Jon Bear Journal: Visit to Washington D.C. Part I

 My family is pretty well spread out across parts of the northeastern United States.  A lot of countries are not much larger than some U.S. states, so it's not often that I get to see my brothers and my sister and their families the past twelve years or so when I being the youngest was the last to move away from our parents home on Long Island in New York State.  We may not be close in distance, but I have always loved and gotten along very well with my brothers Robert and Clifford and my sister Heather.  I live nearest to my mother and oldest brother Robert and his family, and visit with them about 6-8 times a year.  I generally get to see Clifford and Heather and their families around twice a year, so getting to visit with them is something I really look forward to.  This April my mother and I decided to go visit Heather and her husband David who live near Washington D.C. in Virginia.  Here are some pictures from our visit that I will break into two parts.

On the first day of our visit we went to see the Cherry Blossoms in Washington D.C..  Every year the nation's capital has a festival celebrating the gift of the Cherry Blossoms given to the people of  Washington by the people of Tokyo, Japan just over a century ago.

 

Cherry Trees line the Washington D.C. Tidal Basin

 

 

Beavers have been known to take down some of Washington's Cherry Trees >.<

 

 

YAY Tokyo, Japan!  Thank you for the Cherry Trees! =)

 

Memorial honoring the great Martin Luther King Jr. Civil Rights Activist

 

 

Paddleboaters enjoy a view of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Cherry_Blossom_Festival

A brief History of the Cherry Blossom Festival

 

 

The Washington Monument has not accepted visitors since the August 23, 2011 5.8 magnitude earthquake that hit north of Richmond, Virginia

 

After going to the Cherry Blossom Festival on the first day of our visit, Heather and David took mom and I to a Washingon Nationals Baseball game on day two.  This was the fourth baseball stadium I have been to with the others being: Shea Stadium (which no longer exists) in Flushing Meadows, New York, The New Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York and PNC Ballpark in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  The Nationals have a mascot named Screech who is an America Eagle, but they are perhaps more known for their five Presidential Mascots (George Wasington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt and William Howard Taft) who have a race during the bottom half of the fourth inning of every Nationals Game. Taft was added this year. 

 

 

William Taft the newest member of the Presidential Mascot Race

 

 

 

Abraham Lincoln mingling with the Nationals' fans

 

 

Thomas Jefferson, the birthday boy!  My camera says it was April 8th, but really it was April 13th, so I'll have to fix that.  >.<

 

 

 

The field at Nationals Ball Park in Washington, D.C.

 

Stephen Strasburg the Nationals young starting pitcher, considered by many the best in the game

 

 

AND THEY'RE OFF! The race begins!  Go Teddy!!!! (Teddy Roosevelt had never won the race in the race's history, until last year when the Nationals clinched the National League Pennant for the first time since the team moved to D.C. from Montreal, Canada) The numbers on the back wall indicate the number of times each president has won the race this year so far

 

 

Thomas Jefferson crosses the finish line in first place, after Teddy Roosevelt "took out" William Taft on the warning track.  As it was the anniversary of Jefferson's birthday I suppose it's nice that he won

 

 

Bryce Harper the Nationals star 20 year old outfielder takes a swing.  Harper threw out an Atlanta Braves player at Home Plate later in the game, but the Nationals lost by a score of 3-1 to Atlanta's veteran pitcher Tim Hudson.

 

 

Heading back to Heather's and Dave's using the Washington D.C. metro system

 

 

I had a lot of fun during the first two days of the visit with Heather and David.  We also went out to eat at a lovely local restaraunt the first night and Heather and David made mom and I an amazing seafood paella on the second night.  Heather while never being employed as a bar tender is an expert when it comes to making drinks, so while the temptation was to overindulge, mom and I did our best to limit our alcohol intake during the visit. >.<