Washington DC (1 of _)

For those of you who don’t know, I (Nate) spent several days in Washington DC a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, since Miranda has now entered what we refer to as “the real world” she can only take limited vacation time and was, therefore, not able to accompany me. This means that I ended up taking my trip solo. I’d say that it was nice to have the time to myself, but aside from Arlington and the National Cathedral, two places where solitude was an advantage, I wished that I had a traveling companion. I stayed at the luxurious Merkel Motel (a friend from High School) and took the metro to wherever I wanted to go during the day.

The first day I was there I headed to downtown planning on wandering the Smithsonian buildings. However, when I got off the Metro I turned left instead of right and spent my day looking at the obligate memorials. First I saw the, the Washington memorial, which was much larger than I had pictured. Basically, unless you’re standing next to a tree between you and the memorial, you can see it. After the WA memorial I headed over to the WWII memorial, the Vietnam memorial, the Lincoln memorial, the Korean war memorial, the Martin Luther King Jr. “memorial” (it was a plaque), the FDR memorial, the George Mason memorial and, finally, the Jefferson memorial. I’ll give you some highlights of these sights as captions to the pictures below.

See the small people? Yeah, this mother is big.

This is the Vietnam memorial. I liked this angle.

I couldn’t get over how haunted the faces of the statues were at the Korean War memorial.

This was at the FDR memorial. There were a lot of great quotes as you walked through it. Of course, if you’ve been president for three terms you’d hope that you could say something quote-worthy. The statue seemed appropriate for the whole great depression/fireside talk era.

This is a statue of Eleanor Roosevelt at the FDR memorial. She was the first US ambassador to the UN. I had no idea.

Here is George Mason, kicking it at his memorial, reading some philosophy.

This is a plaque on the WWII memorial depicting what Grandpa Walker did during the war.

After I saw the memorials I decided that I had better go find the White House, see where Bush lives (at least for a couple of months out of the year). However, just like when I started my day, I turned left when I should have turned right and wound up seeing some random buildings like the state department, the Federal Reserve and some sort of federation that I think was outdated by NATO. When I stumbled upon the Fed I decided that I would poke my head inside, partly to see if there was anything worth seeing and partly to see if Ben Bernanke was standing in the lobby (not that I know what he looks like). However, as I approached the front of the building I was flagged down by a couple of security guards and told that the general public hasn’t been allowed to go past the first steps since the trade center was bombed. Oh, I also saw a statue of someone who was key in the history of Uruguay… go figure. Eventually though, I did make it to the White House. It was neat but nothing that blew me away.

This is the Federal Reserve, AKA, the building that I was shooed away from. The stairs in the foreground are the limit to where I was supposed to go. The stairs in the background are where I was flagged down.

This is a panorama that I took with the White House in it. It's probably hard to see but it's in the middle of the grove of trees.

That about did it for my first day in DC. After I saw the White House I just headed back to the Merkel Inn and hung out with him for the evening. I’ll be sure to write about the other days of my vacation later. Sights will include Arlington Cemetery, the National Cathedral, the Smithsonian and the Capitol building.

A Memorial

I know that Memorial Day is traditionally a day for remembering those who have died in military service, but in my family we decorate all of the headstones of family members that have died with beautiful flower arrangements. I have many memories of memorial days spent driving in my grandparent’s van with the smell of chrysanthemums in the air. So this year for Memorial Day, since I can’t be with my mom when she buys roses for Grandma Egan’s grave, I’d like to write a few things that I remember about my grandparents that have passed on.

Grandma Egan (Lois)—I remember lots of weekends before Memorial Day going to the Pleasant View cemetery with Grandma to clean headstones. Of course I did more pretend dancing and acting on the little amphitheater than cleaning, but I learned the importance of respecting and honoring the dead from my Grandma’s dedication. Grandma Egan had chickens and sheep, snap dragons and roses, taffy cookies and Swedish fish. She was an amazing quilter and seamstress, and the quilt that Nate and I use every winter was made by her. I remember shelling peas on the back porch with her and my mom, and hanging out in the back room waiting for the Christmas candy the two of them had made to get cool enough to eat. She had a house full of antiques and history; not to mention great toys and a basement big enough to roller skate in when we were little. She always had flat diet pepsi in the fridge, which was the fridge that she hung all of our watercolors on. Her work clothes consisted of house dresses and aprons all sewn by her. I don’t know how many she had but when I was little I imagined her closet being full of hundreds of different combinations of dresses and aprons. I miss her every Thanksgiving because I have yet to eat dinner rolls I like as much as her, and she is the only reason I can think of that I bug Nate to buy me chickens each spring.

Grandma Black (Arica)—I spent a lot of time with my Grandma Black. I grew up across the canal from her so when mom had to work or pretty much anytime I felt like it; I could go to Grandma’s. She had a never ending supply of Nacho Cheese Doritos, marshmallows, bananas, hot dogs, and cold water. She didn’t have a ton of toys but she did have a huge living room with few breakables so it was great to play in. Grandma helped me name our kitties things like “yellow” and “dolly.” We planted pansies in the summer and one year we covered her whole flower bed with white rocks. I think it might have been to keep the weeds down but I remember it being a pain to get rid of the rocks later. Grandma’s car smelled like juicy fruit (for obvious reasons) and Windex because she always parked under the car port and had to clean the dirt covered windshield every time we went anywhere. One of Grandma’s legs was arthritic, I think it was her right, and she had to drag it a bit as she walked. She also had to lift it onto the gas pedal when we drove…which only worried me in retrospect. She colored her hair strawberry blonde and used AquaNet to hold her curls in place. She would play library with me, read me tons of books, and let me play with her typewriter all I wanted. I colored all over the bottom of her coffee table while she would cook lunch. I dry my silverware the same way I watched Grandma do it a million times and I think of her whenever I wear pink.

Grandpa Black (Spencer)—I remember thinking Grandpa was so weird because he said words like Cycle (pronounced “sickle” for “bicycle) and tennie runners (shoes). He had a high pitched laugh, a warm face, and he smelled like Old Spice—which smelled good because it was on an old man like it was supposed to be. When we would go to Dairy Queen he ordered a pineapple and peanut milkshake. Every morning I would go with my dad to have breakfast at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Grandpa would drink some coffee, eat half a grapefruit, and eat either shredded wheat or cheerios with honey drizzled on top. On sunny mornings when I put honey on my bran flakes instead of sugar I can hear his voice in my head saying “Good morning, good morning, what a fine day this morning….”

Happy Memorial Day

Miranda

Hooray for Visitors!

Nate's parents came to visit over Mother's Day weekend. It was so much fun to have them stay, and we had more things to do than we could fit in while they were here.

First, we went to the Celestial Seasonings tour in Boulder. Celestial Seasonings is a company that manufactures specialty teas, that was founded in Boulder by a 19 year old in 1969. It was pretty awesome to see so much tea product all in one space and all the aromas were amazing. You get to walk into a huge room filled with peppermint and spearmint that is so strong it clears your sinuses and makes your eyes water.

On Mother's Day we went to a Rockies game. The weather was gorgeous and there was enough cloud cover that we didn't get fried by the Colorado sun. We were impressed by how comfortable Coors field is and we had pretty good seats in left field.


Our seat tickets also came with free peanuts, and of course a few of us had hot dogs too. That made up for the fact that the Rockies lost to the Giants...and boy did they ever lose.


Above is a picture of some of the luckiest kids in Colorado playing a little ball before the game. I should also mention that we were all excited to see Barry Bonds play but apparently he does not play on Sundays...or he does not play the Rockies.


We did a little bit of hiking too. We wanted to do more but the afternoon thunder showers kept us from going on anything too long. We got to check out the Red Rocks Amphitheater, look out over Denver, and take pictures while looking into the sun.

And finally...here is a picture of the Pear & Gorgonzola tart that I made for brunch on Mother's Day. Mmmmm....now don't you all want to come and stay?


P.S. Bill, next time you come stand in front of the camera a little more why don't ya.

Keeping Up With the Jones'

So our yard...it's not awesome. When we moved here one entire side of the yard was just tall weeds. I spent a couple of days pulling them out so that the following Spring we would have...dirt. However, one side of our yard does have grass. Patchy and weedy as it may be, it is grass; and, it has been growing. We (Nate) finally decided to borrow our neighbor's hand powered mower to get the lawn looking somewhat presentable again.

Happy Birthday Nate

"A special day calls for a special place."

That's what our friend Ben said when he heard that Nate's 25th birthday was on Saturday, April 28th. Ben was referring to the worlds largest restaurant (under one roof ) where Nate and 3 of his friends...and his wife...would be celebrating his birthday. CASA BONITA!!!
For those of you who watch South Park (all of you I'm sure) you may be familiar with the episode where Kyle gets to take 3 of his friends to Casa Bonita for his birthday. Nate had seen this episode of South Park before but being a non-Denverite, he had no idea that the place actually existed. He didn't know that Cartman's crazy rampage at the end of the episode where he ran scared through Black Bart's cave, cheered for the cliff jumpers, and demanded more sopapias, was ALL BASED ON FACT! And here is the magical place in real life...Just a 4 minute drive down Colfax from our house.
It's difficult to describe the Casa Bonita experience. I suppose first of all, it is a Mexican restaurant. It is swimming with kids...the way school lunch rooms are swimming with kids. There is a line to order your food that resembles Disneyland where you snake around and around, getting close to the front only to make another turn. You pick up your order in what is basically a cafeteria line where they have many of the pre-assembled entrees that you may have ordered. (This, for some reason sent me into fits of laughter.) There's a mariachi band that plays Happy Birthday every minute and a half. It's muggy because of the pool where ripped high schoolers do impressive dives off of the "cliffs." There are arcades where the air doesn't move, haunted caves, and abandoned mines. The place goes on forever. And the food...the food is terrible. Worse in retrospect. And it's all you can eat. Fantastic. So...to all of our young cousins...the Payton girls, Tess, the Black boys, the Davis boys, the Hill boys, Joellen and...Spencer. Come to Denver and we'll take you to Casa Bonita (though we won't be eating anything) you'll have the time of your life.

Why We Need Renter's Insurance

Denver has had some crazy weather over the last week. Tuesday and Wednesday were filled with pouring rain and snow in Littleton where Miranda works; and Saturday and Sunday were beautiful and sunny, getting up into the 80s. On Wednesday morning we had the good fortune to wake up to this...

This is a picture of our basement slowly welcoming in water during the rainstorm.

This is actually the second time this has happened. The first time it happened was when 3 months worth of snow decided to melt in one weekend. Basically our window well fills up with water because our rain gutter directs all of the water into a huge swamp outside our back door. The yard is nicely slanted enough to keep the water from running off anywhere else. Once the water gets inside, the drain that is convex to the rest of the floor can't seem to suck any of the water down into it (hmmm...) so we get to
1. Bail water out of the window well until it is low enough to stop leaking
2. push water out of the corners and up a slope toward the drain.

Luckily both times this has happened we've caught it before any damage was done. I think we'll go check out some insurance quotes now.

Edward Scissorhands

Last night Nate and I went with our friends to see a theatrical adaptation of Tim Burton's movie Edward Scissorhands. This was our first time venturing out to the Denver Center for Performing Arts and the 16th Street Mall area. I thought the show was Fantastic. Terrific. Beautiful. To put it simply anyway. Here's a picture of Sam Archer who plays Edward.

The show was adapted, directed and choreographed by Matthew Bourne who is most commonly known for his adaptation of the traditional ballet Swan Lake (not that I knew anything about him before this show....Rachel taught me all I know up to this point). The only complaint I had about the show was that the cast was so big and the dancing/characterization was so awesome that my eyes couldn't decide where to settle. I got so set on watching Edward that I think I missed a lot of other great storyline that was happening elsewhere on the stage.

(By the way I didn't take any of these pictures. I'd credit the photographer but I can't find their name...I got these pics from Flickr)

I should note that this wasn't a traditional ballet. More of a contemporary dance...play without words. So for those of you who have only seen the Nutcracker and think that you would be bored to death at a ballet I'd say that this show would keep you entertained. Their tour is almost over though...it looks like Seattle is their last stop so Bill and Gail you should check it out.

My final plug is for the movie Edward Scissorhands itself. If you're like us and haven't seen it since 1990 I would recommend Netflixing it. I love that the story is a classic plot about an outsider who falls into and out of popularity because he's different. Except he's ridiculously different because his hands are freaking scissors. Also, Tim Burton does fantastic things with colors and humor in the film. Plus it has Johnny Depp.