Washington DC

Visiting Washington DC this past weekend has been a potent reminder to me. It was impossible not to be reminded of the great accomplishment that is American democracy, the stellar innovation and achievements of Americans over the past two-hundred-fifty years, and how fortunate I am to be part of a nation that is a worldwide role-model for freedom, opportunity, and self-government.

Taking the Bolt Bus down to DC Thursday night meant that I had to fit my weekly Broadway show in earlier in the week. Tuesday night I took the #2 train from the Financial District up to Times Square and searched around for a good deal on one of Broadway’s top musicals. I finally settled on a half-price ticket to ‘9 to 5’, a new musical written by Dolly Parton and based on the 1980 movie of the same name. I can’t say I’ve ever been a big Dolly Parton fan, and I was seriously hesitant to go to a musical written entirely by her, but I heard great things about it from a lot of different people, so I decided to take a chance.

‘9 to 5’ turned out to be a great surprise. Besides top-notch props and a well-executed plot, the show was well acted and was completely hilarious. The story follows three professional women in a stale, unproductive office who are dominated by an arrogant, perverted, chauvinistic male boss. After getting high on marijuana and fantasizing about killing the boss, the women actually hog-tie and kidnap the man, imprison him in his own home (tied from the ceiling by the garage door opener, no less), then take over the office and transform it into a progressive, ultra high-performing workplace. Several scenes of the show left the audience howling with laughter, including the part where an overly-serious, overweight woman in the office dreams of a spicy relationship with the arrogant boss, and the scene where the man is dangled from his bedroom ceiling by the garage door opener. My only reservation with ‘9 to 5’ was that every man depicted happened to be an egotistical, sexist slob with smut for brains, but other than that it was pretty entertaining.

I loved Washington DC. Thursday night the Bolt Bus dumped me off at 10th and H Street, and after spending the night at my friend Justin’s place I began my exploration of the nation’s capitol. One of my favorite things to do in big cities is to get a view of my surroundings from the highest point available. Friday morning I took an elevator to the top of the Washington Monument for a good look at the city from above. I was vaguely familiar with the layout of the city before coming this weekend, but I loved peeking out from the tiny windows 500 feet above the mall and snapping pictures of the iconic sights below. After seeing the Lincoln Memorial from a distance I was so excited to visit that I went directly there afterwards, passing the newly built World War 2 Memorial on the way. My walk back to the Smithsonian museums took me past the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. As I passed hundreds of people searching for names on the black granite wall, I wondered to myself how the events of the 20th century will be viewed at the end of my lifetime. Hopefully such long and painful conflicts as Vietnam and World War 2 will prove to be a thing of the past during the coming years. If not, I can only imagine what memorials might exist in DC should I come back in my seventies or eighties.

My weekend in DC turned out to be a reunion with several different friends. Staying with Justin and his wife was great, but I also happened to bump into a friend of mine from New York, a friend from the BYU MBA program, and a friend from my freshman dorm at BYU. Friday afternoon I met up with my friend Mike Johnson and went with he and his fiancée Sarah to a hamburger joint in Arlington called ‘Big Buns’ (earlier in the day Mike suggested that I ask for directions to ‘Big Buns’… I’m glad I didn’t have to do that). I normally wouldn’t spend time writing about a hamburger I ate, but this one was worth noting – the ‘Big Buns’ guys grilled my beef to perfection and topped it off with grilled peppers, red onions, black bean and mango salsa, grilled pineapple, and, of course, fresh hamburger buns. It was nice to chat with Mike and Sarah about their coming marriage and their future life in DC, with Mike working for a Washington law firm and Sarah for an international non-profit funded by the government.

Washington DC is known for museums that house the greatest achievements of the nation, and I packed as many museum-visits as I could into my weekend in the capitol. I loved the American History Museum for classic relics such as Andrew Jackson’s uniform used in the Battle of New Orleans, as well as newer relics like Mohammad Ali’s boxing gloves (the giant fiberglass elephant from Disney’s ‘Dumbo’ ride was also nice). The dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum were great, but I was blown away by its collection of gems that included the famous Hope Diamond. I’ve heard so much about the Holocaust Museum in DC and had to visit. The museum was very well presented, and it included actual uniforms worn by Jewish inmates at concentration camps, but as far as holocaust museums go, it’s hard to top the Yad Vashem museum in Jerusalem – Israel’s fantastic and somber documentation of the era.

I had to visit to the Spy Museum, where I saw innumerable spy artifacts (including many tiny hidden cameras and microphones) and learned of several famous spy stories. My favorite was one about William Sebold; an American of German descent. Sebold was persuaded to become a Nazi spy during a visit to Germany in the 1940’s. What the Nazi’s didn’t realize was that Sebold immediately informed the FBI of this ‘persuasion’, became a double-agent for the US, and facilitated the identification and arrest of 33 Nazi spies living in America.

Saturday afternoon a gigantic line wound around the National Archives building, housing the most treasured documents in America. It took me well over an hour to finally be standing in front of the original Declaration of Independence, but I enjoyed every second of my time spent observing it. What better way could there be to spend the 4th of July than by reading over the original text drafted by Thomas Jefferson and read by King George III? I can only imagine the incredible creative thought and ambition it must have taken to establish the world’s most progressive democracy, and to do it by standing up to the world’s greatest superpower at the time. It’s hard to even comprehend the tremendous risk assumed by each man who signed the infamous document. If there ever was a ‘David versus Goliath’ story in recent history, then that was it.

Finally, how could a trip to Washington DC be complete without a visit to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum? One of my few memories of a trip to DC as an 8-year-old kid is of the absolute fascination I had with the Air & Space Museum. This time I spent nearly an hour in a giant exhibit dedicated to the Wright Brothers. Of course seeing the 1903 Flyer, the world’s first true airplane, was a must; but I also enjoyed reading about the Wright Brothers’ progress from merely experimenting with concepts of flight to creating, piloting, and marketing a fully functional airplane. It’s amazing to me that even on modern jet liners, elements of the Wright Brothers’ original design are still prominently in use. After visiting exhibits on the Apollo space program and observing modern, unmanned drone aircraft used by the military, I could hardly believe how far human flight has come in just 100 years.

I was sure to take a tour of the US Capitol during my visit to Washington. Unfortunately the House and Senate chambers are only open to visitors on weekdays, but did see the intricately decorated interior of the dome, as well as the many statues of state heroes sent to the capitol by the various states of the Union. Utah’s contribution, a marble carving of Brigham Young, sits in a small corner opposite a former governor of Kansas. I happen to feel that he should be displayed more prominently (Brigham Young, not the governor of Kansas).

Perhaps my favorite part of the whole weekend was attending a few events specifically held to celebrate Independence Day. Friday night I headed to the steps of the capitol building, where a free 4th of July concert featuring famous musicians was held. Coincidentally, I bumped in to Mike Johnson and his fiancée at the concert (after having lunch with them just a few hours earlier), and watched the performance from the front lawn of the capitol with several of Mike’s friends, including an old friend of mine from junior high, Curtis Cannon. Aretha Franklin opened up by belting out ‘The Star Spangled Banner’, then after Barry Manilow and an odd Sesame Street performance, Natasha Bedingfield performed a modern R&B hit, ‘Pocket Full of Sunshine’. The concert finished up with an orchestra performing patriotic music, and ‘fireworks’ that were actually only seen by those watching the show live on PBS.

Saturday night I met up with Justin, his wife Lindsay, and a couple of their friends on the National Mall to watch a spectacular fireworks show set behind the Washington Monument. While the fireworks show was certainly the climax of celebrations in DC this weekend, I particularly enjoyed a brief visit to the Jefferson Memorial just before leaving to head back to New York City. A quotation written in giant brass letters on the marble wall of the memorial stood out to me:

“As [laws and constitutions] become more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.”

I’m always amazed by the wisdom and foresight of the founders of the United States. I hope that as a nation Americans can build on that democratic foundation; ever advancing and keeping pace with the times as Thomas Jefferson envisioned over 200 years ago.