365 Challenge, Day 50: Theodore Roosevelt Island

Teddy Roosevelt pretty much owned the other presidents when it came to getting a monument in his honor.

Lincoln got a statue of himself that sits inside a reproduction of the Athenian Parthenon. Jefferson copied Lincoln by getting a statue of himself housed inside a reproduction of the Roman Pantheon. Washington only got an obelisk.

FDR trumped them with his 7.5 acre piece of land containing several fountains and statues in his honor. But even he is in a distant 2nd Place.

Because Teddy got a statue. And an island.

View of Georgetown From the Island

Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United Sates, was a dedicated conservationist. The 88.5 acre park is a fitting tribute to Roosevelt, who all but created the national park as we know it today.

During his time in office, Roosevelt signed legislation establishing no less than five national parks: Crater Lake, Wind Cave, Sullys Hill, Mesa Verde, and Platt. The Antiquities Act of June 8, 1906 enabled Roosevelt and his successors to proclaim historic landmarks, structures, and various objects of historic or scientific interest in federal ownership as national monuments.

As we walked through the park today, I couldn't help but make the comparison to New York's Central Park. Although significantly larger in size (843 acres), Central Park shares a common goal with Roosevelt Island: to provide an escape from the city while not actually leaving the city. I think the island has more critters, though.

365 Challenge, Day 17: The Three Soldiers

For Alfie's last day in town, we made a mad dash through the National Mall, Cheesecake Factory, and H&M. All things that don't exist in his new Appleton, WI home. Poor Alfie.

Yesterday I briefly mentioned the fact that I thought I looked fugly on Sunday but cute on Monday (and, for the record, I looked cute today, too!). I was amazed to learn today that statues have their "off days," just like people.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a three-piece tribute to the brave men and women that gave their lives during the Vietnam War. I always feel a little uncomfortable here: My Uncle Tommy, who passed away last Christmas, served in Vietnam. My father, his brother, was drafted, but managed to avoid the war due to a car accident. If not for that car accident, I'm not sure that I would have ever been born.

The memorial consists of: The Three Soldiers statue, the Vietnam Women's Memorial, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.

Of the three pieces, my favorite is the Three Soldiers statue. There's something very masculine, yet tortured, about it. I always find myself mystified by it, and apparently, so do the crowds that gather around it daily. People don't talk here. They just...look. When friends are visiting, I always make a point of showing them this statue.

I was saddened to find that the statue was unavailable for public viewing due to an ongoing restoration in May. I was also confused, as I had thought the statue looked fine when my friend Patrick had visited in March, just two months prior.

Wrong.

Alfie was fortunate enough to see the fully restored statue today. And now, so can you. It's absolutely beautiful. And the change in foliage doesn't hurt, either.

March 2010

August 2010

There is a series of four photographs on display at the Smithsonian's Freer Gallery of Art in which the artist photographed himself sitting on the same park bench during each of the four seasons. After looking at my own spring and summer photos of The Three Soldiers, I am suddenly grateful that we will not be leaving NoVA until mid-November. I'm hoping for an early snow this year...

365 Challenge, Day 16: And I Thought Taxidermy Was Weird

If the last few days have taught me anything, it's that no matter how many times a visitor drags me to a museum that I have already been to, I will always find something that is either new or that I simply missed on a previous visit. Today proved to be no exception.

Above you will see a photograph of Doctor Grover Krantz and Clyde. In life, Krantz was a professor of anthropology at Washington State University and Clyde was his beloved 160-lb Irish wolfhound.

In death, they are an exhibit at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. Krantz donated their bodies to science upon his death in 2002. In 2003, they were put on display at the museum so that they could be used to help scientists teach human and nonhuman skeletal anatomy in relation to biomechanical function. Or something.

None of the information available clearly specified whether or not Clyde was already dead at the time. One can only hope so...

On a completely unrelated note, I thought Alfie and I both looked kinda fugly in the skycoaster photo from yesterday, so here's a cute one we took today.