John’s note: In addition to travel, photography is one of my hobbies. I love using photos to help tell my stories on Travel Rinse Repeat because as the saying goes, ‘a picture is worth 1000 words.’ But pictures and words have a symbiotic relationship, and sometimes, it’s worth hearing the stories behind the pictures. In this series, I’ll provide insight into the stories behind the photographs.
It was a cold autumn morning in Washington DC and I had just arrived at Arlington National Cemetery right after it opened. Many photographers prefer to shoot in the early morning or late afternoon...
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Ford's Theatre in Washington DC is a historical performance venue that first opened in the 1860's, but it is most notorious for its role as the setting of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States. On April 14th, 1865, John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor of the day who knew Ford's Theater well, entered the presidential box and shot and killed Abraham Lincoln, just five days after the Confederate Army had surrendered at Appomattox, ending the Civil War.
I had visited the Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Illinois four years earlier and really enjoyed learning...
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The National Mall in Washington DC is a one stop shop for memorials and monuments, all crammed into the nations only urban national park and open to visitors for the wonderfully low cost of $0.00. As one of the most popular attractions in all of DC, it contains many of the most famous sites visitors come to the capital to see - the monolithic memorials to presidents, wars, leaders, and luminaries that shaped the United States in one way or another.
The people and events commemorated on the National Mall are the the material of legend, and most Americans can recite the history of the people and events...
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The Newseum is an interactive museum in Washington DC dedicated to the history of journalism, and it is a fascinating look into the history of the press in Washington DC, the United States, and the world. It would be hard not to write off the Newseum as an expensive afterthought with all the Smithsonian museums in DC as a free alternative, but that would be a mistake; to miss the Newseum would be to miss one of the best museums in DC.
Before I entered the Newseum, I came across a huge marble tablet, inscribed with the 45 words that make up the first amendment - and guarantee freedom of the press....
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I arrived for work in Washington DC late on a Monday night planning to spend the next two weeks in the Northern Virginia area meeting with clients and seeing the sites of DC. Due to a difference in flight costs, my colleague wasn't due to arrive in DC until 10:00am the next morning, so I grabbed a hotel near the airport and had originally planned on catching an extra hour or two of sleep before he arrived.
But as I was settling in for the night I began to wonder if there would be a better way to make use of my time rather than sleeping it away. When traveling on business, I have to be creative...
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