Y is for Yikes, I got some major blisters on my feet

When I was in Washington this last week I did a LOT of walking.  In my everyday life I don't do a lot of walking around.  Everywhere I go is a drive-to place so walking isn't exactly a means of transportation around here.  But cities, on the other hand, require a lot of walking, which I love.  I like the idea of walking to a train station, taking the train to somewhere in the approximate area of where you want to be and then hoofing it the rest of the way.  I think walking around is the best way to get a feel for a place.  When my sisters and I were in New York I insisted we walk from Battery Park to our hotel in Midtown.  It was a long walk, but we saw a LOT of stuff that way.  I went on a bus tour of the monuments the first time I went to Washington and it was cool and everything, but I didn't know where things were in relation to each other.  So since then, I've walked wherever I want to go when I'm there.

The only down side to walking miles and miles is that my poor feet aren't used to it.  I think my shoes must not fit right because I got two enormous, excruciating blisters on the back/bottom of my heels.  If you've ever had a cracked heel, it's like that but worse.  Deeper somehow.

I knew that during my visit Saturday was probably the only day that wouldn't be raining, so I wanted to do all my outside sight seeing that day.  I took the metro to the Mall and spent about six hours looking at the following things:

The Sculpture Garden

The National Archives.  I went in to look at the Constitution again, but there was a HUGE line, so I looked at the Magna Carta and skipped the rotunda.

Washington Monument

The Martin Luther King Jr. memorial which was amazing because to get to it, you have to go through a path made through a big boulder:

and it says this on the side of the King sculpture:

The part part of the rock that is missing from the path is the part that MLK is on, and it's moved ahead of the main boulder, forging a path.  Amazing.  

Then I walked around the Tidal Pool and made friends with this duck.  He probably just followed me because I look like the kind of person that has some food on her, but I choose to believe he really liked me.

Jefferson Monument

George Mason memorial.  Father of the Bill of Rights.  He was part of the Constitutional Convention but he refused to sign it because it didn't include a bill of rights.  He was neighbors with George Washington.

I walked past the Bureau of Engraving and Printing but didn't go in because they aren't open on Saturdays.  Otherwise I would be able to go in and take a tour and make some of my own money as a souvenir.

I walked by the Holocaust Museum, but didn't go in that day.  I went in a few days later.  Totally depressing.

I saw this guy playing bucket drums on the boulevard.  I heard him from a long way away and I would have never in a million years guessed that someone could make buckets sound like that.

I stopped at the American History Museum to look at George Washington's uniform and the Zeus statue one more time, and then I had a little lunch before going to the portrait gallery.

I saw this picture of Bill Clinton.  It's huge and is made of little squares with colored shapes inside of them.  When you step back, voila: Bill Clinton.

I also saw this crazy horse made from bottle caps. I love his teeth.
Lol, you silly horse.

Then I headed back to Amy's because my feet hurt.  I think I probably covered about 15 miles.  That's the day I got the blisters and they got worse and festered by the last day.  Ouchie.

The next day I went to the National Cathedral which involved a mile and a half walk from the nearest Metro station, uphill, in the rain, with my blisters.  When I got there I took my camera out to take pictures of the amazing gargoyles and stained glass windows and discovered I forgot my camera battery that I so thoughtfully and responsibly took out to charge the night before.  Crap. It was such a cool place, it was worth the rain, blisters, uphilliness, and lack of camera battery.

Oh, one more thing: Why doesn't John Adams have a monument in Washington?  He's one of the big three founders of our country and he doesn't even have anything.  That blows.