Yes, lots of photo-free posts from me lately. Haven’t been much in the photo-taking mood despite having lots of things I should photograph. Things like all the FOs I have stacked on my desk at home, our newly cleaned and organized basement, or all the places we went while my parents were visiting the past few days. But, it’s okay, I’ll flood the blog with photos when I get my photo mojo back, even if I have to force myself to get back into it.
My parents have been here since Wednesday afternoon, having taken advantage of frequent flyer miles and the high volume of flights from Florida to the DC area. I thought they were coming Thursday but found out, via a comment my mom made on Facebook, that they were actually coming a day earlier. Oops! Lots of running around Tuesday to get the place cleaned up and a little coercing of my work schedule meant we were eventually prepared for their arrival. I took off half of Thursday and all of Friday and yesterday to spent some time with them. We’ve done quite a lot yet not much, all at the same time. I got to play tourist in my own backyard and celebrated the warmer temperatures by donning a tank top and shorts for the first time this year. We dragged my poor parents all over but here’s the highlights.
Glen Echo Park/Clara Barton House
It used to be an amusement park so there’s still a giant Popcorn concession stand, bumper car area, a hand-carved wooden carousel, a now-drained swimming area called the Crystal Pond, and a bunch of yurts. The park service bought the park in the 70s and now you’ll find artists selling their wears in the yurts, a photography gallery in the concession stand, a single streetcar permanently parked on the remaining 30 feet of tracks, and a carousel that only runs on weekends, and an overall odd feeling that you’re about to run into Jason from the Halloween movies. Okay, maybe that’s a bit extreme but it was like we were in a place where the people all suddenly went missing. We did go on a Thursday afternoon and we weren’t the only people there but, yeah, I was creeped out beyond belief. I’d recommend going on a weekend to avoid the eerie factor. It’d be great for little kids and only costs $5 (on days they bother to man the gate).
Technically outside of the park is the Clara Barton House. Yes, the Clara Barton of Red Cross fame. She was quite the woman – opened the first public school in New Jersey, treated wounded soldiers during the civil war with zero medical training, and convinced the US to join the International Red Cross (in addition to convincing the IRC they should add natural disasters, not just war support, to their mission). Your visit consists of a tour of her home, designed after a Red Cross “hotel,” which was used not just for her and volunteers to live in but also a storage sight. I loved that all the hallways had giant storage lockers built into them – no lack of closets there! Tours run every hour or so and last 45 minutes. No AC but it’s worth suffering through. Find it just to the right after you enter Glen Echo Park.
National Museum of American History
The museum recently reopened after being closed for some time due to renovations. I never went before so I can’t tell you if things have improved, but I can state that the museum seems very friendly to visitors of all ages and backgrounds (they pay careful attention to the politics of their displays). It’s arranged by categories: Science and Technology, Arts and Culture, Transportation, etc. I really enjoyed the Science and Technology section which really shouldn’t surprise anyone. Matt, on the other hand, was into the “real” history portions, especially the one on the history of American wars. The museum is free, takes about three hours to walk through, has the usual high quality Smithsonian signage/layout/design, and has a lot of, well, great American History pieces. As with anything free in DC, get there early to avoid crowds though we didn’t find many on a Saturday morning in the summer (though we did skip the 45 minute wait to see the First Ladies’ dresses).
This wasn’t our first time visiting Larriland this season. Last time Matt and I spent an hour and a half picking nearly 10 poudns of black raspberries (which are now 21 jars of jam and 5 pounds of frozen berries to be consumed later). Matt wanted more berries so we headed up Friday morning to pick purple raspberries. Except we didn’t pay attention and wound up picking red ones, instead. No big deal. Thirty minutes in the slightly more picked-over bushes yielded about five pounds of berries (all four of us picked, I should state). Larriland has all sorts of berries and other fruits and veggies avilable, mostly in the sumer months. They have excellent prices, well-maintained fields, and friendly staff. Very much worth the 90 minute drive from DC. (Call them just before you head up to ensure they still have want you’re looking for available to pick.)
