Walkabout With Wheels Blog: A Mashup of Washington, D.C. Visits

This final post on Washington, D.C. is a mashup of our trips into the Capital City.

Eric and I took the train into Washington, D.C. from Largo Town Center

Metro Station in Largo, Maryland.

Our favorite metro artwork

is this Weimaraner Astronaut

at L'Enfant Plaza Metro
Station.

The long escalator ride to the

surface from the underground

Metro Center Station.

Watching the city "wake up."

The US Capitol, just after
dawn

Eric and I arrived in Washington, D.C. early for our tour at the Bureau of Engraving & Printing.

This Police Horse commutes

to his assignments.

Because of a warmer than usual winter, the initial estimate for peak bloom was mid March. An arctic blast with freezing rain blanketed Washington, D.C. and the Cherry Trees when they were full of flower buds. There was concern about damage to the trees. Cherry Bloom watchers expected a less than robust bloom this year.

Eric and I didn't expect to see the Cherry Trees in bloom in early April.

Eric & I were very happy to
see the Cherry Trees in
bloom in early April.

Eric & the Cherry

Blossoms

Man with a Briefcase & a

colorful Vaquero on a

bucking bronco at the

Smithsonian American

Art Museum

BIG BUS USA is one of

several tour bus companies

that take tourists around

Washington, D.C.

The Carousel adjacent to
The National Mall

Headquarters of the

United States Postal

Service

My Dad worked at the Albany, New York Post Office for many years.

The Smithsonian Arts &

Industries Building is

closed for renovations.

My favorites from The Sculpture Garden:

Graft by Roxy Paine

reminds me of a

Live Oak Tree.

Four-Sided Pyramid

by Sol LeWitt

Dr. Benjamin F. Stephenson & the

army he founded are commemorated

at 7th & C Streets, NW by the

Grand Army of the Republic

(Dr. Benjamin F. Stephenson)

Memorial.

I caught this shot of a train
traveling through
Washington, D.C.

I assumed, wrongly, that
all train lines skirt the
city or are underground.

I like the shape & colors
of this building.

The Treasury Department
Building

The Washington DC Hotel

The General Sherman Memorial
is near where visitors line up
to tour the White House.

The White House

A motorcade zooms past us
near the Washington
Monument.

As the President was out of

town, Eric & I think this is the

Vice President's motorcade.

A beautifully kept building
with a clock & a corner
front entrance

Blair House was purchased by

the government in 1942 as a
guest house for visiting
diplomats.

Winston Churchill, England's Prime Minister, was a frequent guest here during World War II. Kings, Queens, Prime Ministers, Amirs, Presidents and former US Presidents stayed at Blair House during visits to Washington, D.C.

In 1947, an inspection at the White House showed that sections of the building were unstable. The situation progressed, and in 1948, President Harry S. Truman and his family moved to Blair House and lived here until 1952 while major renovations at White House were undergoing.

On November 1, 1950, two Puerto Rican nationalists, Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresolo, approached Blair House, armed with guns, and attempted to gain entry. A gun battle erupted with three White House Guards. President Truman, who was upstairs, went to the front window and looked out to see Collazo on the front steps. A guard yelled him to take cover and the President did.

Three White House guards were wounded in the assault. Griselio Torresolo was shot in the head and killed. Oscar Collazo was sentenced to death for his attempt to assassinate President Truman. In 1952, two weeks before the scheduled execution, President Truman commuted his sentence to life in prison.