the photos here are all mixed up, but the little day trip went well. we went down to DC on Saturday. it was nice. it was hot. we drove around and did some site-seeing first. checking out all the foreign embassies. that was kinda cool, seeing their flags and how nice the buildings were. the British embassy seemed to be the biggest one. there are soo, i mean SOOO many weird buildings down in DC. it's kinda neat to imagine what on earth goes on inside some of them. lots of strange names for this or that. i was kinda afraid of being down there when we first got here. too many people, too much just stuff-- but each time i go, i discover the beauty of our nations capitol, the sense of our history pulls you in. the mix of government buildings with houses and businesses and people all mixed in. i got a little photo of the security on top of the white house just as alex was explaining some of it to us. that was cool. we ended up at the free Smithsonian zoo and park. it was nice. we looked at cows and lions among some other animals. it was really hot but the zoo is on a wonderful spot of land within a park, i forget the name. but it would be a nice place to walk around and enjoy when the weather is cooler. we also stopped at the National Cathedral. now THAT was spectacular. what a beautiful place to attend services. the kids and i peeked inside. really beautiful. i just wanted to sit on the lawn and breathe in the peacefulness of it. Its pretty massive and we will defintely be going back for a better longer visit.
we ended our trip to DC by swinging by Capitol Heights, where my whole family (expect me) was born and lived for generations. what a dump. seriously. it was really hard to see how rundown and scary it was. my grandma died in Jan. of 2004, when alex was in Iraq. she lived in her house on opus ave, my whole life and most of hers. even though she passed away-- in my mind sometimes i forget to think that she isn't there in her house anymore. i mean i pray for her soul and sometimes miss the heck out of her, so i know this, but it just doesn't feel true. they tore her house down when she passed and the property was sold. they built another house on the lot and even though it is newer, it looked already crappy. like maybe they started building and someone came and tore things up. anyway. there were very shady people all over the streets around her house...it looks like a horrible drug area and pretty poor. and it was good for me to see. the reality of it all. the new house there even has a different number. granny lived in 706, and the new one was 704. so not only is she not there, her house is completely gone. i do have a few memories of my time living with her there. and the one that sticks out the most is how i thought the house was so big, and the yard, and the hill up the street seemed so big to walk up. well the property is not all that big, and the hill was kinda steep but not very big. the houses were all cramped together and not as my young mind remembered. and we looked at the house that we lived in with my dad at the end of grannies street. all crappy falling apart houses. in a way it broke my heart to be there and not find her. but it gave me some closure too. i don't ever have a reason to go back to capitol heights....well that's not true. my granny and my dad and lots of aunts, uncles, and the grandpa i never knew are all buried there somewhere. (that can be another visit for another time). i was glad that i was the lucky one born and raised in san diego. i only lived back in dc with my granny for a few years when i was younger. and while my dad and others spoke of DC as home, i never ever felt it. i only thought of granny in DC. in her big (little) white house on opus ave. i'll just hold onto the good memories i have of that time and place. thats all i can do really.
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