Update by Jim.
Ginny posted the paragraph below as a reply to a Facebook comment written about my original post. Her heartfelt comments express what our emotions were during our time in Washington, and continue to be in response to the divisive words and deeds since the midterms by our “leader.”
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By Ginny.
What Jim didn’t write about was the emotional experience of this stretch. So much history right there for us to sink ourselves into – just days before the midterms. There were times we just looked at each other with tears in our eyes and asked “haven’t we learned?” From slavery, civil wars, senseless wars, assassinations, loss of lives – determination of a few that grew to many to make us a free people – to make ALL of us free – with equal rights, protections and respect. Then to think about where we are today, with our leader who divides and lies. We wonder if he has ever done the tour of museums and monuments that we just did that are just steps from his “home”. We’re guessing not. We had a lot of speechless moments….. and tears.
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By Jim.
There have been either three or nine capital cities of the United States.
If the counting starts as of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, Philadelphia was the first capital, followed by Baltimore, MD, Lancaster, PA (both when the British were threatening Philly), York, PA (where the Articles of Confederation were drafted, the first known legal document to refer to the “United States of America”), Princeton, NJ, Annapolis, MD, Trenton, NJ, New York, NY and Washington, DC.
But if the starting date is the ratification of the Constitution and the formation of the modern American republic in 1789, New York, Philadelphia and DC have been the only three capitals. That’s probably the better benchmark, because the creation of the capital is mandated in the Constitution. Article 1, Section 8 authorizes the establishment of a “District…as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States”.
In 1789, George Washington was sworn in as President in New York. In 1790, Congress passed enabling legislation, the Residence Act, to create a national capital. As part of the compromise locating the new capital in the South, Philadelphia was named the capital for 10 years, while the new city and its federal facilities were constructed. The exact location, on the Potomac River, was selected by President George Washington (who was a former land surveyor). The city was formed from 100 square miles of land donated by Maryland and Virginia. In 1846, the Virginia portion of the city (modern-day Alexandria) was returned to the state.
Pierre Charles L’Enfant, a French-American engineer, designed the master plan for the city. The placement of the Congress House on Jenkins Hill (now Capitol Hill), the President’s House, the “grand avenue” (now Pennsylvania Avenue) connecting those buildings and the National Mall were all part of the L’Enfant Plan of 1791. What may have been the first political intrigue in Washington occurred in 1792 when two surveyors, Andrew and Benjamin Ellicott, made significant changes to the L’Enfant Plan after claiming L’Enfant had not provided them with an engraved copy of his plan. By 1800, construction had proceeded to the point that Congress was able to convene in Washington and President John Adams could move into the not-yet-finished President’s House (which wasn’t officially called the White House until the Theodore Roosevelt Administration).
If you’ve never been to Washington DC, go (unless it’s July or August). It’s majestic. The Capitol, Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial are aligned in a straight line along the Mall, accented by the Reflecting Pool. The Mall and nearby Tidal Basin also are the sites of the World War II Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Wall, the Korean War Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the FDR Memorial and the Martin Luther King Memorial, plus the White House is visible from the north side of the Mall. Most of the Cabinet-level agencies are headquartered in the Federal Triangle between the Capitol and White House. The Smithsonian, National Archives, National Gallery of Art and the spectacular new African-American History Museum are among the many museums in the same area. There is a 12-story height limit on all buildings, preserving urban vistas and keeping the city bright and unaffected by skyscraper shadows. Statues, fountains and parks are everywhere. It will make you proud to be an American and it will teach you as much about your country as you want to absorb.
Before arriving in DC, we spent a weekend in Northern Virginia with old friends Tim Ruhe and Donna Quinn.
I got off to a slow start Saturday after staying up until 2:30 watching most (but not the end) of Game 3 of the World Series. Still, we had a great time dodging the raindrops during our brewpub and winery explorations in the beautiful Virginia countryside.
While running errands near our RV park in Maryland on Sunday, I drove past a prep school that’s been in the news recently for the wrong reasons. I didn’t see Squee, Bart or Donny.
Monday, we took a nostalgic trip (for me) to Annapolis to wake up my memories of visiting Pete when he was a Midshipman. 
Tuesday, in DC, it was all about the monuments!
Wednesday, we visited the Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture. Man oh man, it is SOMETHING!
Efforts to build an African-American history museum started in 1915, when black Union army veterans first lobbied for a memorial to their service in the Civil War. Glacially, various Presidents appointed various committees to study various proposals. It wasn’t until 101 years after the initial efforts by those soldiers that this national museum opened its doors. 
Visitors spend an average of six hours in the museum, more than three times the length of an average stay at a Smithsonian museum. That’s one reason why it’s the toughest museum ticket in town.
There’s a riveting introductory exhibit on the history of the slave trade, followed by presentations on slavery, the abolitionist movement, the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Jim Crow era, the awakenings of the Civil Rights movement, integration, black power, the mainstreaming of black culture, Black Lives Matter and more. 
For us, six hours weren’t enough. We were uplifted and exhausted when we left. While walking to our Metro station, we walked past another, more notorious modern “monument” smack dab on Pennsylvania Avenue Michele Obama would have disapproved of me not going high. 
More museums for me on Thursday (Ginny stayed at the rig and worked) – the National Museum of American History (which, weirdly, is prominently sponsored by Kenneth Behring, the eccentric former owner of the Seahawks) and the National Archives.
There were some cool displays at the American History Museum, such as the original Lego patent.
Lamentably but understandably, photography is not allowed in the sanctity of the gallery in the National Archives where the original Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution are displayed, but it’s hard to look at those – the greatest and most important documents in the country, if not the world – without getting goosebumps. Go see them for yourself.
Friday was a visit to another anticipated site, the Newseum. It has lots of displays on lots of subjects, but we ended up being disappointed. Much of what it shows is the same media coverage of historical events that we’ve already seen elsewhere. Very little is devoted to journalists and media of industry/historical significance. H.L. Mencken spent much of his career just up the road at the Baltimore Sun. Nothing. Bob Woodward became the greatest journalist of our time across town at the Washington Post. Not much. There’s great footage of Chet Huntley and Walter Cronkite, but nothing devoted to the rise, development and significance of anchormen. One flat-out amazing item on display, however, is a portion of a radio antenna that used to be atop the North Tower of the World Trade Center…
…plus a tribute to the entire profession that has never been more important than now, during the President Fake News regime. 
By Saturday, after a week in Washington and Gettysburg before that, we were museumed-out. We decided to have a kick-back, do-nothing day – the first one of those we’ve had in awhile. Plus, I had to get taped up for Alabama-LSU that night. It turned out to be a good day…and a good game.
Sunday, we headed to southern Virginia, en route to a planned stop in the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee.