Capital Scenes, November, 2016

Dejected. Disappointed. Demoralized. Desolated. That's pretty much how we felt after November 8; and still feel. On November 14th we traveled to Washington, DC, to stay in Rachel and Will's house, pet-sitting, while they were with the Sehestedts for a Thanksgiving holiday in Maui. We were on foot nearly everywhere we went in DC--mostly NoMA and Truxton Circle, Capitol Hill, Dupont Circle, downtown--and every now and then took some pix...

Not a happy place...

Wandering into a Bernie rally; an alternative
reality...

Apparently did not get the memo about Trump

May they be just as inactive the next two years as the past two
(or six, actually)

"Move on...close up" said the dust-covered man on the
dust-covered horse as his troops approached Vicksburg; seems
like good advice again

Innovative use of containers

Flying buttress

Religious humor downtown

Covering over I-395 at NY Avenue will yield 3 whole new
blocks for the developers

Speaking of whom...the long-dead door-knob factory near
Rachel's is undergoing gentrification; historic door-knobs

The Old Post Office on Pennsylvania Ave., formerly home
to the National Endowment for the Humanities and the
National Endowment for the Arts, where I spent many hours
over the years past

Sic transit, Gloria

Outside the Newseum...with Trump's ongoing
war on the media, and truth, one fears for
these values..

Pigeon Forge

Since celebrating our first wedding anniversary in the Smokies, in 1969 (we were poor college students), we have always regarded Cherokee, NC, as the gold standard of world tawdriness. No more. Cherokee now has Harrah's, and the tawdriness is largely but not completely gone. Into the vacuum, however, Pigeon Forge, TN, has rushed, and is now, in our opinion, having seen much of the known world, the tawdriest 10 miles on the planet, surpassing even Kissimmee, FL. We took few pix in Pigeon Forge. There was a traffic jam, taking us an hour to pass through the ever-unbelievable route 441, and gawking at all the incredible crap, repeating itself every mile or so, prevented us from fully documenting this most tawdry of all places on Earth. We hope to return, if only to more fully document this atrocious place.

We can't decide whether the Biblical Times dinner theater or the Hatfield/McCoy Christmas Disaster was most impressive. In any case, I think this is the proper place to leave the blog for a while. We are with Marie and Norm in Knoxville, packing and planning for a couple weeks in DC at Rachel and Will's place. It will be interesting to visit our nation's capital as President-elect PussyGrabber is assembling his administration.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

After Asheville we drove into the GSMNP and camped two days, at Smokemont campground, enjoying more great weather and a couple long hikes. We'd visited the Smokies in 1969 and subsequent years while living in the east and midwest, so the usual sights were not high on our priority list.

Outside the Harrah casino in Cherokee

Blue Ridge Parkway

We continued onto the Blue Ridge Parkway November 2. The autumn color was far less intense, due presumably to drought in the area. We got off the Parkway to visit Vicki's cousin Anne in Asheville, NC.

Old logging railway

Mabry Mill

Skyline Drive

After Gettysburg we drove on to Frederick, MD and spent a couple nights at the home of Vicki's cousin Sandee and her husband Rhett, catching up and eating particularly well. We watched Game #3 of the World Series with them--nothing like watching a baseball game with a baseball coach--highly edifying, plus the Cubs won. On Saturday, October 29th, we met daughter Rachel and her husband Will for lunch in Front Royal, VA, to hand over the craft IPAs we'd picked up in Vermont. We'll see them again for an extended visit in November. From there we began driving the Skyline Drive, from Front Royal to Big  Meadows, where we stayed a couple nights at the campground there, enjoying mild weather and good autumn color.

Shenandoah Valley

Nice autumn color

Hiking on or near the Appalachian Trail at Big Meadows

Bear trap at Big Meadows

Radio-controlled deer at Big Meadows

At the Big Meadows NPS visitor center, a fine exhibit on the history of
Shenandoah National Park; and a reminder of less happy (and just) times;
the exhibit detailed the challenges of the federal agency faced in a
segregationist state