Following our visit to Arlington, my mind was racing during the 45-minute ride to Chantilly, Virginia. After all, I had stood where no bobble head has ever dared to stand – on the grave of President John F. Kennedy.
We arrived at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, an annex of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, at around 11:00am on July 19, 2014. The Udvar-Hazy Center was home to thousands of aircraft, as well as some famous space craft. Even though there was no plan of me being photographed near any of the exhibits, I was excited that I would see three historic aircraft: The Space Shuttle Discovery, the Enola Gay, and the Gemini 7 space capsule.
Once we were through the doors of the massive complex, we headed straight for the Space Shuttle. The top of my camera case was left open so I could see the exhibits; and I was blown away by the sheer size of Space Shuttle Discovery. When we learned more about the retired space ship, I was blown away even more. During Discovery’s 27 years of service, it had been launched and landed 39 times. As a matter of fact, Discovery spent a cumulative total of almost a full year in space.
Even though I wasn’t photographed inside the Hazy Center, that didn’t stop Tom from posing alongside some of the famous air and space craft while Bob manned the camera. And how could I blame him? The Space Shuttle Discovery was amazing to see up-close, and we spent a lot of time walking on all sides of it. At one point, when we stood near the left wing of Discovery, I thought about the shuttle Columbia. It was on the left wing of Columbia where a suitcase-size chunk of foam insulation struck the orbiter and ultimately caused it to disintegrate upon re-entry; killing all seven astronauts.
It was hard to leave the Shuttle Discovery, but there were a few more historic aircraft that we wanted to see before we headed back to D.C. Near the shuttle, we saw the Gemini 7 space capsule that was flown by Frank Borman and James Lovell in December of 1965. Also in the vicinity was a space suit worn on the surface of the Moon by Apollo 15 astronaut James Irwin; as well as the Apollo 11 Mobile Quarantine Facility.
We were finished with the space portion of the Hazy Center and I was anxious to see one of the most famous military aircraft in history – the Enola Gay. That airplane was a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber and was used to drop the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. The huge plane, with a wing-span of just over 141 feet, was named after Colonel Paul Tibbets’ mother; Enola Gay Tibbets.
There had to be hundreds of flight-related vehicles that were on display at the Hazy Center; some were historic, while others were vintage. We could’ve easily spent the entire day there, but we decided to forge ahead with the Presidential agenda. Without a doubt, I would like to return and visit Discovery again in the future. Next time, I will pose alongside that big bird!
It took us about an hour to arrive at the next Presidential site on our agenda – President Lincoln and Soldiers’ Home National Monument. Most know the place as President Lincoln’s Cottage, mainly because of the amount of time Abraham and his family spent there. As a matter of fact, just three days after Abraham Lincoln’s first inauguration, he made his first visit to the home. Lincoln and his family spent June through November of 1862, 63, and 64 at the cottage; mainly to escape the heat and political pressure of downtown Washington. During Lincoln’s first summer at the cottage, he framed his thoughts about emancipating the slaves and soon after wrote the first draft of the Emancipation Proclamation within the walls of the house.
I posed for numerous photos around the house and grounds, but my photographer declined to take a paid tour of the interior due to the fact that there were no authentic artifacts inside the cottage. Later, I did second-guess that decision to not venture inside; especially knowing that Lincoln had stayed there nearly as much as he did the White House.
James Buchanan also occupied the cottage during his Presidency while two others, Rutherford B. Hayes and Chester Arthur, made the cottage their Summer White House. Knowing that four Presidents had stayed there, it made me all the more angry at my cameraman. Once again, I thought it was because he was too cheap to buy a ticket.
As I stood just outside of the entrance to the historic cottage, I thought about Abraham Lincoln as he walked out of that door for the final time. It was on April 13, 1865 when the 16th President left the cottage and headed back to the White House. Although the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders a week earlier when the Civil War ended, the toll of that war was obvious in his appearance. Poet Walt Whitman wrote of Lincoln when he saw him riding from the cottage: “I saw very plainly the President’s dark brown face, with the deep cut lines, the eyes, always to me with a deep latent sadness in the expression.” The following day, April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was shot in the head by actor John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater. Lincoln died the next morning.
In all, we spent about 45 minutes as we toured the grounds and photographed the exterior of Lincoln’s Cottage. Near the home, I saw a bronze life-sized statue that depicted Lincoln with his horse. At one point I was placed on the statue, but the saddle of the horse was so hot from the mid-day sun that I thought it would damage my base.
At nearly 2:00pm, it was time to head for the “really good stuff” in Washington; the sites that are visited by millions of people every year. And now, it was my time to visit the famous monuments; as well as the home to every President since John Adams – the White House.
