Holly Acres RV Park, Egg Harbor City, New Jersey

Next we headed to New Jersey which welcomed us with lighted signs...

and painted signs...

and lots of toll. New Jersey would stand out in our minds as the state with the highest tolls at more than $50. Instead of The Garden State, New Jersey will be known to us as The Toll State.

We were headed to Egg Harbor City and Holly Acres RV Park.

Coming in the entrance...

A little shade and just enough satellite access...

Wanna play a few holes?

The park features a nice swimming pool and its own spring-fed fresh water pond.

There is a cultivated blueberry field and an activity hall where you may find a bunch of square dancers.

There is a very nice self-contained bathroom.

A fax/scanner/printer is conveniently located at your feet.

But where is the water fountain? We don't like drinking out of no stinking old-fashioned bowl...

For more pictures, go to http://public.fotki.com/Marlonfleenor/1/2008/june/holly-acres-rv-park/ .

To be continued...

Washington, D.C. Pt. 4

Today we decided to introduce Jerry and Lee to The Metro.

Jerry has a little trouble with the ticket machine.

Jerry and Lee think "They made us take PUBLIC transportation!"

Actually, that's the lower level of the double-decker bus which we had reboarded to continue our sightseeing.

You may recognize this building. You have probably seen it on the back of both the $5 bill and the valuable penny. We heard that a famous man was sitting inside.

Indeed, inside we found the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln (also known as Honest Abe), presiding. The statue, carved from white Georgia marble, stands 19 feet 9 inches tall and 19 feet wide.

Next we visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial where visitors can search the directory for names of those who fought in the War and died in service or are still unaccounted for.

The nearly 500 foot long wall containing over 58,000 names gets over 3,000,000 visitors annually.

Personal mementos are placed by family members and friends.

The bronze statue The Three Soldiers stands a short distance from the wall.

Arlington National Cemetery was our next stop for the day.

Established during The Civil War, today more than 290,000 people are buried in the 624 acres of the cemetery.

The most well-known individual grave in Arlington is that of President John F. Kennedy. Kennedy was the first individual known person to be given the honor of having an eternal flame at his grave.

Other notable graves at Arlington include JFK's wife and two of their children, as well as his brother, Robert.

Also notable at Arlington is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The tomb actually contains the remains of one unknown soldier each from World War I, World War II and the Korean War. A Vietnam War soldier was disinterred and identified in 1998.

The Tomb of the Unknowns, as is it also known, has been perpetually guarded by the U.S. Army since April 6, 1948.

A hilltop at Arlington National Cemetery provides a wonderful view of the nation's capital.

The Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum was our final stop of the day.

This is an actual Apollo Lunar Module.

This is the actual capsule and couch used to transport Able, a rhesus monkey, into space. In 1959, he was accompanied by Baker, a squirrel monkey, in a Jupiter missile nose cone.

This is the actual tractor that provides nightly hayrides at Cherry Hill Park.

This is the actual Chatfield who knows that as long as he's in the driver's seat, this thing ain't moving.

These are Sammy and Pedra. Sammy is trying to figure out who the new gray kitty is while Pedra is trying to figure out who the old gray kitty is.

As promised, here is a video. The setting...Arlington National Cemetery.
For more pictures, go to http://public.fotki.com/Marlonfleenor/1/2008/june/washington-dc-day-3/ .

To be continued...

Washington, D.C. Pt. 3

We completed the double-decker loop tour and had lunch at Union Station.

Then we headed back out to get a better look at the Capitol from the lawn.

Next we headed to the White House Visitor Center.

Here we learned about the various functions of The White House itself.

We got a look at the general layout of the building thanks to this diagram.

The most famous room in The White House, The Oval Office, changes with the times and the presidents.

Then we got pictures from this side of The White House...

and that side of The White House. See, Marlon really WAS there.

Then we walked over to the Washington Monument which Doug missed earlier in the day.

Two gawking tourists took in the size of the sand-colored obelisk.

The Monument stands 555 feet 5.5 inches tall! At the time of its completion in 1888, it was the world's tallest structure. The Monument retained this title for approximately seven months, when the then-completed Eiffel Tower surpassed it in height at over 1,000 feet.

That guy sure looks short!

At this point, we decided the unusually hot temperatures near 100 degrees had tired us out and it was time to head back home for the day.

Maybe we'll have a video to watch tomorrow.

For more pictures, go to http://public.fotki.com/Marlonfleenor/1/2008/june/washington-dc-day-3/ pictures 1-42.

To be continued...

Washington, D.C. Pt. 2

Today we headed out with Jerry and Lee to see what we could in Washington, D.C. from the top of a double-decker bus.

Fortunately for us, it was not yet crowded. Given all the seat choices, Marlon opted to sit by the yellow seat so he would always remember which row he was in.

Officially opened in 1989, the Canadian Embassy was built on a vacant lot formerly occupied by a Ford dealership and a public library. The Canadian Embassy is the closest Embassy to the U.S. Capitol.

We dropped by the IRS Headquarters on Constitution Avenue to check on the status of our Economic Stimulus Act payments.

They were in the mail.

The original Old Post Office opened in 1899 as Washington, D.C.'s first skyscraper, in addition to being the first government building with its own electric power plant. By 1914, the building was already dubbed the "old" post office. Targeted for demolition in the early 1930s, it was saved from the wrecking ball due to lack of funding as a result of The Great Depression.

It continued to be used as overflow space for several government agencies until finding itself a demolition target once again in the 1960s. Thanks to a group of local citizens, the building was saved from demolition in 1973 when it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It is now known as The Old Post Office Pavilion and is home to many restaurants and stores, as well as a Romanesque grand atrium large enough to hold 1,900 guests which has served as the setting for both New Year's Eve galas and presidential inaugural balls.

Next we came across Ford's Theatre...the site of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. The building was used by the government in a variety of ways until 1968, when it again became an active venue for the theatrical arts. It is currently being renovated and scheduled for a Grand Reopening in the Winter of 2009.

Across the street sits the Petersen House where Lincoln was taken after the shooting. He subsequently died the next morning.

This is another very famous house.

Doug poses for a picture and misses the Washington Monument...he saw it back in 1976 anyway.

American Civil War Major General George Brinton McClellan was, in U.S. Grant's words, "one of the mysteries of the war."

The Washington National Cathedral is the second largest Gothic cathedral in the United States and held the state funerals for Presidents Eisenhower, Reagan and Ford.

This not-quite-so famous house is where the Vice-President of the United States resides.

Embassy Row is home to embassies and diplomatic installations of over 50 different nations...this one being the Embassy of Bolivia.

Also located on Embassy Row, this is the Islamic Center of Washington---a mosque and Islamic cultural center.

The memorial to the U.S. Naval Construction Battalion, whose members were known as Seabees, is located near the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery.

The Thomas Jefferson Memorial sits on the shore of the Potomac River Tidal Basin.

The administrative offices and information center of the Smithsonian Institute are located in The Castle, originally completed in 1855.

The Securities and Exchange Commission, located adjacent to Union Station, has the primary responsibility for enforcing the federal securities laws and regulating the securities industry, the nation's stock and options exchanges, and other electronic securities markets.

Here's the rear of Union Station!

For more pictures of today's double-decker tour, go to http://public.fotki.com/Marlonfleenor/1/2008/june/washingtondcday2/ .

The pictures on this entry were taken as we rode the entire double-decker loop. Next we get off and see the sights up close and personal.

To be continued...