Today I went into "work" for 2 hours, to finish some training I've been getting the last 2 days, for when I officially start my job on November 8th.
Which means I basically spent the last 3 days learning things I will most definitely have forgotten in 2 weeks when I need to remember it all again.
It made me feel the need for some good exploration before I settle down into being a normal person again, wanting nothing to do having fun and enjoying the city. Luckily, my new friend Jillian understood my restlessness and offered the idea of visiting some of the Capitol's monuments at night.
Turns out, I like the monuments best at night.
They really have their moment in the spotlight at night - quite literally. It was gorgeous walking around the National Mall, seeing all the monuments lit up and shining in every direction. It felt so safe and inviting. Despite the chilly night and a rather cold nose, it was a great outing.
As we walked along the really long reflection pool between the WWII monument and the Lincoln Memorial, friend Jillian reminded me of the scene in Forrest Gump, when the girl runs through the pond while Forrest is speaking at a rally. I considered that it seemed like a great experience to have, so I decided to walk through the pond as well toward the Lincoln Memorial. I looked around - it was dark, and there were no guards, or anyone in general, to yell at me to get out, and Jillian and I stepped over the side, into the pool and made our way to the other end.
Oddly enough, the pool, which is usually quite full, was half-drained, with mud along the edges. So, if you want to a stickler, I suppose we didn't really relive the scene from Forrest Gump. We just walked along the dry edges, next to the mud. We weren't really sure why it was empty like that, but we seized the opportunity it created, so we could say that we walked through the reflection pool - something most people don't do, you know, since you can't. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be allowed on a normal, completely-full-pool day. At least, it wouldn't be looked highly upon. But when was the last time I cared about doing things people might look down on me for? (oh yeah, that's right, just this morning, actually...oh well.)
Before the pool, though, we walked around part of the WWII memorial, and I noted all the states that I had some connection with, direct or indirect, and bored J. with my random notes of reference for the various places. We did stop and check out Wisconsin's spot, but then moved hastily on when we realized spiders were dangling on the wreath, waiting to dive-bomb us. Gross.
We checked out the Lincoln Memorial, which is much less crowded on a chilled Friday evening than on a warm Saturday afternoon - go figure - and I enjoyed the space I had to move around and really look at the place.
Then we made our way to the Vietnam Memorial, where we passed a guy who had just found someone and was starting to break down in sobs. It broke my heart a little bit, but at the same time, I was glad this was here for him to find even just the name to connect with for a few minutes. We moved on to the Korean War Memorial after, which is really cool and pretty normally, but late at night, close to Halloween, it's actually a little eerie. The carvings on the Memorial kind of look like ghosts, and the statues of the soldiers marching on were a little creepy in the dark. But it was an interesting place to walk around.
But by now, it was a little after 11pm, and we decided it was time to make our way home. After getting lost while trying to find a parking spot - any parking spot! - around the Mall, and inadvertently leaving the area all together before making it back, it had felt like we'd been there for awhile, and despite feeling rather safe here (even if, at the heart of the matter, I was still a little white girl walking around the middle of a rather large, dark city), we thought 11:15 at night seemed like a good time to leave.
As we left, we saw tents that were being set up nearby. There's always something going on Saturdays at the Mall, but we were intrigued about what this specifically was. As we got to a light, I saw giant signs on a few tents, marking the spots for "BIKES," "LADIES," and "MEDICAL." My first thought was, maybe there's a triathlon going on here? J agreed it could be, but questioned where they would swim.
The half-full reflection pool seemed the only logical choice to me. It's not very deep at all, but those turtles and crocodile-looking tree stumps may slow your progress down. Not to mention all the mud caking the edges of the receding waters to keep you from escaping the waters easily. Good luck with that, swimmers...
I'll have to look up what awesome event with bikes we're missing tomorrow. But as for next weekend, I can tell you what I'll be enjoying down at the Mall - with all the logic and practicality I have, I will be calmly and thoughtfully enjoying Jon Stewart's "Rally to Restore Sanity." This is a campaign I fully support, since I generally live sanely and require an ability to act sanely from those I associate with, as a rule. Ironically, I anticipate a quite insane crowd to gather for this - and I'm excited to experience it! Of course, if the sanity is a little too boring, I'll just leave and step on over to Stephen Colbert's "March to Keep Fear Alive." It will be Halloween weekend, after all - you'd be hardset to chase fear away that weekend anyway.
And that, my friends, is why I moved to DC. To enjoy the Capitol of our country, in every light, aspect, and rally that I can!
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