Exploring on the Fourth of July!

With the office closed on the Fourth of July, I took a day to explore my new (temporary) home with the 800,000 other visitors in the capital.  Immediately, just outside my building, one of the corner units in a string of row houses displayed their gratitude to the armed forces with flags hanging, "Sweet Home Alabama" playing, and libations ready to be enjoyed.

A bag of cherries (from Washington State, no less) and some other provisions in hand, I made my way down to the Federal Triangle metro station and strolled along Pennsylvania Avenue in search of patriotic scenes to photograph, words of inspiration from famous thinkers, and glimpses of all the big-ticket DC attractions.

Much of the Mall was closed for the holiday, presumably for security reasons, so I made mental notes to return to many of the attractions when Rhett comes to visit.  However, I still got to wander around the eastern edge of the district, along the Potomac, around the tidal basin, and to some of the southernmost memorials.  I stopped at Lincoln's feet, which would later be swarming with Americans and non-Americans of all kinds (I saw women in hijabs, a man with a shirt printed with marijuana leaves, people in wheelchairs, traditional garb from Africa and India, babies and the elderly, even a church choir singing about freedom).

Along the banks of the river were chains of boats linked together with people enjoying the sunshine and their freedom... a band played reggae and advocated for drug law reform... couples paddled lazily in rented boats...

I rested for a couple of hours in the shade beneath
the Jefferson Memorial, snacked on my picnic lunch, and basked in the tranquility of the scene. Despite being the perfect place to watch the fireworks, the memorial was dotted by only a scattered few. The long walk likely deterred many visitors, but I relished the opportunity to sit on the huge stone steps and wait for a lazy puff of breeze to float by.

Inscribed in the marble walls surrounding Thomas Jefferson's bronze likeness are some of the words he wrote. I wonder if he knew whether his promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness would be defended in the worst of wars, be invoked by doers of good and of evil, be broken and resurrected, or be the model of a righteous society two centuries after his death.