Growing up around D.C., I personally feel like I’ve sometimes taken advantage of the monuments and the museums that we have so close to us. Although I am on crutches, I actually did not go to D.C. to take pictures, but when I went to D.C. during the Cherry Blossom season, I took pictures of monuments with my dad, although I’m not really in the pictures, my dad is.

When we went during the Cherry Blossoms, we visited the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and the National World War II Memorial. As I recall, we went on the first few days when the Cherry Blossoms were blossoming so there were quite a lot of people. And because there were a lot of people, taking pictures was hard so my pictures didn’t exactly turn out the way that I wanted it to.

Visiting the Washington Monument, I watched it from afar. I remember going to D.C. at one point in my childhood and being able to go inside and looking outside the window as we got to the very top. I can still remember the view from the “pencil” as I looked outside. It’s a sight that I’ll never forget. Just being in there and looking outside and seeing all the other monuments gave me a feeling like “yaa! I’m so proud to be an American!” We visited the Washington Monument because that was our first stop for the day. Looking at it from afar that day just made me appreciate America more. George Washington was the 1st President of the United States so it’s only fitting that we dedicate a monument to him.

Jogging along on the pathways, our next stop was the Lincoln Memorial. Although I don’t have any pictures of the inside of the Memorial, we did indeed go inside to look around. As I said earlier, we went during the Cherry Blossom season so taking pictures was very hard. What impressed me about this memorial was just how magnificent it looked as we were jogging towards it. From afar, the pillars itself displays a somewhat grand feeling but as you slowly approach it, you start to notice little details. Every time I visit D.C., I always manage to find more and more details about each monument, as if an architect somehow changes it every time I visit. Not to stray from the topic……..as we got closer what appealed to me was the detail in the architecture. With every step that you took, you could see Lincoln sitting inside looking very humble, yet a powerful man who has definitely made a huge impact in history. It’s no wonder that they built such a grand monument for him, and it is only positively fitting that the Lincoln Memorial is facing directly towards the Washington Monument, and vice versa.

Moving on, we jogged over the the National World War II Memorial. With this monument only being about 3 years old, it was most definitely my favorite sight to see that day, not because it was new, but because of the fact that it honored the the men who served and the men who died. I loved how each state in the U.S. got it’s own pillar, and that not only was America represented, but also the Atlantic and the Pacific. Visiting this Memorial gave me a sense of unity and appreciation for how lucky we are toady living in this day and age.

Out of all three of the memorials and monuments, I would say that the World War II Memorial was a bit different than the other two because that memorial was dedicated to the men who served for our country, and the other two was dedicated to men who dedicated their lives to change America and make it a better future for us.