We face various constraints, such as facilities limitations ... and inclement weather (SerialNo.110-90)

TJ's family was supposed to come visit during a long weekend in January, but due to unforeseen issues, they didn't make it. So we invited them back to visit during the next three-day weekend, and they braved the cold weather to do so. The first time around, one of their requests was to visit the Washington Monument, so we reserved tickets. When they couldn't make it, we invited a couple of friends to take their place. But the skies were so overcast and foggy that you couldn't take advantage of the view (left). Instead, we pointed out famous landmarks in the photos above the windows (right). 

 

The second time around, the family's request remained, but all the reserved tickets were taken. Each day, the National Park Service hands out tickets on a first-come first-serve basis, starting at 8:30 a.m. We got up early to get downtown, and we were rewarded not only with tickets, but also with much better views than our earlier visit. This time, instead of seeing water droplets, I could see the water of the Tidal Basin surrounding the Thomas Jefferson Memorial (top). Before, I could barely make out the Lincoln Memorial, but this time I could see it and beyond into Virginia (bottom).

 

 

The White House was covered in haze during our first visit, but on this day it was clear enough to see from the Ellipse all the way to the National Cathedral (top). Luckily, back in December, TJ and I got a close-up view of the president's house when we went there to bask in the holiday spirit of its wreaths and the National Christmas Tree (bottom).

 

 

Even while riding down the elevator, when they slow to show you some of the commemorative stones, I got a better glimpse of the markers. I just saw the back of some kids' heads before, but this time I got a shot of half of the stone from Fort Greene, home of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where the USS Maine was built a few years after the marker was donated.

 

The Mall was so fogged in the first time that I didn't even bother to take a photo of it. This time, I got a clear view of the U.S. Capitol and the turf-reconstruction work going on in front of it. In case you can't tell, the patch closest to the Capitol is finished, but the entire project isn't slated to be completed until before the 2017 inauguration.

After some lunch and a stop at the National Archives -- where we digested the significance of the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Emancipation Proclamation -- we witnessed what these documents hath wrought during a tour of the Capitol (top left). We gazed upon the donut hole of the Rotunda, which like the Washington Monument is being restored after some damage from the 2011 earthquake (top right). It seems that none of the state submissions to the National Statuary Hall were affected by the tremor (bottom left), and its nearby epicenter didn't shift the golden center of Washington, located in the building's Crypt (bottom right).

From the city's axis, we spiraled out into its quadrants, with a jaunt through the jungle section of the U.S Botanic Garden (top left) and a step back in time at the National Museum of American History. I jealously perused Julia Child's kitchen, as recreated in the "Transforming the American Table" exhibit (top right). We shut down the museum then swung by the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial (bottom left) and Korean War Veterans Memorial (bottom right) before heading home for the night.

It was a whirlwind day of sightseeing, but I was glad we saw so much by foot because the next day was the wind-chill day of our city safari. With temperatures below freezing and the "real feel" even further below that, we selected a slate of mostly indoor activities. We spent a little more time at the U.S. history museum before seeking shelter in the National Cathedral (top left). I had been to the church before, but it must not have been on a sunny day because I don't remember the stained glass being so spectacular (top right). I also don't remember adequately admiring the needlework of the Tree of Life in the War Memorial Chapel (bottom left) or the mosaics in the Resurrection Chapel (bottom right), located at the crypt level beside the Bethlehem Chapel and the St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel. 

We experienced the second great view of the weekend by heading to the cathedral's Observation Gallery, from which we could look back on the national monument and legislative offices we visited the previous day (left). The president's house was hidden by the trees, but the Vice President's Residence peeked out from a clearing on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Observatory (right). 

After hearing the wind shaking the windows of the gallery, we decided to skip a trip through the National Zoo. We figured the pandas would be snuggled up inside, so we huddled up with our buddy Abraham outside at President Lincoln's Cottage, on the grounds of the U.S. Soldiers' Home (left). According to a plaque by his statue (right), Lincoln rode from the "cottage" to the Capitol every day during the summers of his presidency to avoid the muck and mosquitoes downtown. As my face was being stung by the wind, I begged to differ with good old Abe -- a mosquito bite didn't seem so bad at the moment.