesdays. There we bought a fresh baguette, some really creamy and mild goat cheese produced "locally", some apples and blackberries, and a half gallon of cold, fresh apple cider. We found a park bench, and sat and ate our lunch al fresco and watched the people coming and going. It was a very enjoyable and interesting way to catch lunch on Manhattan.

102 stories up!

For an extra $15 each we went up another 16 floors to the 102nd floor, a whopping 1250ft up! It was all enclosed and the line was long, but it was less crowded once you got there. But I don't think it was as much of an experience as the 86th floor open observation deck. Still, it's WAY up there!

Did you hear the one about the bald guy on the top of the Empire State Building?

We started our day there. Big crowds, great views. Worth the wait to get to the 86th floor observation deck.

Central Park

This morning I went for a four mile run in Central Park. I must say, I was surprised, and favorably impressed with Central Park. It is much prettier than I imagined it would be, and was being heavily utilized by runners, walkers, cyclists and pet owners by 6am. This pic is looking northeast over the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir at the north end of the park. It was an enjoyable run, a great way to start what will be a very busy day!

Les bombardiers

After riding the ferry back from Governor's Island we were both starving. After all, it was time for dinner and the hot dogs we bought from the cart at the ferry terminal were hours gone. So we went in search of something more substantial and, on the advice of my friend Rachel who lives in Manhatten, we went to S'Mac for some gourmet mac and cheese. It was pretty good stuff- I had Mediterranean M&C (goat cheese, sauteed spinach, kalamata olives and garlic), and Christina had buffalo chicken M&C (she didn't think about it being spicy hot, but she ate it anyway with tears welling up in her little eyes!).

By the time we were done it was bedtime for her. Unfortunately she was fast asleep when I heard the explosions as I posted these blog pictures. I looked out the window to see, way down by Battery Park, les bombardiers painting the sky with fireworks. I snapped a few pics, like the one above, but mostly I just stood at the window and enjoyed the spectacle of fireworks over the New York skyline. What a fitting end to an exciting day!

In the morning I'm going to run around Central Park before Christina wakes up. More tomorrow.

Castle Williams

No, it's not mine (I wish). This fortress stands on the northwest corner of Governor's Island, guarding the harbor where the East River merges with the Hudson to form New York Harbor off the southern end of Manhatten. Castle Williams once bristled with over 100 cannon, and was known as "the cheese box" because its round outline resembles an enormous hoop cheese sitting astride the island. It's not open to the public yet. Oh well, incentive to come back (as if I needed more).

In the far right of the picture you can see most of the bike(s) we rented. I toss in the (s) because we rented one of those deals where the kid rides on an attachment on the back of the adult's bike (can't quite see it in the pic). Talk about UNSTAAAABLE! We nearly busted it more times than I can count before we got used to it, and ended up having a great time riding, literally, all over the island.

SOL1

We made it to Governor's Island! It's a really neat place that was originally purchased from the Manhatta Indians by the Dutch for two ax heads, a string of beads and a handful of nails. Ever since it's served some military purpose given its strategic position in New York harbor. What's striking to me about it is the abundance of housing that lies completely idle right now. For years it was a Coast Guard base, but the Federal government sold it to New York for a dollar about eight years ago, and it's just been reopened to the public. There were thousands of people there today, and I anticipate the island will get developed into a residential or vacation facility.

Anyway, there's a great view of the SOL from Governor's Island, as you can see from this pic.

Staten Island Ferry

We're headed to Governor's Island for the afternoon. The ferry terminal is right next to the Staten Island Ferry terminal, so we got a good look. Hopefully we'll have a chance to ride it, but I'd really rather go to the Statue of Liberty and/or Ellis Island. We'll see.

Columbus Circle

Our hotel is just a block or two from the southwest corner of Central Park, i.e. Columbus Circle. If you look closely you can see ol' Chris standing atop his pedestal in the background.

The view from our room

On the 17th floor. From the other angle we can see the Hudson River (so far we haven't seen any bodies floating in it). I'll post a pic from that angle later.

Welcome to New York's LaGuardia Airport!

And Manhatten!

The Statue of Liberty- from 15,000 feet up!

I'm sure we'll see more of her, but this was the first time to see it for both of us.

On the plane

This is the first time we've flown together since I moved back from Texas- in 2005! We're always in the airport together, but it's always for pickups and dropoffs.

At the airport

Here we are, Christina and I, about to leave for the Big Apple! We'll be in New York from Sunday until Wednesday. We plan to do lots of touristy stuff, but the highlight will be seeing Spiderman on Broadway Tuesday night. On Wednesday we'll take the train to D.C. For another three days, the highlight of which will be the Evening Parade at the U.S. Marine Barracks at 8th and I, but of course we'll see all the monuments too. From there we'll fly back to Atlanta. So buckle your seat belts, it'll be a fast, fun ride!

Missin' the DR!

I've been back for almost a week now. A very cold, snowy/rainy week that makes me REALLY miss the Dominican sunshine. But I spent a nice weekend with the kids, and got to see my brother and my sister and her family. And now it's back to the grind.

But not really. I'm now in Dublin, GA on my first assignment as a locum tenens ER doctor. It's a fairly small town on I-16 about halfway between Atlanta and Savannah. I haven't seen much of the town as it's been drizzling most of the time I've been here, but the hotel is nice and the hospital seems good so far. The little bit of time I've spent actually working in the ER (as opposed to orienting and memorizing a billion passwords) has been pretty slow. They keep telling me it'll pick up, and I believe them, but so far so good.

The picture on this post is of an absolutely adorable little girl that was being seen by one of the other docs on the mission in the exam space next to me. She kept trying to escape while her family members were being seen, so I scooped her up and kept her out of trouble for the couple of minutes I could keep her restrained. Thank heaven for little girls!

Cabarete

Cabarete is possibly the best place in the world to learn kiteboarding, and in this picture you can see that it's caught on. The breeze is plentiful and consistent, and often parallels the shore, which I'm told is optimal for kiteboarding. Windsurfers and small boat sailors also abound here. Cabarete is, in fact, home to many expats who come to kiteboard or windsurf or just vacation and never go home. It's very affordable, depending on the accommodations you desire, English is pretty prevalent, and I never really felt unsafe (with the exception of the previously noted Stupid Gringo Tricks). I would recommend it as a vacation destination in addition to a great place to stay during a medical mission.