The Charlotte 500, Lap 35 - 41: More Capitol Stuff

Lap 35: The Willard Hotel - This is hardly a great photo, but it's the garage entrance to the Willard Hotel, which was the premiere hotel in Washington during the Civil War era, at least it hosted lots of famous people, including General Grant, who probably didn't park his horse in this garage when he arrived to take control of the Union armies in 1864. Really, I don't even know how much of the current hotel is "authentic" or how much has been rebuilt, but as a history buff, it was cool to see the name on the sign.

Lap 36: The Capitol. Our day in Washington was dark and wet, but even in the gloomy weather, this is still an impressive building to see in person.








Lap 37: The Washington Monument - It's hard to get a good picture of this thing, but this'll do. You all know what it looks like, anyway.









Lap 38: The Lincoln Memorial - On such an ugly day, there weren't many people in town, but I think half of those that were in town were crammed into the Lincoln Memorial, showing how compelling Lincoln is, even after 140 years.

Lap 39: The World War II Memorial - Another site that's hard to capture without a million dollar camera. I didn't get a good image of the fountains in the middle, so if you picture water spouting skyward just to the right of this picture, you'll get an idea of what it looks like.



Lap 40: Ford's Theater - Closed for renovations on our visit, all I have is this picture from the sidewalk across the street, which is approximately in front of the Petersen house, where President Lincoln was taken after being shot in Ford's Theater.



Lap 41: The Petersen house - This tiny room is where Abraham Lincoln died the morning after after being shot in Ford's Theater. It's not a very clear image, but that's probably okay since, from what I understand, most of the items in the room are reproductions, etc. Still, it was an eerie feeling to be in the room where Lincoln died.