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Published: November 10th 2015
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Hi Everyone
Hope you not getting to bored with our travel updates! Only another 23 months to go!!
We have just had a very interesting few days and experienced completely different sides of american life. We left Boston on the train and seven hours later got to Washington. We had an airbnb apartment booked for 4 nights and when we got there we were not disappointed, lovely place with lots of space and a ping pong table of all things there for us to use at our leisure. Trouble was we were so bushed by the end of the day we could only look at it!
Washington does not disappoint with its amazing sights, there are just so many. Did you know the National Mall is 1.9 miles long! For those of you who haven't been there you have to be prepared to walk, walk, walk, and we were incredibly lucky apparently as we had such lovely sunny weather, very unusual for November. So we saw Capitol Hill where the Senate sit (we saw John McCain in action talking about Vietnam veterans) and where the House of Representatives gather. We saw the Washington Monument which sits in the
middle of the Mall and opposite the White House. You can tour around the White House but you have to book up months in advance which we didn't realise so we missed bumping into Barrack and Michelle. We saw the Lincoln Memorial (impressive huge building), the Vietnam and Korean memorials, the WW2 memorial and Martin Luthor Kings memorial. The reflection pool which sits in front of the Lincoln Memorial looks stunning in the sunlight with the Washington Memorial reflected in it.
We also visited some of the many museums. We went to the American Indian museum (that certainly opens your eyes!) and the Air and Space Museum which was amazing. You might know differently but we didn't know what was going on in the USA's space programme at the moment and there is still plenty going on. Next stop Mars definitely. Dave went to the American History museum while I went to the Holocaust museum. Obviously very harrowing.
One day we walked our socks off going to Arlington Cemetery. Here at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier there is a change of guard every hour of every day of the year. It is very formal and incredibly moving
and respectful. From there we walked to the Pentagon and saw the memorial for the 9/11 victims. That has been designed so thoughtfully it is heart wrenching to see. There is a seat for every person killed with their name engraved on it. The seats face towards the Pentagon for the victims on the plane and face away for the people killed on the ground. They are put in lines depending on age and we discovered a family of 4 had been on the plane that day. it brings shivers down your spine.
To get to the sights from our apartment we caught a bus as it was the quickest and easiest way for us to travel but it highlighted, big time, the in balance for black and white people that still exists in this country. Ours were the only white faces on the bus apart from the odd student now and then and the lower end jobs that we came across were filled out by black people with the higher end employing white people. We hadn't really expected this to be so obvious and in an age where America has a black president but unfortunately it does still
exist and made us feel very uncomfortable. Add to that the fact that Washington has the highest crime rate in the USA and you can understand that we were quite pleased to leave after those few days.
16 miles south of Washington is Mount Vernon which was George Washington's home and where he died. It has been preserved and does not gloss over the fact that he and his wife had many slaves. On his death and in his will he granted them freedom and there is a burial site which is now being excavated to address the names of those who died in slavery. The house had a beautiful view of the Potomac river which we had both been pronouncing completely wrongly but now know better!
And so onto Virginia. What a lovely state and just how you would imagine it. Rolling hills, white picket fences and horses in abundance. We only had a few days here and would have loved to have spent longer as it was so picturesque. The two airbnb's we stayed in were amazing. One in the middle of a wood which we would never have found without Rita the sat nav, with
lovely hosts who just left us in their house, told us they don't lock their doors (only slightly worried when I heard bears had encroached on their deck!) made us feel very welcome and we chatted for hours later over wine and chocolates! Perfect! Then the following night and a different airbnb, this one on a horse ranch with beautiful views across all the countryside and again, a lovely evening with our hosts and a glass of wine or two! In between those two abodes we drove the skyline drive along the Shenandoah Valley, beautiful views and we spotted some deer too. The following day we visited Colonial Williamsburg. This was an amazing living history museum where streets have been restored to the 1700's and costumed townsfolk walk around either re-enacting scenes from that period or working in blacksmiths, shops, or as soldiers marching along the street. It was very cleverly done and in true american style, very professionally done (although, typical of nowadays we saw some of them sneaking a look at their mobiles!).
We have now left Virginia and driven through North Carolina and into South Carolina where we are now staying in a condo on a
golf course in Myrtle Beach. Completely different again. On the drive we saw lots of cotton fields which surprised us as we expected to see them further south but apparently they are all over the States. We saw a couple of huge birds which we think were some kind of eagle, pecking away at some poor dead animal. We also had a deja vu moment when we drove over a huge bridge into Suffolk with the Norfolk container terminal next to it!!
We are planning to chill a bit now, catch our breath and play some golf. As Dave keeps saying 'it beats work' (apologising to colleagues at the same time 😊 )
Happy Thanks giving everyone, love the Spencers x
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Di Heg
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George W
Good old George wanted everyone to be sad on his death, including his wife, by taking all the slaves away . I wonder if she knew before he died??