Still just a couple of tourists ... part 2

If you haven't yet, you should scroll down and read the previous post -- it's a two-parter.

After our tour of the Jefferson Memorial, we headed over to check out FDR's site. On the way over, we spotted George Mason sitting on a park bench, so we made a quick detour.


It's a small memorial, but a nice one -- and he looks so content sitting there on his little bench, doesn't he?

On the way to the FDR monument I took what might be the coolest picture I've taken in D.C. yet.


At left is the Capitol building, at right Jefferson Memorial (and you can even see the statue inside), hovering in the sky - a government chopper, and flying over a building below - an American flag. Does it get any more Washington, D.C. than that?? Short of the president walking right by me, I just don't see how. Click on it so you can see it enlarged. It's cool!

Anyway, FDR isn't too far from Mason's tribute, but unfortunately, we went through it backwards without realizing it. It's quite a HUGE memorial, broken into sections for each term FDR served (that's 4 -- for those of you who didn't know that, and shame on you, too!).

This is from the FDR Memorial web site: The memorial traces twelve years of American History through a sequence of four outdoor rooms-each one devoted to one of FDR's terms of office.

What a cool memorial! It's absolutely worth checking out -- I just wish the water had been turned on because it looked like it would have been beautiful. All along the walls are beautiful quotes from Roosevelt, mostly regarding the plight of the lower class and the duty of Americans to care for their fellow man. Always the bleeding heart, of course I loved it!


Here's Eleanor Roosevelt, a champion for civil -- and human -- rights.


Here's FDR with his beloved dog, Fala.


And here's Andy showing Fala some love :)

So as not to end on such a light note with what is actually a very moving memorial, I'll close with a few of my favorite quotes inscribed on the Memorial's walls:

"In these days of difficulty, we Americans everywhere must chose the path of social justice, the path of faith, the path of hope and the path of love between our fellow man."

"I never forget that I live in a house owned by all American people and that I have been given their trust."

"I see one third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad and ill-nourished. The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."