In Washington DC just east of the new National baseball stadium they have upgraded the area recently.    The Department of Transportation m0ved their headquarters to SE and they have a “transportation walk”      On this walk they have plaques on significant first dealing with transportation and models of different modes and helpful items in transportation.

In the above pictures are plaques of Garrett Morgan, A Philip Randolph, and Robert Goddard.      Garrett Morgan is one of the first African American inventors that I know of and he invented the stoplight.     A Philip Randolph organized the porters working on trains during the 20′s.      And since I worked at Goddard Space Flight Center for 7 years during the 90′s I had to take a picture of Goddard who launched the first liquid fuel rocket.

Since I buy gas everyday I had to take pictures of these gas pumps that was popular many decades ago.     And for me the most important thing is the 42 cent price for gas.     Not 2.42 or 3.42  but just 42 cents.

Also in this area are walking paths from 4th street SE to below the Washington Navy Yard.     It also looks like they will extend the paths to the stadium but for now it is still under construction.

One final thing about this area is that there is a trapeze school based out of New York in this area.

A few months ago we had a RARE earthquake in the Washington DC area.    Just now the authorities that be is realizing that the damage to the Washington Monument was greater than originally estimated.      Below is a picture of 2 workers checking out the damage up close.     Very brave workers.

Today in the pouring rain people was walking for the Susan G Komen breast cancer walk.     The interesting thing that I saw were a few guys helping people cross the streets in pink skirts.

I wished I had some better pictures but it was raining hard and I was driving at the time.

Below from 4 years ago and some more manly examples of supporting breast cancer that I took at the Calgary Stampede

I was in Arlington Virginia today and I see that a lot of the skyscrapers have flags on them for the tenth anniversary of 9-11.      This first picture is of the Rosslyn with Iwo Jima in the foreground.

 

Here is another pic in downtown Rosslyn of multiple buildings displaying the flag.

The picture below is just up the road on Wilson Blvd in Clarendon

Finally if you are crossing over the 14th street bridge from Washington DC into Virginia there are minature flags every few feet along the walking/biking route.

 

This past weekend I went to New York City and we went to a lot of places that I never visited before.      The first place we went to was Roosevelt Island.     Roosevelt Island is on the East River between Manhattan and Queens.     There are a few ways to get there.     To get over there we took the tramway that you can get at 2nd Avenue and 59th street.      The views when you take the tram are great and it is only a  2 minute ride.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There isn’t much to do on the island if you are used to New York’s non-stop energy but it is pretty and there are a few stores and restaurants there.      Probably a few thousand people live on the island and some of the condos on the island are really nice looking.

The next place that we went to was Flushing.     I think Flushing is a huge area of Queens but the part that we saw looks like Chinatown.      We walked around many of the streets in the downtown area and I really like the area.     There must also get tourists there from  time to time because we saw a few hotels in the area.

We are in a mall in the picture above looking out at a main intersection in Brooklyn.

The next new area I went was the Jamaica section of Queens.     I have no pictures from here.     In this area there was many ethnics groups from many carribean and african countries.      Within a 3 walk I saw 3 guyanese restaurant and I have never seen this before.

The next to last place I want to talk about is a park in Manhattan called the high line.    The high line is an elevated park on the west side of manhattan from at least 23rd street down to 12 street.       The area of this park used to be railroad tracks that was elevated to be carried over the streets.     The tracks became ran down and eventually some people decided to make this an elevated park.      Of course I only know the cliff notes version of the history google or wikipedia the full history.

 

The last place I visited that is new to me was the bull on wall street.    I have been here many times but never saw the bull until now.     I got here around dusk on a holiday and the bull was surrounded by a ton of people but I able to get a decent shot of the bull.

For the second time in my life I have walked across the Brooklyn Bridge.    This time it was nightime and Teri was with me.    Another important difference this time was it was the labor day weekend instead of November so it was much warmer and much less wind.     Since it wasn’t cold many people was on the bridge this night.     It was fun walking across the bridge and even Teri liked even though the overall walk was longer than she would like.

As much as I drive I do not need for people in DC to follow the lead of this small parking lot I saw in NYC.     The sign speaks for itself.

This past Sunday we was planning to attend the ceremonies for the opening for the MLK Monument  in Washington DC.     However hurricane Irene had other ideas and the festivities was cancelled.      Fortuneately Irene did not hit the DC area as bad as feared even though it was bad enough.      However we was able to go down to the Tidal Basin area and see the new MLK statue and the artist did a great job.

The concept of the statue is the 2 stones in the back are mountains of despair and Dr King is in front surrounded by a stone of hope.

The statue of King is 30 feet tall and I personally think the details on the statue are great.

Surrounding the statue is a wall that have parts of the many speeches Dr King made pleading his case for peace.      For those who have been to Washington DC this wall is sorta similar to the Vietnam Memorial.

Well even though the main ceremony was cancelled which suck for the organizers we was fortunate to see the monument this Sunday and was glad we was able to see Washington newest monument.

My wife got me to go to Truckeroo and I was shocked at how packed it was at Truckeroo.    Truckeroo is a event where all of the food trucks of DC converge at one spot so the residents of DC can sample all of the different items in one central location.      This happens once a month.

Since it was so crowded I only went to 2 places.       One of the places was “that Cheesecake Place”      I love cheesecake and this place was good and the price wasn’t bad 4 dollars for a decent slice size.      The other place I went to was Red Hook Lobster truck.       This is probably one of the most crowded food truck both here and when they are on the streets of DC.      I had the Connecticut roll      This was great.      It is a warm lobster sandwich made with butter with super soft bed that is warm.       It was worth the 15 bucks even though I won’t repeatedly spend 15 bucks for this since this is expensive.

I didn’t take many pictures at Truckeroo but I have taken pictures of the different food trucks when I see them in DC.       The DC area is probably a late arrival in the food truck scene.       The pictures below are trucks that was at truckeroo that I have spotted around DC with the Red Hook Lobster truck being the first one.

This is Takorean and they had a huge line at Truckeroo

The feeling Crabby truck

The eat wonky truck which I pointed Teri to since they served poutine

the sauca truck

Curbside Cupcakes.   One of the most popular food trucks in DC since DC has a huge cupcake market

Sabor street serve different latin dishes

After living here all of my life I finally made it to Arlington National Cemetery.    Of course the day we decide to go the temperature is over 95 degrees.    Things to my wife she pointed out  a tour via DC’s tourmobile that will take you around the main highlights that is $8.50.     If not one of three things would have happened.     We would have seen very little of the huge cemetery,   she would have left me see the cemetery by myself, or I would have passed out.    Of course all three things could have happened as well.     First thing I want to mention is when you visit the cemetery alot of times you are on a hill and you have just great views of Washington DC.

The last picture is the Tomb of the Unknown soldier with DC in the background.     This symbolic tomb representing all of the soldiers who remains couldn’t be identified is guarded 24/7 with a changing of the guard every 30 minutes.

Many famous politicians and military heroes are buried here including a few former justices of the supreme court.     The first African American Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall is buried here.

At Arlington Cemetery they have plagues dedicated to both of the shuttle rockets that were destroyed in flight.     I remember both of them when they happened, I was still at the University of Maryland when the Challenger blew up in 1986 and Columbia crash in landing on my birthday on feb 1 2003.

At Arlington they have many tributes and we was only able to see just a few of them.    Below is a huge statue dedicated to the Canadians who died in both WWI and WWII

These next set of pictures is of the huge amphitheater that is used for official events and it is right behind the Tomb of the Unknown soldier.

Finally the last area I want to talk about is the John F Kennedy gravesite.      This is one of the most visited areas in the cemetery.      Both him and Jackie Kennedy are buried side by side and there is an eternal flame at their graves.

At the top of the hill in this picture is the Lee mansion.    Since Lee was the head of the southern troops who wanted to keep me enslaved I could care less about him but let me do a super quick summery.       Somehow is related to George Washington through marriage, when the South and Virginia broke away from the Union Lee had to abandon his house.      The federal government took control it and this piece of property was helpful in the defense of Washington DC during the war.     And sometime after the war this area was turned into the cemetery that you see now.     Of course for more detailed and probably factual info on this go to your buddies google and wickapedia.       The last picture is by the Kennedy gravesite and it is the end of the Kennedy’s inauguaration speech.      Sorry that I cut off some of it when I took the pic but the very hot heat was getting to me.