Sight Shopping at the Mall

The White House- the glamorous pinnacle of political power and historic symbol of leadership in our country. Until a couple days ago, I had only seen the White House in pictures and movies. In fact, I saw it on a CNN special featuring GW the other week.

It looked so dignified, so gaudy, so grandiose.

When my boss and I headed out on our first run in Washington D.C. to visit the numerous monuments along the Washington Mall- my heart was beating out of control- and not from the running pace.

It's amazing how much of my knowledge about important events and places are tied to the wonderful world of fiction. Running along the Mall, I recognized the park and the Washington Monument from the film Forrest Gump.

"Hey, this is where they had the war protest in Forrest Gump...."
"This is the National Monument, Christy"
"Oh....right"



The monument is HUGE! It definately looks tall from far away- but when you get close enough to touch it, the immensity of the structure overshadows anything else. My boss directed me towards a structure to the left of the monument.

"Do you see that over there"
"that little thing?"
"Yes, do you know what that is?"
"uh.......another memorial?" *blush*
"that's the WHITE HOUSE"
"Yeah right, that's not the White House....it's too small..."



sure enough, it was the White House. I wasn't too dissapointed when I remembered again the function of the building and its imortance in political history, but definately a shocker.

We then continue our run through the Mall until we come upon another familair looking structure.



"Do you know what this is coming up?"
"Oh wow, that's that statue in the recent version of 'Planet of the Apes' "
"Otherwise known as the Lincoln Memorial...."
"yeah, cool!"



This was my favorite memorial, and maybe my favorite site in Washington D.C. The Lincoln Memorial is so moving, so dramatic, so elegant, yet so simple.