Where Has The Time Gone?! (Part I)

Wow!  It has been over a month since I last posted.  I can't figure out where the time has gone!  I've definitely been keeping busy around here, seeing new sites, doing a little bit of traveling.  I have a lot to cover so it may take a couple of posts to catch everyone up on the last month.  I'll begin with my trip to the Joint Services Open House and Air Show at Andrew's Air Force Base with my friend Amber.  Amber and I went to MSOE together and her husband is in the Air Force and stationed at Andrew's.  They actually live just down the road from me but we aren't able to together very often.  There were tons of awesome aircraft to tour and to watch in flight.  Below are a few choice pics!

 (This is the Super Guppy, used by NASA to transport shuttles and other space aircraft)

(This is a T-6 Texan)

(Boeing V-22 Osprey, the rotors drop down in mid-flight and this helicoptor is transformed into a plane!)

(SB2C Helldiver)

(US Army Golden Knights parachute team)

(AV 8B Harrier Jet)

(Northrop Grumman B2 Spirit Bomber, rarely seen in flight)

(The show ended with a performace by the Navy Blue Angels)

It was such a fantastic day!  The last couple of pictures I have are blurry because my camera battery died and I had to use my cell phone.  Unfortunately, because of cost issues, this was the last annual air show.  They have no decided to hold the event every other year so I guess if I'm still out here in May of 2014, I can't wait to go back!

Lets switch gears to a few people that have come to visit our Wounded Warriors at the hospital in the past month...

(This is a really poor picture with the Washington Nationals, the lady I gave my phone to apparently has never used an iphone camera before and didn't understand the concept of holding it still while taking the photo...she also didn't understand the concept of turning the camer for a landscape shot and I had to stitch together the three photos she took)

(This is Joe Mantegna, he plays Agent De Rossi on the TV show, Criminal Minds, other popular movies are The Godfather and Airheads!)

(The lady from the New York Mets was much better at taking photos!)

(Governor Scott Walker came one day, I couldn't believe it!  I was the only person there who knew who he was but it was pretty cool that he came.  We had quite the chat too)

(This is Boyd Tinsley, the violinist from Dave Matthews Band)

(WWE Superstar John Cena was on the unit but we didn't get a picture with him)

Saving the best for last....

(NEIL DIAMOND!!!  Neil even tweeted about his visit, he was so nice!  Check out the tweet:

http://twitter.com/#!/NeilDiamond/media/slideshow?url=pic.twitter.com%2FAsCn7zYI )

A couple of other people we had visit but don't have pictures of include the Deputy Secretary of Defense, Ashton Carter, and just yesterday, the Sergeant Major of the Army, Raymond F. Chandler III.  He is the  most senior ranking enlisted member of the Army.  Ben Stein and the Baltimore Orioles were also there but came on days I wasn't working.     

Going back in time a few weeks, Memorial Day, my friend Julie and her boyfriend, Tim, and I went to Ellicott City to meet up with a couple of their friends for a day of fun in the sun.  We headed out to a quarry nearby for some fishing and kayaking.  The fishing was pretty dismal but the kayaking was a lot of fun, we even got Julie's dog, Roxy in the boat.  She didn't really want to come along but once we put her in she was a pretty good boater!

(Roxy and I on the water)

Julie, Roxy, and I also went on an adventure to Great Falls National Park.  It's in Virginia, along the Potomac. 

 (This is just beyond the Great Falls, looking at the Maryland side)

 (Great Falls National Park, the Potomac, from the Virginia side)

(Roxy is checking out the stream that we found when we were hiking through the woods along the Great Falls)

This will be it for this post, much more in the next one though!

More Visitors and More Adventures

(Collin Raye and I)

A couple of weeks ago, country singer Collin Raye stopped by the hospital.  Most of the time, we have to ask if someone visiting will stop for a picture and then they take one photo with the entire staff, he actually stopped to talk to us and asked if he could take pictures with us, then each person got their own picture and he had individual conversations with all of us.  What a nice guy!

Last Friday, I attended the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Nurse's Ball.  I went with my friend Julie and her boyfriend Tim.  It wasn't that exciting, unfortunately.  It was held at the Hilton hotel which is just a couple of blocks from our apartment complex so we walked there.  There weren't many people that we knew, most were higher ranking officers.  There was one other person there that works on my unit, Rebekah, and we talked to our two bosses for a little while.  We left after about two hours, below are a couple of pictures I took.

 (Julie and I)

 (The ballroom, it looks more crowded than it really was)

(Rebekah and I)

Last Saturday I took a trip down to DC to explore a few more places on my list.  My first stop was the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence, Constitution of the United States, Bill of Rights, and the Magna Carta.  Unfortunately, cameras aren't allowed anywhere in the building so the only pictures I have are ones from their website, http://www.archives.gov/

(Outside, it's a beautiful building)

(Declaration of Independence, it's so old it can barely be read anymore)

(Constitution of the United States, also can't read this one very well)

(Bill of Rights)

(Some old photos in the archives, this one is 'Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima')

(Another famous WWII photo from Times Square, New York, celebrating the surrender of the Japanese on August 14, 1945)

(Rosie the Riveter)

After the National Archives I walked over to the Library of Congress. It's a beautiful building! 

(The Library of Congress)

 (This was parked out front of the Library of Congress, I just had a to take a picture of the Speaker lights!!  :)  I know a quality product when I see one!)

 (The Library of Congress has some beautiful ceiling murals and statues)

(Wall mosaic inside the Library of Congress)

(The Library of Congress is currently exhibiting Thomas Jefferson's library, which, at the time it was donated in 1814, was the world's largest personally owned collection.  Almost 6,500 books were sold by Jefferson for $23,950 after a fire set by the British destroyed the existing Library of Congress.  Another fire on Christmas Eve of 1851 destroyed nearly 2/3 of Jefferson's collection and Congress has been attempting to replace the library ever since.)

(The US Supreme Court-I didn't go inside that day, just walked past it on my way to other things, next time though)



(Beautiful fountain I walked past on my way to Union Station)

I also stopped at the National Postal Museum. It was interesting, not terribly exciting though. 

(These were part of the exhibits)

Last stop on my list for the day was Union Station.  It's pretty much a big mall but it is also rented out for private events, such as this Red Bull event (in the picture below) and several inaugural events have also been held here.

Not a lot was open when I went but it's right on the Red Line, which is what I take to get home so after I looked around I hopped back on the metro and headed for home. It was a great day, and I was able to cross a few more things off my list!

Yesterday, my friend Julie and I decided to go for a hike on our day off.  We were looking for a new place to visit that was dog friendly so she could bring her boxer-pitbull mix, Roxy.  After a quick internet search I found Great Falls National Park, 14 miles away from our apt and on the Potomac River in Virginia.  Absolutely stunning park!! 

(the Great Falls from the Virginia side!  The park is 800 acres, amazing!)

(Awesome river and I found climbing as well!  Can't wait to go back!)

(More photos of our trek through the woods, Roxy sure had fun)

(Little waterfall)

That's all for this post, I included a lot of different events to cover May.  I've switched back to day shift and don't have as much free time for blogging now...too busy enjoying the beautiful weather on my days off!  Until next time...Cheers!

Clara Barton and John Mayer

What do the two have in common you might wonder...the answer?  Absolutely nothing.  Last week my group at work went on a field trip to the Clara Barton House, now a National Historic Site and as far as John Mayer is concerned, he showed up on my unit this past week to meet our patients and we got a picture with him.  For those that don't know who he is, he's a Grammy-award winning singer/song writer. 

Born in 1821, Clara Barton's first career was as a teacher and principal.  She opened the first free school in New Jersey and in her first year as principal, her student population grew from 6 to 600.  After the first year, the school board felt the school would be better run by a man and she was demoted to Vice Principal.  Feeling very frustrated, she quit her job and moved to Washington DC where she started working for the US Patent office and making her the first woman to receive a substantial clerkship for the federal government and earn a salary equal to that of her male counterparts.  3 years later however, after political opposition to women working for the government, her job was eliminated.  Shortly after being dismissed, she returned to a lesser job for the government and after a trainload of Union soldiers was mobbed by the Confederates, she tended to their injuries and created an agency to obtain and distribute supplies to wounded soldiers.  From there she received permission and was the first woman to travel to the front lines of the battlefields to tend to soldiers.  She was almost killed when a bullet went through the sleeve of her dress, missing her but killing the soldier she was tending to.  She was placed in charge of the hospitals for the Union Armies. 

After the war she formed the Office of Missing Soldiers helping identify and mark nearly 13,000 soldier's graves.  She was part of the women's suffrage movement and activist for black civil rights.  She travelled to Europe in 1869 to assist with the Franco-Prussian War and that's where she learned about the Red Cross.  Upon her return to the United States in 1873, she began the push to join the International Red Cross by creating the American Red Cross but she was denied because the government believed there would never be a need as we would never be in another war.  On May 21, 1881, the American Red Cross was formed after Barton included natural disaster relief to the mission of the organization.  Over the next several decades, Barton travelled all across the country providing aide to victims of various floods, fires, and droughts, including a fire in Milwaukee, WI in the 1890's. 

In 1891, in the hopes that the American Red Cross would locate their headquarters in MD, land and free labor was given to Clara Barton as well as the ability to design the building, thus the Clara Barton House was built. 

(This is the Clara Barton House today)

The house has 15 bedrooms, all guests were allowed to stay for free but were expected to work for their room and board.  If they weren't assisting the Red Cross efforts then they were cooking and cleaning. 

(The house has three levels, this is looking up from the foyer)

(After the house was built, Barton removed many of the wall panels to create closets to store supplies)

 (This is the piano room that is joined to the front sitting room, below...)

 (This is the front sitting room)

(This is the dining room)

(The doors leading into the main office area of the home)

(Part of the office) 

 (One of the bedrooms)

(A second bedroom with a sits bath on the right side next to the mirror)

(Clara's personal sitting room where she wrote at least 70 letters a week)

 (Clara's bedroom and the bed where she died of pneumonia on April 12, 1912 at the age of 90)

 (These original windows are position on the second level at the front of the house)

 (This is our group!  I'm in the back, third from the right)

 (This is my unit with John Mayer, he's the tall one in the middle and I'm just to the right of him...a better picture might surface later, if one does, I'll post it but this is all I have for now)

In the last couple of weeks Kevin Bacon, Wanda Sykes, Wee-Man (again), now John Mayer, and the President and First Lady have all visited our unit, I had no idea so many people would come by.  I was only working when John Mayer visited but who knows who else will show up.  I'll be sure to post when they do!