Thursday, April 11

We arrived at Carolyn and Chris Groobey's house around 8:30 PM. They have an immense and beautiful house in a new development in Arlington just across the Potomac River from DC. We arrived when only the cleaning woman was in the house as Carolyn was flying in later from New Jersey and Chris was working late. We showed ourselves around the house a little. Their house has four floors, huge windows throughout, and a beautiful view of the river and DC on each of its two back balconies. Their magnificant house is a row château! Eric put it in a class with our house–the only two houses in that class–even though it had no toys and it didn't have a legacy of being his "home".

Chris arrived home an hour later and we chatted with him until late into the night. Carolyn didn't arrive until past midnight; we'd already gone to bed.
 

Friday, April 12

Carolyn was up and gone before we woke. Her 7:30 AM meeting was in jeopardy when she discovered her car battery was dead. A cab got CAB to work on time. Perhaps being a McKinsey consultant isn't as cushy a job as we thought.

We made the short walk from the Groobey mansion to a subway stop and rode into the Mall area. The subway exit was across the street from the IRS building. Being just three days away from April 15, we all shook our fists and cussed out the building and what it represented–only partly in jest.

Our first sightseeing site was the FBI building. We had hoped to take a full tour but the wait was too long (a couple of hours). We opted instead to wait 30 minutes and take just the back end of the tour, the firearms demonstration. A special agent demonstrated firing a revolver, a semi-automatic handgun, and a machine gun. One could feel the power of these weapons through the Plexiglas separating us from the firing range. We could appreciate how that sense of power is extremely attractive to gun owners. It's why gun control arguments are so passionate. It's not about whether or not private ownership of guns of any or all kinds are constitutionally protected. That is an intellectual, historical, and legal question. Such questions don't arouse the emotions of masses like discussions on gun control. For gun owners, gun control is about feelings. Take my gun? Take my power? Take my life–or try to.

For those who want gun control, it's about lowering the level of power in general; lowering the ability and likelihood of power being intentionally or unintentionally misused. If those likelihoods are reduced, one's need for power, particularly with respect to defense or security, is also reduced.

Gun control arguments are about a basic human need–security–and two fundamentally different approaches to get them met. Increasing personal power to increase security and decreasing the personal power of others that may threaten one's own security.

From the FBI building, we crossed Pennsylvania Avenue to the Old Post Office building and met with Steve, Tami (née Sandercock), and seven month old Andy Holsten for lunch. They've only recently moved to DC from Los Angeles. Just a few months earlier they had visited us in North Carolina.

After an emotional reunion and lunch in the crowded food court, we took the elevator to the top of the Old Post Office tower–the second highest observation point in DC (after the Washington Monument). Tami and Andy stayed below, the latter desiring a diaper change and feeding. The Old Post Office is directly across the street from Carolyn's office building, but we didn't venture there since her work was especially pressing of late. She said later we could have met up with her–drat! From the top of the tower we picked out many of the Washington landmarks including the National Cathedral which is a short walk from the Holsten's apartment. Steve had worked in DC many years ago on a congressional staff so he is familiar with the area. We took the stairs down to the Congress Bells housed in the tower. These bells, replicas of those in London's Westminster Abbey, were presented to Congress by a private British foundation in honor of our nation's bicentennial. (A reward from them for kicking their butt?) After our look-see, we de-elevated the rest of the way to ground level.

Next stop was the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. In brilliant sunshine we casually crossed the Mall, lively with tourists, kite fliers, and joggers. We wandered around in the Air and Space Museum spending time in front of the rockets, spaceships, and aircraft that most caught our eyes. Eric is interested in the Hindenburg disaster so we sought out a display Curt remembered from an earlier visit. Unfortunately, the display no longer exists and the only Hindenburg item is an eight foot model replica of the airship. No pictures or films of its fiery demise, no playback of announcer Herb Morrison's, "Oh, the humanity!" broadcast. (Shortly after returning to NC, we ordered a videotape on the Hindenburg disaster produced by The History Channel.) We took in a movie about space exploration in the IMAX theater. Though it contained incredible, enthralling footage taken on the space shuttle's orbiter, from satellites, of launches, and of computer simulations, Andy and Eric both napped during it.

We said our temporary good-byes to the Holstens, we'd see them again in a few days, then headed to the Jefferson Memorial. The weather was gorgeous and the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. The Memorial, for the first time in a long time, was free of scaffolding. We rented a paddle boat and worked our way all around the tidal basin, taking in Jefferson from different angles and lighting. Eric frequently urged us to go further away from the landing docks. We needed a fresh set of legs.

After paddling, we downed a few lemonades and walked along the edge of the tidal basin to the Jefferson Memorial for a brief visit to pay homage to our friend TJ, then we moved on to the Mall where we headed to the Lincoln Memorial. Just before reaching Lincoln, we came across the Korean War Veterans Memorial. It was our first visit there. During the three year Korean War, more than 56,000 U.S. military personnel lost their lives, 8,000 were listed missing in action and 103,000 were wounded. These numbers are remarkably similar to those of the ten year Vietnam War; 58,000 killed, 2,100 MIAs, 153,000 wounded. The Korean War memorial was built in 1991 based on a design developed by a group of architects from State College, Pennsylvania. The Memorial has two components, a Pool of Remembrance and a triangular Field of Service. The latter has 19 larger than life stainless steel ground troopers advancing towards a flag and a polished granite wall etched with 2,500 faces taken from archival photographs. We would have liked to linger longer but Eric had an urgent call from his bladder.

We briefly visited the Lincoln Memorial. It now is under scaffolding to repair its stairs and some of the interior. The Lincoln was only completed in 1922, the Jefferson about a decade later. They don't make monuments to last like they used to.

One of the things that struck us during our day's touring was the behavior of the youths we saw. There were quite a few school groups touring the Mall area. The teens we saw, especially the males, dressed, walked, acted, and wore their hair in very similar ways. It seemed everything they did or said was geared to achieving peer approval. Little else seemed to matter. They would act in ways to risk damaging property or themselves if they thought it would raise their approval level in the eyes of their peers. It's a little frightening. The universe of these young people seems to consist of other young people putting on a front of being "different" (from other universes) and a little "weird". Their goal is to be acclaimed by these peers by being different and weird in a similar, though perhaps more extreme manner. It may seem that every generation goes through this, perhaps they do to some degree. We suspect there is a physiological component to this but we also suspect that what brings that component into bold realization is poor parenting practices. It's not unlike the commonly accepted notion of growing children passing through the "terrible twos". That is an ill-fitting label applied by ignorant adults to excuse neglectful parenting of two and pre-two year olds. Two year olds have a need to differentiate themselves, to individuate, and explore boundaries but the ways in which they do that are a direct function of what they learned and felt as a pre-two year old. We don't believe teenagers have to act in the ways we saw these teens act, just as we don't believe all two year olds go through a terrible period.

From Lincoln, we took a tiring uphill hike to a Metro station and returned to the Groobey villa. Carolyn was home and Chris arrived a short while later. We called out for some excellent Indian food and exchanged belated end-of-year and wedding presents.
 

Saturday, April 13

In the morning, Carolyn and Chris ran some errands before Chris went into the office. These guys work killer hours. We hung around the Groobey palace until their errands were finished so we could spend the day with Carolyn. She drove the four of us in her convertible, with the roof down, in glorious weather.

When we spend DC days with Carolyn, we like to find things to do that she hasn't already done. That's not easy given that she's lived in DC in two stints spanning about seven years. This time we went to the Washington Navy Yard. It's a surprisingly wonderful place to visit! It exceeded our expectations and our time allotted to it. We left after three hours as it was approaching closing time and we were hungry. We plan on returning since we didn't see all we wanted.

We started our visit with a tour of a retired anti-submarine ship. The ship was used from the late 50's to the early 80's. It's amazing how the leading edge technology of a few years ago has gotten so dated. There's a dilemma. You want to build a high-tech ship or plane or whatever that costs millions or billions of dollars and takes years to design and develop. Within a few years, perhaps even before its construction is completed, the technology in it is "old".

We passed through barely pausing at the outdoor exhibits of cannons, vehicles, and weaponry to visit the Navy Museum.

The DC Navy Museum was the most interesting Navy Museum we'd ever visited. Housed in a cavernous workshop of a former gun factory, the museum has a wide variety of displays including many hands-on exhibits that convey the history of the US Navy since the Revolutionary War. We looked through some periscopes to see Carolyn's car in the parking lot. There were submarine steering wheels, handles, and cranks to turn and sirens to sound. There were replicas of portions of 18th century boats to go on and (pretend) fire their cannons. There were anti-aircraft gun mounts to sit on and we raised and lowered their guns. We saw and touched replicas of the casings of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan, the "Fat Man" and "Little Boy". We took turns climbing into a spherical deep sea submersible (the bathyscaphe Trieste, which carried two men nearly seven miles underwater in 1960), and a space capsule. The Museum included the fighting top of the USS Constitution, a wing fragment from a kamikaze plane that crashed into a US battleship during W.W.II, and a recording of FDR announcing the malicious and deliberate Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.

When we re-visit the Navy Shipyard, we hope to see more of the Navy Museum as well as the Naval Art Museum, a US Marines Museum, the Navy Museum annex, and the outdoor exhibits.

By 4:00 we were famished because we lacked lunch. We headed back to Arlington and ate at a Taco Bell. We did some grocery shopping for dinner and then headed home. We had a wonderful evening together! Eric thoroughly enjoyed a whirlpool bubble bath (with bubbles we brought Chris and Carolyn from France). Carolyn pointed out that you can see the Washington Monument in her bathroom mirror reflected from a mirror across the room near the window.

After a late dinner and an even later bedtime for Eric, we looked through Carolyn and Chris's honeymoon photos from Thailand and Carolyn regaled us with stories of their three weeks of adventures. Now there's another place we are tempted to visit. Carolyn and Chris got us a Thai cookbook and typical Thai ingredients that will whet our appetites even more. When we finally went to bed it was after 1:00 AM. Chris would not be home for another five hours! (Did I say they work killer hours?)
 

Sunday, April 14

Eric and Curt rose early and wandered the neighborhood, checking out the cars, the construction work in progress, and the hiking path between the Potomac and the Groobey residence.

Though he only had a few hours sleep, Chris was up as early as the rest of us, pumped from having completed his work the night before (actually the morning of). Sunday is Chris and Carolyn's day to spend together so we left to tour on our own. We had hoped to tour with the Holstens, but our late start conflicted with Andy's nap time. We changed our plans to tour alone then hook up with the Holstens later in the day.

Our first stop was the monumental Union Station–and just in time for lunch. When completed in 1907, it was the largest train station in the world at 760ft by 344ft. It contains a food court not unlike the one in the Old Post Office. Here, as there, we found some Indian food for lunch.

A short distance from Union Station is the Capital Children's Museum. Indeed they are so close we parked at the latter and walked between them. We'd been at this museum with Eric and his Amie Carolyn a couple years ago. Not much has changed in it so we were able to focus on the highlights and what we missed last time. We played with, in or on huge bubbles, mazes, a bus, a firetruck, sewers, caves, cartoons, block houses, a motorcycle, Thailand, and Mexico. These last two areas convey something of the lifestyles of people in those countries. We made artwork in Thailand and made cornmeal chips, hot chocolate, and a wax medallion of a car (guess who chose the subject?) in Mexico.

From the Museum we drove to the Holsten's apartment, just a few blocks from the National Cathedral. Eric fell asleep on the drive there and Andy was napping when we arrived. We used the quiet time to visit and flip through some of Tami and Steve's photo albums. We didn't get through even half their albums, focusing on albums of their wedding, pregnancy travels, Steve's schooling in Oxford, and their trip to China.

After Eric and Andy woke, we all played awhile. Eric did some long jumping from the sofa. He usually doesn't make himself at home in that way however there may be something about this sofa. It's the same one from which he jumped when we visited Tami and Steve two years ago in Los Angeles. Steve and Andy did an acrobatic routine in which Andy stands in Steve's hand, and Steve lifts and balances him. Seven month old Andy is a study of concentration when he does this act.

Tami and Steve are wonderful parents. In our opinion, the two most important parenting practices, important to the total health of a child, are providing in-arms experiences (nearly continuous holding) and breast nurturing. Tami and Steve are providing both (well, Steve is not providing the latter but he helps enable it). From birth, in the only ways he knew how, Andy asked for both of these. Tami and Steve responded with them. Andy is flourishing with their love. It's a sight to see.

That evening, we dined at an Ethiopian restaurant in Georgetown. Because of our numbers, we drove two cars. After dinner we split up briefly so we could retrieve our belongings from the House of Groobey while Tami and Steve took Andy home. We said our good-byes to the Groobeys then settled down for the night with the Holstens. Two especially memorable treats. First, we partook of some of Tami's banana bread. A vegan specialty she bakes whenever we visit. Second, we watched two coat commercials filmed in China for a Chinese audience. Their appeal to us? Tami starred in them!
 

Monday, April 15

Steve left early for a job interview and Curt left shortly thereafter and bussed into the downtown area. He had hoped to attend a Supreme Court session. After waiting far back in a long line, Curt decided to give up a minuscule chance of sitting through an entire argument before the Court and jumped to the "three minute" line. In a few minutes, Curt was inside listening to the last of the closing arguments being made by the state of Washington in a case regarding political funding. In the three minutes he heard, Justice Scalia showed his sarcastic wit, Justice Ginsberg demonstrated her attention to detail, and Justice Rehnquist asked simple, clarifying questions.

From the Supreme Court, Curt walked next door to the Library of Congress and took a tour of the Jefferson building which ended with the colossal Main Reading Room. He also whisked through a temporary exhibit on books from Dresden.

After busing back to the Holsten's, the five of us went grocery shopping and lunching (Steve didn't join us as he had a golf date with his sister-in-law following his job interview). We said our final good-byes for the vacation and left DC shortly thereafter.

Grocery shopping, which we did twice on this short trip, doesn't sound like much fun, but it isn't what you do as much as who you do it with. This trip, spending so much time with loved ones that we see far too infrequently, was exhilarating, uplifting, and also a little sad. Spending time with Carolyn and Tami, basking in that pleasure, reminded us that we used to be able to do that quite often; monthly, weekly, even daily. That's no longer the case. Now "often" is measured in multiple months.
 

© 1999 frantzs@geocities.com