Tag: Monument
Belle Isle 2025
What do you do when the power goes out? You make the best of it with a trip around town. This time we went to Big Boys for their breakfast bar for the first time in over a year, then we made our way shopping in Trenton. With the power still off we went through Elizabeth park but even then the power was still off, so finally we made our way to Belle Isle and enjoyed the sights of the island. Eventually while we were on the island the power did come on and so we finished up our day in Detroit and finally went home to a house with power. Luckily we never opened the refrigerator or freezer so all our food was still cool/cold. A very interesting day for sure.
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Marshall Blues Festival and Museum of Magic 2025
I think this was our first visit to the Blue Festival since the pandemic. It was an extremely hot day, mid nineties to nearly one hundred degrees. The first thing we noticed was the attendance was down, probably due to the extreme temperatures.
Mom got to see a few bands while James and Dad explored Marshall. We stopped in to visit the American Museum of Magic and took the tour. They had removed their stage since our last visit and we found a peppers ghost effect that we played with where your face turns into a skull.
After we rejoined Mom we did a little shopping. Mom got her poster and t-shirt and everyone was happy. Too bad it was so hot but hey, thats summer in Michigan. We all had a great time and it was good to get back to normal after a long layoff for us in attending this festival.
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Liberty Park 2018
Our journey to the Statue of Liberty both begins and ends at Liberty Park where an old train station is used for tickets to the boats that take you to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. We had a long walk to get here as the place was very busy and we figure we parked about a mile away. We caught the 3:30 ferry from here (after going through security) and returned around 6pm. On exiting we visited the 911 memorial which has two parallel walls with the names of all those souls lost that horrible day. When looking directly at the memorial it creates an illusion of hose the NY skyline must have looked from that location before 911. At the front are twisted metal from the fallen towers on display which really brings the reality of the tragedy home.
Liberty Island 2018
What a thrill it always is to see the Statue of Liberty on a beautiful day in August. While it was a bit hot, it made the cool breeze coming across the Hudson river that much better as we walked around the giant colossus and trying to get the perfect selfie with a structure so big (many of those selfies are in the gallery of this post). After our walk around the statue we took a break in a nice shady area of the park and James bought us all water which made for a perfect family moment. After relaxing in the park drinking our water we made our way to the souvenir stand where James got a hat, Mom got a T shirt, and Dad got a sweatshirt all featuring the statue of liberty!
Washington DC Jefferson Memorial 2018
There were many places we did not get to see as we only had a finite amount of time in Washington before we had to drive to New York. One place we saw at a distance everytime we took a cab was the Jefferson Memorial which was located on the other side of the Potomac. This was as close as we got to the monument, although we did try driving there later, only to make a wrong turn and end up heading back toward the hotel (and NY so we kept on driving). The driving is not easy in Washington DC and we did not take the car out of the parking garage until we left for NY. Our apologies to Thomas Jefferson but we tried.
Washington DC 2018
While the monuments and three branches of Government were all impressive, one of the funnest and most interesting things to do was just walk the streets of Washington DC. Almost every building is “something” such as a dept of agriculture, FBI building, Library of Congress, Hubert Humphrey building, FEMA, etc. Mary even found a Marshall store (which is one of her favorites) in one of these buildings. We tried to keep these pics in order as we saw them, so we started with a picture of where our adventure began, in the park, and our day ended with James taking a much needed dip in the pool.
Washington DC Supreme Court 2018
Right behind the Capitol is the Supreme Court. The Capitol pretty much hides the Supreme court from the park or monument strip so it would be very easy to be missed. We put special interest on this building for James because at the current time the Senate is in the process of approving a ninth judge. Justice Kennedy retired earlier in the year and the current nominee is Brett Kavanaugh and the interview process is getting ready to begin. We told James he would probably be seeing a lot more of the Supreme Court in the near future because of these developments so he will be monitoring the hearings on TV to see what happens.
Washington DC Trump Hotel 2018
While walking down the streets of washington DC we came across this beautiful building and we could not resist taking pictures since we heard so much about it during the 2016 election (it opened the same year after being renovated). This is the old post office building and is just gorgeous with the clock tower and fairy tale castle looks. Its 315-foot (96 m) high Clock Tower houses the “Bells of Congress” and is the third tallest building in Washington at the time of this visit.
Washington DC Capitol 2018
Probably the prettiest architecture in Washington, the Capitol was the final leg of our walk through the park, although behind it were the National Archives and Supreme Court. The Capitol was very close to our hotel room so we took a couple pictures from the roof of the hotel of the Capitol building at night (the roof of our hotel also hosted the swimming pool, which made it a real fun place to visit). Part of the Capitol was under construction while we were there, making for some interesting pictures of a work in progress. Like many of the other huge structures in Washington the closer we got to the structure, the worse the pictures looked because the buildings and monuments are so big.
Washington DC White House 2018
Between the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument (a little closer to the Washington Monument) is the White House to the North. From the park it is very small but we walked as close as we could get to the front. The next day we had a cab take us to the rear, which allowed us to get much close. As usual, some people were protesting but only a handful and not enough to bother anyone. Across from the rear of the White House are monuments to Andrew Jackson and LaFayette in a park which I believe is called LaFayette park.
After visiting we went to the White House gift shop and bought souvenirs including the first six pictures which were taken at a studio. If you buy something in the store you get one free picture, any others you have to buy. The pictures of us in the White House desk and White House podium were obviously taken there.
