This is not a difficult rummaging act. The following pictures were taken Friday and today at the US Botanic Garden located at the foot of the US Capitol.
Tracy and I are fortunate to have been named honorary grandparents (though we go by Uncle Andy and Aunt Tracy) of the son of friends. His name is Henry and he is six–as of this writing. In our capacity, we get to take him places from time to time. We’ve been to Christmas Lights at the National Zoo, the National Aquarium in Baltimore, football with his parents, etc.
This Christmas–last Friday, the 23rd–we took him to Botanic Garden, a wonderful indoor, heated conservatory, which is decked out with a Christmas special each year. This year, the garden featured national parks and historic places, with models of the places made of all natural materials and with toy trains chugging through most of them.
Following is a collection of images from Friday’s visit and a return visit I made early this morning, before the crowds arrived. Although the order of the displays seemed fairly random in the garden, the images below track from east to west. The work people have done on this project is pretty amazing. I hope you can see that through this selection of images.
And please take this posting as a Christmas greeting from Tracy and from me, Merry Christmas.
Before entry into the train exhibit, visitors are treated to views of US government institutions, the Capitol building and the Supreme Court.
- Freedom House in Florida
About the below three scenes, my Marine Corps friend—and Vietnam War company commander—Joe, who lives in Colorado and travels to see family in the region modeled in the below, offered the following amplification: 1st photo: amazingly these dwellings still exist throughout the SW generally running from Chaco Canyon, NM, to SW Colorado to central west Utah (Freemont west of Richfield). Next two are common dwellings of Hopi in central Arizona that are occupied homes.
Merry Christmas!!!
Merry Christmas to you, Honorary Grandparents, AKA Uncle Andy and Aunt Tracy, and of course to Henry and family!
The many years we lived near Washington, DC, the Botanic Garden was one of our favorite places to visit, especially at Christmas!
Superb camera work illustrating our wonderful history.
Thanks, Phil. It was a really pleasant trip, The one-hour plus waiting in line might have been difficult were it not for a delightful family in front of us that took Henry into their game of riddles and charades. He loves that stuff, and is much better than I have ever been. Like the following intended for pilots: “What has wheels, no wings, and flies??” Are you paying attention, Lange?
Henry’s eyes tell me that he enjoyed his time-travel as did I.
Thought you might like to have some words to embellish your cliff dwelling photos: 1st photo: amazingly these dwellings still exist throughout the SW generally running from Chaco Canyon, NM to SW Colorado to central west Utah (Freemont west of Richfield). Next two are common dwellings of Hopi in central Arizona that are occupied homes.
Thank you, Joe, for the amplification. I know you know of what you speak. I’ve slipped your language up to the entry. And have a Happy New Year!