We started the day by going to the 9 am church meeting at the Capitol Hill Ward. And, since it was Memorial weekend, it was jam-flipping-packed. We all got to sit together, which was honestly shocking. (I’m telling you, it was a lucky day.)
And because there were so many people, the entire meeting was taken up with the Sacrament. Literally a Sacrament Meeting. They had to bless the water three times to make sure that everyone who wanted it got it.
At the end, the Bishop got up, bore his testimony (and he mentioned that he had never seen so many people in the ward before) and that was the end of the meeting. It was nuts. And really cool too.
Afterwards, we headed back to the car, everyone changed their clothes, except me. I stayed in my dress, it was comfy and cool (temperature-wise and awesome-wise 🤓). And then we headed off to go use our Washington Monument tickets from yesterday.
As we started driving down toward the mall, there were police blockades EVERYWHERE. So, we drove and around and after we had been turned back several times, we just pulled into a parking garage that happened to be right next to us and parked the car. Then we started to walk toward the Washington Monument. And it turned out that our parking garage was actually about as close to the Mall as it was possible to get on this day. Again, super lucky.
We started walking and we were shocked by how quiet everything was: there were no food trucks, no cars parked in the vicinity, and there were very few people walking around. It was kinda eerie, and honestly kinda nice too, it wasn’t quite so people-y.
We got to the Washington Monument, and I went and talked to the Rangers on duty, explaining the situation. And they were able to get us in right away because they weren’t very busy. Again, super lucky. We think that a lot of people weren’t able to make their tour times or were completely deterred from coming to the Mall because of all the Police Blockades.
So, we went through the TSA security screening and got in the elevator. It takes you 500 feet in the air, and is a 70 second ride to get to the observation floor.
There are small windows that point in each of the cardinal directions, and there are amazing views of the entire area. It was really lovely. I’m really glad that we made the effort (twice) to do this.
The level just below the observation deck houses a small museum with some basic information and exhibits about the Washington Monument: its history, how it was built, engineering concepts used, damage sustained throughout the years, etc.
We really enjoyed looking at all the facsimiles of the memorial stones. Facing the interior of the monument are 194 memorial stones which were donated by various states, cities, countries, various organizations, and individuals and they were engraved and decorated in a variety of ways.
And then, as you go down in the elevator, the elevator slows down twice and the windows become transparent, so that you can actually see some of the stones in situ.
After we did the Washington Monument, we decided to sit down for a few minutes, to get some snacks and water and to rest in the shade for a moment. It was a rather hot and humid day.
Then we started heading back to the car. And on the way there, we found out what all the police blockades were about: the Rolling to Remember (Previously known as Rolling Thunder) demonstration.
It’s an annual event that takes place on the Sunday before Memorial day, in honor of prisoners of war, those deemed MIA (missing in action), and also now includes veteran suicide prevention as one of the causes.
Thousands and thousands of motorcyclists ride along a dedicated pre-set route through Washington DC. It starts in the Pentagon parking lot and eventually ends at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. And the entire route is closed off to all other traffic, hence the police blockades that we encountered.
We just happened to walk up just as they were beginning to go past, and so, we weren’t able to cross just then. It took 20 minutes for just the first wave to pass (they briefly pause so that pedestrians can cross the street). It was insane. I couldn’t believe how many people there were. It was very cool to see. Serendipitous.
After the first wave passed, we made our way back to the car and headed home. This was an awesome, bite-sized excursion. And I’m glad that we were able to get some of the Memorial Day vibes too.
