#60 Night Bus Tour

#60 Night Bus Tour

Wednesday October 2, 2019

We boarded the bus at 6 pm with some apprehension after our day tour. Daytime temperature rose to the mid-90s.  That means even after the sun goes down it is still HOT.  Our tour guide John appeared extremely knowledgeable and offered lots of interesting information. Carl are driver skillfully maneuvered through the hot night and other tour buses.

We arrived at the Capitol building just as the setting sun reflected off its white sides. By turning 180 degrees and looking down the National Mall, the sun back lit the Washington Monument. Gorgeous!

Darkness had fallen by the time we reached the Jefferson Memorial. Our last time in town this was under construction and closed.  The outside is still getting repairs, but the inside was available.  I used an elevator to reach the statue and noticed several exhibits on the lower levels that looked interesting to explore. If we ever get back here, we will spend more time here.

Back on the bus we drove to the Franklin D Roosevelt Memorial.  We didn’t even know this one existed. Derrille remembered that FDR didn’t want a big memorial, but someone thought he deserved it.  This wonderful memorial was poorly lit, and we viewed things with flashlights and cell phone lights. Our guide was full of information about FDR and his family. We found it to be impressive and would have like to spend time there during the day. 

From FDR we walked along the Tidal Basin walkway to the MLK monument.  WE needed to be watchful for mud, puddles, and night bike riders.   The Jefferson Memorial shone through the night across the basin.

The monument of Martin Luther King Jr. is actually higher than the Congress building…which is a no-no.  So they get around it by saying he is an unfinished statue and therefore…a relief structure. I found it a powerful memorial.  His words fill the back walls.  Part of the memorial are two large concrete mountains behind King to represent the Mountains of Despair.  I apparently didn’t get a shot of those.

Now we are back on the cool bus…..and traveling to the Korea Memorial which could use some better lighting.  Even in limited lighting, I find this one particularly impressive.  My brother-in-law Roger served in the Korean War.

From here we walked to the Lincoln Memorial. I was too heat beat to climb the stairs or look for the elevator, so I sat down and enjoyed the Reflecting Pool view from here.

A short walk from Lincoln puts you at the Vietnam Memorial. I found a high school classmates name on the wall.  I was looking for his name, and it was too dark to get a good photo of the black wall itself.  It was as impressive as our first visit.

Carl drove us down the mall to The World War II Memorial. This is one of our favorites, but I was too hot and tired to get off the bus.  Derrille took these great shots.

This concluded our tour so our driver could get us back by 11 pm.  Even with the extreme heat, we really enjoyed this tour.  So glad we went!

Tomorrow:  The Air and Space Museum at Chantilly, VA