WASHINGTON DC

     We spent the night in Stafford, Virginia with Debby's cousin and her family.   Lisa and John are two of  the kindest people we know. It is wonderful getting to spend  time with them as we travel.
     We were up early this morning getting ready to spend the day in DC, our nations' Capitol. After downing a cup of Lisa's French pressed coffee, we drove a short distance up the road and caught a morning commuter train to DC. It was great not having to deal with DC rush hour traffic and trying to find parking places around the Mall.
     We pulled into Union Station around 9:00 and began walking.  Ron and Nancy had secured our place in the Capitol's guided tour so we had to be there at 10:00 for that. Time enough to indulge at Starbucks!  So we did!

View of DC from Clock Tower.  Beautiful gardens on building tops!

  Our first stop was to view the U.S.Constitution, The Bill of Rights and the 800 year old Magna Carta in the Archives building. After that a visit to the OLD POST OFFICE and a trip up to see DC from the Clock Tower. Yea!!  No waiting!!   

There were so many places to see!  I doubt if we spent a month there that we would see it all!  But one thing we DIDN'T expect to see we're people from within our own friendship circle of Metro Church of Christ in OREGON!  It was that Cathy &Terry Gilmore couple from LaPine!  We met for lunch, swapped stories and then went our separate ways.

Terry & Cathy, Flat Stanley, Debby & Mike

  
     I had been to The Wall before.  Seeing the thousands of names etched onto the black Granite is a moving experience. The names enscribed are listed in order of dead or missing. There are only a few names on each end; but the closer to center you get, the greater the number becomes, thus the taller the Granite slabs are.

Remembering MICHAEL R CONNER

   I spent some time looking at the name of MICHAEL RAY CONNER, a friend, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who died when his EC-47 was shot down in May 1970. He was a little younger than me.  We were stationed together in Germany; went through survival school together and ran around together in Texas.  He left behind a young wife and a baby son whom they named Michael, after his father.

 Hard times for families left empty when their sons and husbands die on battlefields. Also hard on old timers who go back to The Wall and remember their friends.