Time Machine Travelogue Thirteen

A Capital Idea

My robot is ready for reinsertion into the past.  Because of nano-technology the robot is small enough not to be seen in the past location.  Luckily, we are returning to a previous location.  At a time, we have been to before.  We are booking reservations for our next trip to Washington D.C.  This was the last day of our field trip before moving on to the next location New York City.  So put 2008 songs on your iPod because we will leave immediately.  Sit back we are on our way again.

Not only did the Egyptins use Obelisks.

In Washington you are surrounded by history.  We have statues and monuments everywhere.  The Washington Monument was erected to honor our first president George Washington.  People often ask me how tall the obelisk is?  I have the answer for you right here. "It is this tall."

Seems taller doesn't it.

  Did you ever want to go some place and when you got there the line was so long?  Add to that the fact that you are on a tour and you have hard deadline's to adhere to.  Well that is what happened when we tried to go to the National Archive.  The National Archive is where all the documents that are important to our nations founding are on display.  The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are exhibited there.  However, with the line as long as it was, we opted to leave and explore other sites.  But we have a great picture of the outside of the building.  Watch National Treasure to see the inside.

The documents that created our country are inside here.

A freize inspired by the democracy of Ancient Greece.

We did have one more exciting place to visit.  Back to the Smithsonian and a visit to the National Museum of Natural History.  Let's all walk in the museum the admission is free.  As we enter the Rotunda, we are standing face to face with an African Bull elephant.

The African elephant in the Rotunda.

This elephant is eight-tons and 13 feet tall.

From the Rotunda you can branch out into different rooms.  One of the rooms is the Dinosaur Hall.  There are fossil remains of many different species of these ancient creatures that once were the Lords of the Earth.  During my life time dinosaurs have gone from slow plodding lizard like reptiles to fast moving elegant creatures.  They have been identified as the ancestors of modern day birds.  I wonder if dinosaurs taste like chicken.  Maybe we should ask Fred Flintsone if those Bronto ribs the car hop puts on top of the car tasted like chicken.  But how would he know.  Research exploded in the dinosaur field since the 1970's.  Search for these once magnificent animals has expanded around the globe.  Our natural curiosity won't let rest as long as there is still a mystery.  So walk this way and see a small sample of the dinosaurs.

Those small little mammals look delicious.

A face only a mother can love.

Doesn't he look like he's smiling?

The fossil collection is not only limited to dinosaurs.  That is why excavations of any fossil digs require a pain staking exactness.  There are clues to find in and around the place where these creatures died and were buried leading to their fossilization. Plants, insects, and gastroliths, stones swallowed by herbivores to aid in the break down rough plant matter in their stomach, are clues to how these creatures lived and what they ate.  Many fossils are produced in what were once ancient oceans and inland seas.

This display would take up a whole wall in the average size home. It is worth seeing in person.

Another hall contains mammals.  Static display of animals in museums have always fascinated me. When I was younger, I visited the Historical Museum in Helena, Montana.  There was a display of a white buffalo called Big Medicine.  It was incredible.  Also my great grandfather was a avid hunter and had a large display of taxidermied mammals and birds.  Some of which my brother still has in his home.

Looks like he is needing a dance partner, any takers?

The grizzly bear has held a special charm for the people of Washington since the time of Lewis and Clark.  These bears were ferocious and ill tempered.  They had no fear of humans and guns.  It was reported by Mountain Men that shooting them made them madder.  Another animal that I enjoyed is found along the California Coast.  They were hunted nearly to extinction and are only now coming back.  The sea otter was revered for its thick fur that kept them warm in the cold Pacific waters.

The Lord of the kelp forest.

The successor to dinosaurs.

It is hard to believe that the great hairy creatures of the globe evolved from something as small as this little mammal.
My wife and I both have an avocation of working on jewelry.  We use gems and minerals to create necklaces, bracelets, earings and rings.  We aren't Tiffany's but we enjoy working with the Earth's infinite and beautiful gifts.  I was unavoidably drawn to the National Museum of Natural History's Gem and Mineral exhibit.  They have displays of raw gems and minerals and exquisite precious stone jewelry pieces.

Aquamarine, the birthstone for March.

Looks better laying on its side.

Even the simplest quartz looks awesome.

The magic of jewelry is taking the raw miner's grade stones and cutting, faceting, and setting the stones into exotic pieces of art that increases the beauty and value. 

The Hazen diamond necklace by Harry Winston.

I'd buy it if I won the lottery.

Kunzite created for the 100th Anniverasy of Tiffanys

One stone that has undergone many changes is the famous Hope Diamond.  A rare blue diamond that has been labeled as cursed.  It was said to have been plucked from an Indian Idol.  It has brought death and misery to the people who own it.  Now it is in the Smithsonian and you could say it is owned by all of us Americans.  Feeling cursed yet?

A blue diamond a billion years old and still looking great.

The museums of the Smithsonian are too many to visit in a month yet four days on a field trip.  I would have liked to have seen James Whistler's Peacock Room, but there was no time.  From here, we took a bus to New York City.  On this time trip, we are coming to an end too.  So we are powering up for our reinsertion into our own time.  Funny thing about time is it is infinite and never enough at the same time.  Good bye for now look for our next time trip.

Time Machine Travelogue Twelve

"Here we go into the wild blue yonder"


I sure hope I'm getting frequent time traveler credit because I'm ready to go again. This time machine has logged a lot of time. No pun intended. So far since its first usage this year we have visited many locations at a variety of times. If you weren't fortunate to ride along on those previous trips it's okay we wrote about them and posted  the pictures and events.  We've been to Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore, Seattle, San Diego, Denver , Disneyland, and Washington D.C.  One of the most incredible places in our nations capital that isn't related to our government is the Smithsonian Museum. So bring your tray tables to their upright position turn off all electronic devices. You too Alec Baldwin. And sit back and relax because we are headed  back for that eighth grade field trip.   

The Smithsonian Castle

Smithsonian is more than a museum it is several museums and multiple buildings. You could spend days trying to investigate all that is offered. Because it was such a short time, we only could visit the Air and Space Museum and the Museum of Natural History.  I am an air and space junkie. My dad was a Naval aircraft mechanic.  He was an excellent "wrench man."  When I was a boy, we would build and paint all kinds of model airplanes.  After they were built, we suspended them from the ceiling of my brother and my bedroom using thread or fishing line.  Walking into the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum looked like a full replica of that childhood room.  Historic planes, World War II aircraft, even jets soared above me as I laid in bed waiting to dream of being a pilot.  A plane I remember having was the Spirit of St. Louis.  The plane flown from New York to Paris non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean by Charles Lindbergh in May, 1927.  I had seen a replica in San Diego, the city where it was built.  But there it was suspended as if from my ceiling.

Lindbergh's Moment of Gold

Propeller driven planes were at the end of WWII replaced by jet propelled aircraft.  America's first jet was the P-59 Airecomet.  It started the "pushing the envelop" for faster aircraft.

Suspended in time

 I was born shortly after the Bell X-1, "Glamorous Glennis, was piloted by my early aircraft hero, Chuck Yeager. When I was growing up, the  sonic booms of planes breaking the sound barrier were heard all the time. It almost meant safety in the early Cold War. 

Did you hear that?  That my friend was the sound barrier breaking.

The flights of the X-15 were always anticipated and seeing the higher and faster records fall was awe inspiring. Imagine being a test pilot.  Actually in command of the fastest thing on Earth.  Nestled the fuselage of a B-52 then released to fly free in your rocket powered plane.  Once clear soaring vertically toward the edge of the atmosphere.  Each time it is taken up it soars higher and faster.  In the early 1960's this was the scenario.  Test pilots "pushing the envelope" of speed and altitude.  How could a kid think of any job more exciting.  Some flights were focused on altitude and a record of 67 miles above sea level was attained on August 22, 1963.  For speed records altitude is secondary and 4104 miles per hour was achieved on July 26, 1962.  This legendary plane was even piloted by some guy named Neil Armstrong.

Records fell each time the X-15 flew.

Then came Sputnik, a man made satellite, launched by the Soviet Union. Changes happened at light speed as the Space Race began. To win this race fast planes fell away to rockets.  To escape Earth's gravity you need a lot more speed.  Rocket technology was not new during World War II but it was advanced by Germany.  The V-2 was reported to be the first man-made object to reach outer space.  However, it was a weapon used by the Germans against England.  Using this rocket both the Soviet Union and the United States used the design to create vehicles to propel a new age, the Space Age.

Nazi Germany's V-2 reached Outer Space

 A race that put objects into space moving men into space and culminating with Americans landing on the Moon.  Then the Soviet Union put a man,Yuri Gagarin into orbit around the Earth.  They called him a Cosmonaut.  The United States soon countered and we were in the Cosmic Age.  We would not come in second. President John F. Kennedy steeled our countries resolve when he said in September 1962,


        "We choose to go to the Moon.  We choose to go to the Moon in this decade 
          and do the other things, not because they are easy but because they are hard..."

We all watched our television on that July night.

"One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" Neil Armstrong

We came for all mankind

Now the Moon is not our only satellite.

Call it the Space Age or the Cosmic Age the age of man in  space had begun. It reached it apex with landing s man on the Moon. However, there has been a downward spiral since then.  We don't do things " because they are hard" anymore. We do things to give rich folks tax breaks. It doesn't matter what the side benefits might be. What can the technology do to assist the military not what might we discover.  We are now in the Age of Satellites. But unlike previous satellites like Voyager or Pioneer. Spy satellites are what are being launched.  While they are necessary, we need satellites to keep us safe, but exploration should be our major focus.  Some other uses are beneficial like weather and GPS satellites.  One of the most incredible objects put in space was the Hubble Telescope.  However, when it was found out of focus, the people who fund the space program didn't want to even spend the money to fix it.  Our best window on the Universe was thought to point in the wrong direction toward Outer Space and not spying on people on Earth.

High above us all.

The Hubble allowed us to see further into the past of the Universe.

Next time we take the time machine out we will still need to investigate the Smithsonian Natural History Museum.  But as you know the time machine is difficult to program for too visits to one location. However we need to get home now  so take two pictures because it is cheaper than coming back.

Time Machine Travelogue Ten

This One May Make You Cry

Many have sacrificed for our freedom

The time machine started as just a small singularity.  The problem was increasing the size of the worm hole large enough to send something back in time.  As a first step you need to send a small mechanical device back in time.  Then it, it hates it when I call it it, sends singularity back at the speed of light to home.  Because of Einstein's Time Dilation the front of the worm hole is only a few seconds however the original point time is different.  This allows me to then go back in time to the point in time at the given coordinates.  So returning to Washington D. C. only meant leaving the robot behind.  So we are going visit some of the most moving sites in our nations history.  So grab a handkerchief or some tissue, you may cry.  I know I will.  Here comes our opening, and away we fly.

There are many memorials in Washington D.C.  No trip could be complete unless you visit these.  We got to see many of these sites and memorials.  As a child of the Sixties, seeing the Viet Nam Veterans Memorial was especially emotional and moving.  No matter what you thought about the war whether you were for it or against it, you need to see that black gash ripping through the landscape.  It tore our country apart.  Unlike today the war touched nearly every family.  Males 18 years old and older were subjected to the Draft.  The Draft impacted poor families, Black families, and Hispanic families the most.  Some men and 18 year olds escaped through deferments.  For a while college students got deferments.  Friends and families were interrupted by the War. We all had friends who were drafted or enlisted to allow them to choose there service.  We all read in the papers or  heard from friends that someone we knew, "Gave the last full measure of devotion."  The architect May Lin's design helped honor the Viet Nam Veterans and heal a nations wounds with her design.  There are ghosts in the wall.  As you step toward it, the reflection is like your loved one moving toward you.  It lists the names of those 58,000 plus Americans who lost their lives.  It starts out small and grows.  Many people make crayon rubbings of the names of their hero.  Also people leave articles behind which archived.  Medals, Service Ribbons, and even old and worn jungle boots.  Tears are also left behind but they evaporate and rejoin the Earth's water cycle.  You will be touched again just step outside when it rains and snows.

Baby Boomers faced Hell

It should have stopped before we reached 58,000 +

Ghost in the Wall

How many friends did you lose?

They were decorated even in death as the living
pass their medals on to those who are never coming home.

 The eighth grade students are not the most sensitive to the gravity of the deaths of people who died in war.  But they have because of history class the knowledge our Sixteenth President, Abraham Lincoln. They were refurbishing the Fords Theater  the site of the April 15, 1865 assassination of the President.  We did get to go to the house across the street were he was taken and survived his last time on Earth. This made a connection with our textbooks and reality of the actual events of history of our country.  Mix that with a visit to the Lincoln Memorial and you understand his importance.  The Memorial is huge as you walk up the steps seeing Abraham Lincoln seated there with some of his most famous quotes is inspirational.

President Lincoln was Assassinated here at the Ford's Theater

He was taken here for medical care.

Let us not forget that madmen cheat "We the People" out of our government. 
"A government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not 
perish from the Earth." A. Lincoln

This room saw the death of a President and a great man.

Many schools do field trips to the Lincoln Memorial

The greatness of mankind found in one man.

By the time you get to eighth grade, you should know that Abraham Lincoln was the President who preserved to Union. There was an attempt to divide the United States by some states in the South seceding to form their country, the Confederate States of America. Because of this action a Civil War broke out between the two different factions.   In order to preserve the Union, Abraham Lincoln called up the Union Army. The South who started the war picked as their leader of their forces a legendary general, Robert E. Lee. The Lee family had an estate across the Potomac River from Washington D.C.  The land surrounding this estate became Arlington National Cemetery. Many of our hero and soldiers are buried or interned here. You know you are on Holy Ground when you see the rows of grave markers.  Also there is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

They fought for you and me.

The former Lee estate

I hope they found peace.

How can you not be moved?

We children of the Sixties suffered through other tragedies. We had to endure the killing of our dreams. The first was when I was a freshmen in high school.  It was a nice day on November 22, 1963. Then during the early morning passing period, we got the news.  Our President John F, Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. It was the first punch of the combination that sent us reeling.   It was profoundly sad. Later he was buried at Arlington national Cemetery. They placed an Eternal Flame on the grave site to memorialize the first President born in the Twentieth Century. Later his wife   Jacquelyn was also buried at the sight.  That definitely was a gut punch.

Jackie Kennedy inspired American women as First Lady.

I still remember that awful day.

A memory recalled in the fleeting dance of the Eternal Flame.

The second was the assassination of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King.  I was in Seattle for spring break when it occurred.  They had a huge march to commemorate his life and achievements. Sometime had passed and the suddenness still hit us hard.  There were riots in many cities and if it wasn't  for this man and his remarks on the assassination Indianapolis might have erupted also.  The man was Robert F. Kennedy. However, on June 5, 1968 a devastating knock out punch destroyed our dreams. Robert F. Kennedy was killed by an assassin. I had met him. I heard him speak and saw him sweep his hair off his forehead. I got to shake his hand and look him in the eye. I was a college student and I was writing a term paper on the psychological effect of the draft. I got to ask him his stance on the Draft and got a quote from him on "the inequities of the present draft system and the hypocrisy of student deferments."  On that June night I stayed up to watch his victory speech for his win in the California Primary. It was a moment of joy. Then our dreams were literally shot down by a single zealot with a gun. Robert too is interned at Arlington in a site near his brother.

Robert Francis Kennedy's Memorial

A man who gave America's youth hope.

Reflect on the United States living up to its Credo.

You cannot go to Arlington Cemetery without going to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. These souls fought and died for our freedom and because of circumstance we were unable to identify them.

Known only to God

Just outside of Arlington is the Marine Corp Memorial. We all have seen the iconic picture of the Marines raising the American Flag on Mount Suribachi, the highest point on the Island of Iwo Jima during World War II.  The picture is recognized by every older American and most younger Americans.  At the Marine Corp Memorial, they have erected a statue of Joe Rosenthal's Pulitzer Prize for Photography picture.  Walking toward the statue you recognize the scene as you would a picture.  Then, your brain realizes that it three dimensional.  As you walk around, you are moved by the honor and victory of the moment and the men.  It is symbol of the Marine Corp, the Greatest Generation, and every American who served and waited for Victory.  I felt small and I felt great walking around the Statue.  Small because I have never reached their level of determination and sacrifice and great to know that I am an American and a descendant of a service member.

The mystic of the Greatest Generation.

Twenty-seven American military men received the Medal of Honor
in the Battle of Iwo Jima.  Twenty-two were Marines.

Every US Marine knows and does his duty with honor.

Semper Fi

Well, the box of tissue is gone so I am heading back home.  It seems like times have changed but there are still young service personnel in harms way.  Politics are still dividing our country.  However, when you see these memorials you realize that we all share so much.  We cannot change the past but we can change the future.  
The robot has dragged the singularity and is holding it open for our return.  See you next time.  Who knows where we will go next time.