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I have a not-so-secret ambition to see all the National Parks in the Lower 48 states. And I’m a total sucker for historical sites, especially those to do with the American Revolution. Now, what about the rest of the world?

I probably won’t get the chance to see all the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in my lifetime, but it’s still fun to dream. And I’ve already seen a few.

• Historic District of Old Quebec – Went to the city on a high school trip, I think we wandered through it.
• Paris, Banks of the Seine – Yep, train trip to Paris when my family lived in Madrid in the early Eighties.
• Vatican City – On our trip to Rome, also when we lived in Madrid.
• Piazza del Duomo, Pisa – We had to do the funny pictures where it looks like you are holding up the Leaning Tower with your hands.
• Historic Centre of Rome – That Rome trip.
• Venice – We went there twice when we lived in Madrid.
• Pompeii – I was terrified that Vesuvius was going to erupt while we were there (Hey, I was about seven years old at the time).
• Monastery and Site of the Escurial, Madrid – Well, duh.
• Old Town of Avila – It’s not far from Madrid.
• Historic City of Toledo – One of my favorite day trips from Madrid, I think we did it more than once.
• Tower of London – We took the plane to London when we lived in Madrid (all our other trips were by car).
• Independence Hall – Philly? It’s practically next door. I’ve been there twice!
• Mammoth Cave National Park – My grandfather was from Kentucky, so we went there once so my dad could do genealogical investigations.
• Statue of Liberty – What a horrific trip, love the statue but it definitely was not worth it.

Hmmm, still so many to see…

Clara Barton House

Originally uploaded by etacar11

Montgomery County does have some lovely historical sites. For a long time I had wanted to see the Clara Barton National Historic Site. My friend Rob wanted to go to Glen Echo Park and the C&O Canal Towpath near there. So this made for a nice little daytrip.

You can only see the inside of the house while on the NP Ranger-led tour. It was just us and a mother and daughter, so that was nice.

Barton lived in the house for the last 15 years of her life and it also served as the headquarters of the American Red Cross (she was its founder) at the time. The central hallway of the house was lined with closets filled with medical supplies ready to be sent to disaster areas/war zones.

Jones Point LighthouseOriginally uploaded by etacar11

Jones Point Lighthouse, in Alexandria, VA. Almost right under the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. My mother and I visited it on the 4th of July.

I’ve had a fascination with lighthouses for a while now and I took advantage of the day off to see this local one.

It’s owned by the Daughters of the American Revolution and the building is not open to the public. Sadly. Maybe they will restore it someday. But it was nice to be able to walk around it.

Located on the grounds of the lighthouse is one of the boundary stones for the original boundries of the District of Columbia. You could only see it from above, though a hole in the seawall. Best viewed from the water, I guess.

Grace Church

Originally uploaded by etacar11.

Went on another Washington Photo Safari a couple of weeks ago. “Georgetown by Land and Sea.” We started along the C&O Canal, where they have boat rides on the canal (we didn’t go on the boats) and then walked by Grace Church. Then we took a boat down the Potomac to the Jefferson Memorial and back. Windy on the boat, but fun. I can’t wait to get a camera with a better zoom. I’m signed up for their Dumbarton safari next.

I found out recently that my dad has all kinds of lenses and filters to go with our old Canon 35mm film camera. He bought it in ~1979 at the Naval Station exchange on Guam. The battery door broke off, but otherwise it still seems to work. I think I might play around a bit with it…