Jerry’s Take on DC

It’s blog time people!  Jerry’s at it again!!  Always nice to hear Jerry’s perspective of our adventures!  Thanks for joining us!  

As you know, if you are caught up with our blogs, we are currently at the Cherry Hill RV Park, College Park Maryland, 12 miles outside of Washington, DC. This park is amazing, Susan the expert concierge scored a bull’s eye when she booked this RV resort over 6 months ago!  One of the great features is having a city bus terminal on site! We can hop on a bus and zoom to the local Metro station to catch a train into DC. 

The first time we rode the Metro we looked at each other and said” this is just like BART in the bay area” less the grime, crime and slime! Ha-ha! The Metro cars look just like the BART cars! We have had one mental breakdown by one of the citizens during one of our rides into DC. Honestly, it was unsettling.  He was screaming at the top of his lungs for quite a while.  Unfortunately, he was right across from Susan.   We held our breath while changing cars at one of the stops. We just jumped off and jumped back on into a different car.  Situation dealt with.  

Not only does the RV park have a bus terminal but they have staff dedicated to helping people set up tours and supply answers to all of your site seeing questions!! Truly a full-service RV resort!  

Susan and I have become very comfortable with riding the mass transit into DC. Not only is the transportation easy to use but the cost is ridiculously low!! For example, the round trip into DC is 3 dollars! We have visited these monuments via self-guided tours. Washington, Lincoln, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Jefferson, Korean War Veterans Memorial, World War II Memorial, FDR Memorial, Martin Luther King Memorial, Vietnam Women’s memorial, Iwo Jima Memorial, Ulysses S. Grant Memorial, the list goes on and on! I read that there are over 160 monuments in the DC area! Did you know there is a little carefully kept park dedicated to Sonny Bono, and another honoring the victims of the Titanic!

We have only just begun to tour!!!  How many Museums in DC? 74! We could categorize our sightseeing by how many wows, tears and gasps for air! For example, when Susan saw the Hope Diamond, I had to catch her as her knees buckled! Susan gave me a big hug when I saw the Korean War Memorial as crocodile tears ran down my face because my father fought in Korea! Semper Fi dad! “Always faithful,” The Marine Corps Moto! 

The Marine Corp Iwo Jima Memorial evening tour from our RV resort was spectacular! This memorial is one of the largest bronze statues in the world. Seeing the monuments in the dark with incredibly effective lighting was surreal! Our favorite was the Washington monument with the reflection pond! We have completed a lot of self-tours and put on many walking miles! We have tried to see everything around the mall. While branching out to places like the Ford’s Theater where Lincoln was shot! How about three trips into Chinatown for great food! Susan and I liked the National Museum of American History. Many of the exhibits were easy to relate to and brought back memories! The amount of things to see is overwhelming!

Gettysburg is a 1 hr. 30-minute drive from our RV park. The drive takes you through beautiful rolling hills of farmland. We booked the cyclorama, museum and film experience along with a narrated automobile tour. The film and museum were good…but the cyclorama defies description! This is a 360 degree, 400 feet long, 50 feet tall, originally displayed in 1884, massive, fully restored, 360-degree painting which places you in the middle of Pickett’s Charge on the decisive third day of the battle! 

Susan and I sat in the cafeteria reflecting on what we saw and how we felt after viewing the film from the cyclorama and museum! We were humbled, shocked, speechless…. we sat in silence for a while! When we finally spoke, we wondered why we weren’t taught in history classes the extent of the brutality and slaughter during the 3 days of Gettysburg! The description of the number of Confederate wounded was shocking…. 17 miles of wagons carrying wounded. How the buildings, churches, and people of Gettysburg were turned into hospitals. The Auto tour was amazing, the narration describing the scene, the units, commanders and what took place was spellbinding! Our drive back to Madge was quiet, we were humbled!  

Our best meal and most expensive in DC, was lunch at the Old Ebbitt Grill DC’s oldest restaurant, very close to the White House. I know you’re asking what we enjoyed there.  Well, the best darn lump crab cake we both have ever eaten along with Eastern oysters!!!  Yep, we love them raw.  They were incredible.  Of course we enjoyed a glass of Prosecco and a local tap beer.  Thank goodness we walked 6.7 miles that day. The service, ambience and price were what you would expect from a famous landmark! 5 stars!

We have so much more to visit and experience.  We have 15 days left and are going to make sure every day is an adventure.  Susan has booked so many more tours for us.  It’s going to be jammed packed.  Make sure you join us next week for the continuation of DC!!

Just One More…crab cake. We cannot get our fill!