TJ and the Pandas

It's been awhile since we've posted anything, but this weekend was the first time in a couple weeks that we did anything exciting.

At this point in our DC trip, we're trying to cram in all the sights we haven't been to yet. Our agenda for this weekend was the Jefferson Memorial, the National Zoo, and the National Air and Space Museum.

Early Saturday morning we headed out to see the Jefferson Memorial. I was kind of excited to see it because I had read in a couple places that was a very beautiful memorial.

The Thomas Jefferson Memorial is kind of tucked away from the other memorials, sitting between the Tidal Basin and the Potomac River.

Its a really big memorial. Very reminescent of the Pantheon and a lot of Roman architecture, which Jefferson (who I'm going to call TJ) was a big fan of.

TJ standing tall.
Since we got to the memorial so early , there were a lot of interesting shadows being cast across all the columns.

Interesting shot of the Washington Monument reflected in the Tidal Basin. Look at the ducks!

We saw in our guidebook that the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial was on our way back, so we thought we'd stop and have a look. It turned out to be a nice memorial with a lot of fountains for some reason.

FDR and his dog, which looks like a Scottie dog.

McKinsey is apparently channeling E.T. to connect with FDR.

Me and my buddy, Roosey. That's what I call him.

We were on our way back to downtown when we came across a WWI memorial tucked away in the trees. It almost looks like a ruin.

While we were in the area, we stopped by the Korean War Memorial. It had these interesting statues of soliders walking through the bush.

And it also had a stone wall similar to the Vietnam Memorial, except this one had images carved into it instead of names.

After we had some lunch and saw The Dark Knight, we took the metro up to the National Zoo. We got there around 6:00, knowing that the zoo closed at 8:00. After we got in, we discovered that all the indoor exhibits and gift shops had already closed for the day!

Luckily, we were able to sneak in to the panda exhibit before they locked the doors. The pandas are the main reason we went to the zoo anyway. Not many places you can see them in the U.S. And just look how cute they are!

This isn't a dead panda, just a sleeping one. I think.

This video shows one of the pandas kickin' back and munching away on some bamboo. It was really tearing into that stuff.


We also saw a cheetah...

... and a gator. That's about it.

Our last excursion for the weekend was the National Air and Space Museum. We weren't super excited for this museum but we figured we were here, so why not. There sure were a lot of excited little boys running around though.

The plane that the Wright brothers flew at Kitty Hawk. That's one thing about this museum, it was hard to tell if the planes and satellites were the real ones or just copies.

The Nazi's V-2 rocket from WWII.


I thought this was interesting. Apparently in the early days of air travel, you could buy airline trip insurance from vending machines. Seems reassuring...

The spacesuit that John Glenn wore into space.

The Apollo 11 suit that Buzz Aldrin wore on the moon. The dirt from the knees down is actually moon dust. Sure makes Glenn's suit seem pretty flimsy.

Charlie Lindbergh's famous Spirit of St. Louis.

And finally, as we left, we saw Sputnik, the first manmade object to be shot into space.

A Capitol Fourth

One of the exciting things about being in Washington, DC over the summer is experiencing the Independence Day festivities in our nation's capital. Kinsey and I did some research and found out it was best to get to the area of celebration extremely early. So, at 9:30 in the morning, we headed down to the National Mall for the Fourth of July parade.


McKinsey loves her some America!

The parade finally begins at 11:45.

The parade began with each division of the U.S. military sending out troops in all their formal garb.

These Revolutionary War enacters played a nice little tune on their flutes.

The Daughters of the American Revolution draped in a big ol' flag.

Here's a video of some very talented gents riding about on some old-timey bicycles.

For some reason, giant balloons of Underdog, Garfield, and Hello Kitty were in the parade. Don't ask me why. I guess if you giant balloons lying around you use them in every parade that you can.

The marching band from Alliance in my home state of Nebraska.

George Washington and Abraham Lincoln impersonators made their way on a patriotic float. Although the guy they had playing Washington seemed a little paunchy and Lincoln was a lot shorter than you'd think he'd be. You'd think for the Fourth of July in DC they could have shelled out a little extra cash for impersonators who actually looked like the people they're portraying.

A re-enactment of the Marines raising the American flag on Mt. Suribachi in Iwo Jima during WWII. I bet that guy in the back got tired of holding his arms up.

An actual holiday-appropriate giant balloon of Uncle Sam.

There was quite a multicultural theme to this parade, which seems appropriate for America. Different ethnic groups paraded, including ones from Mexico, the Phillipines, China, Taiwan, and, of course, some Hare Krishnas.

After the parade finished up, we took some time off to wander around the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and have an early dinner. Around 4:30, we headed up to the Capitol to get seats for the concert and fireworks.

As you can see, the Capitol lawn and National Mall are both getting quite full of people. And this was two hours before the concert was scheduled to start. The concert, which aired live on PBS, was disappointing. It featured Huey Lewis and the News (pretty good), American Idol winner Taylor Hicks (pretty crappy), classical star Hayley Westenra (decent), Broadway performer Brian Stokes Mitchell (not bad), and Jerry Lee Lewis (OK). But none of these performers sany any patriotic songs. Like Kinsey said, it was like going to a christmas concert and not hearing any christmas carols. The only patriotic songs were played by the National Symphony Orchestra during the fireworks.

Three disappointing things happened during our DC Fourth of July experience: One, it rained a lot. Two, I found out the fireworks setting on my camera sucks at taking pictures of fireworks. And three, my camera battery died. So I don't have a lot of pictures of the fireworks. Luckily, I was able to milk a little juice out of the battery to record the video above. The orchestra is playing the 1812 Overture and that smoke you see behind the concert shell is the cannon fire. Enjoy.

The Highly Anticipated "Art, Part 2"

Because of the vastness of its collection, the National Art Gallery is contained in two separate buildings. The West building (containing the classic art) we saw a couple weeks ago, which left the East building (the modern and contemporary art) for last week. To be honest, a lot of pre-modern art isn't my thing (it's more Kinsey's cup of tea), but the West building's collection really exceeded my expectations. Which set the bar really high for the National Gallery's modern and contemporary art.

The East building was designed by the modernist architect I.M. Pei with a very large central atrium. In this light filled space is one of the largest mobiles constructed by Alexander Calder.

Roof by Andy Goldsworthy - This installation by the nature-inspired artist is constructed by stacking slate into hollowed-out domes. Like all of his works, no adhesives were used.

Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist) by Jackson Pollock - This was by far the high point of the trip for me. I am a big Pollock fan. The depth and complexity he is able to convey through simple drips and splatters of paint amazes me.

Pollock often talked about being "in" his paintings and was a believer in serendipity. In the upper right hand corner of this picture there is a raisin that was dropped on the canvas.

Me, in deep thought.

Five Plates, Two Poles by Richard Serra - Serra was minimalist sculptor who worked primarily with steel. These are eight foot tall, two inch thick pieces of steel. The interesting thing to ponder is how Serra arranged these into a totally self supporting form. That's a lot of heavy steel.

No. 8 by Mark Rothko - I had always treated Rothko as a sort of experimenter with color. It turns out his "multiforms" are deeply laden with allegory and sensual revelations. Who'd have known?

Clarinet by Claes Oldenburg - These soft-sculpture pieces are always nice and whimsical.

200 Campbells Soup Cans by Andy Warhol - Everybody's favorite pop artist.

Circle I, Circle II, Circle III by David Smith - Who's that peeking out of that David Smith sculpture? Why, it's McKinsey!

Ghost by Rachel Whiteread - It takes a couple minutes to figure out what this sculpture is, so I'll give you a break to think about it . . . OK, ready? Its a plaster cast of the interior of a room. You can see the imprint of the door at the closest corner of the sculpture.

Walking Man II by Alberto Giacometti - These sculptors by Giacometti have an unsettling quality about them. They feel like they should be in a Tim Burton movie or something.
Jack-in-Pulpit Abstraction, No. 5 by Georgia O'Keeffe - I don't have much to say about Georgia O'Keeffe, but I figured I should put her on here because she is a somewhat famous artist.

La condition humaine by Rene Magritte - This piece provided a nice little bit of laughter at the art gallery. It provokes an interesting thought though. One assumes the scene outside the window is real and the landscape painting on the easel in front of it is a representation. But, in reality, they are both a representation because they are both a painting. Deep thoughts.

Improvisation 31 (Sea Battle) by Wassily Kandinsky - Kandinsky always interested me in the way his paintings seem to stem from whatever is floating around in his head. Which, if you look at the title of this work, is the reality.

Tableau No. IV; Lozenge Composition with Red, Gray, Blue, Yellow, and Black by Piet Mondrian - Mondrian's composition paintings were an important part of the De Stilj movement of the early 20th century, expressing the universal harmonies presiding in nature.

The Tragedy by Pablo Picasso - Symbolic of Picasso's blue period, which came before he delved into cubism.

Nude Woman by Pablo Picasso - Cubism, the style Picasso is most famous for.

The collection in the East building was a lot smaller than in the West. The high points were the Pollock, which I went back to three times, and the Goldsworthy exhibition. Not nearly as extensive as the West building collection and maybe, dare i say, a little underwhelming. But, overall, the National Art Gallery had a very impressive collection. Kudos.