DC With Tourist's Eyes

Since I've returned from my road trip adventure, the things that used to annoy me about DC haven't been annoying me. The Metro. The crowds. The delays. I'm finding myself to be much more mellow with regard to it all. I guess that's what travel will do for you.

I've also found myself with a newfound appreciation for DC's beauty and tenor. It's a vibrant, buzzing place that I missed more than I realized when I was on the road. This afternoon I decided to soak in the unseasonably warm 50 degree weather and wander DC's woody Mt. Pleasant, Columbia Heights, and Woodley Park neighborhoods.

These pictures are from that stroll.

President Clinton Birthplace Home

The last stop on my journey was the birthplace home of President William Jefferson Clinton. I had resolved to drive from Texas to DC all in one 24 hour span and didn't plan on making any frivolous stops. But after crossing over from Texas into Arkansas I noticed a sign off Interstate 30 indicating that Hope, Arkansas was coming up and within Hope stood the birthplace home of President Clinton.

Thinking it fitting that I add a dollop more presidentiality to my journey on top of the Iowa caucuses and LBJ Library, I was able to rationalize the stop. I'm glad I did. Hope is a rather vacant, inappropriately-named town, but I guess presidents can come from humble beginnings. A tall, lonely white house at 117 S. Hervey Street is the first that Bill Clinton ever lived in. I was the only visitor at the National Historic Site early that afternoon and got a personal tour of the whole house. The park ranger told me the story of Bill Clinton's upbringing, and I realized I didn't know it. I do now.

Bill Clinton was born Billy Blythe to Virginia Dell Cassidy three months after his father, William Jefferson Bythe, died in an auto accident. Virginia left him with his grandparents at this house in Hope while she studied nursing in New Orleans. She would later marry Roger Clinton, a car dealer who lived in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Bill would take Clinton as a last name when he was fifteen. The park ranger told me Bill did it because he had a younger brother and thought brothers should have the same last name.

Although none of the furnishings in the house were actual, they were historically from the same era as when little Billy lived there right down to the Hopalong Cassidy blanket on the future president's bed. The only artifact at the house Clinton actually owned once is a book a family member had preserved. It doesn't feel that ancient, but it's still history.

After touring the house, I walked through the small museum nearby. Two Clinton quotes stood out:

All my life, I've been interested in other people's stories. I've wanted to know them, understand them, feel them. When I grew up and got into politics, I always felt the main point of my work was to give people a chance to have better stories.

and

I learned a lot from the stories my uncles, aunts, and grandparents told me: that no one is perfect but most people are good...Perhaps most important, I learned that everyone has a story...

Whole Foods

One final place in Austin that warrants mention is the original Whole Foods. Situated in downtown Austin just west of the capitol, it's a beacon of nutritious goodness. Different than a typical grocery store, the original Whole Foods has a number of restaurant like lounges throughout the store serving seafood, wine, and pastries as well as a giant salad bar/a la carte cafeteria area at the end of the grocery run.

Instead of the prices being stuck on the shelves, each price is displayed on a digital tag. Super smart way to avoid menu costs! Of course, the upfront cost is higher, but it must make economic sense or else they wouldn't do it. I thought the produce and build-your-own-trailmix sections of the store were especially nice. I also enjoyed a delectable salad from the salad bar: greens, onions, carrots, tofu, salmon, tuna, garbanzo beans, quinoa, with a Tahini Sesame dressing (there may have been other ingredients those are just all the ones I can recall).

LBJ Presidential Library

It has been said that the Presidency is the loneliest office in the world. I did not find it so. Even during the darkest hours of my administration. I always knew that I could draw on the strength, support and love of my family and friends.

But if I was seldom lonely, I was often alone. No one can experience with the President of the United States the glory and agony of his office. No one can share the majestic views from his pinnacle of power. No one can share the burden of his decisions or the scope of his duties. A Cabinet officer, no matter how broad his mandate, has limited responsibility. A Senator, no matter how varied his interests, has a limited constituency. But the President represents all the people and must face up to all the problems. He must be responsible, as he sees it, for the welfare of every citizen and must be sensitive to the will of every group. He cannot pick and choose his issues. They all come with the job. So his experience is unique among his fellow Americans.

- Lyndon B. Johnson, April 1971

Texas Capitol

Last Friday, I spent the morning in downtown Austin. Austin feels like an old Western town that blossomed into a big city. It has some of the same old fashioned storefronts I'd seen in Ouray with more elaborate but still old fashioned banks and hotels built up around and on top of the storefronts.

Downtown Austin is surprisingly tall (much taller than DC). The most iconic and third tallest building is the Frost Bank Tower, which has been likened to an owl. I sort of see it (first picture below). There are lots of sculptures and desert-themed floral displays downtown as well. I particularly liked the lively statue of innkeeper Angilena Eberly firing a cannon.

In 1842, Eberly fired a cannon through the General Land Office Building when she noticed Republic of Texas archives and artifacts being spirited away from the capital city en route to Houston. This alerted Austin residents to what was happening and rallied support for keeping the capital in Austin instead of Houston.

Anchoring downtown Austin is the Texas Capitol. Completed in 1888, the Red Sunset granite edifice is towering and sturdy, befitting the state it serves. I took a 45 minute tour and learned all about Texas history and the building. The Capitol itself hardly cost the taxpayers of the state anything--politicians sold land in Northern Texas to California businessmen for the funds to build the structure.

The rotunda peaks 218 feet above the terrazzo floor in the center of the Capitol. The center of the dome is adorned with a star eight-feet across that looks like a thumbnail from the ground far below. The floor bears the seals of the six countries whose flags have flown over Texas--France, Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Confederacy, and the United States.

Hanging from the walls of the five floors tapering up to the rotunda are portraits of the state's governors and the presidents of the Republic of Texas before that. The most recent former governor--currently George W. Bush--gets prime real estate on the south wall of the main floor. Whenever a new governor takes office, Capitol staff shifts all the portraits back one to make room for the additional painting. The process takes five days.

Aside from George W. Bush, I enjoyed learning about Governor Mirium Ferguson, known as Ma Ferguson. She was Texas' first female governor and served two non-consecutive terms. Her husband had been governor before her, but had been thrown out of office for corruption and withholding funding from the University of Texas. Running as her husband's surrogate, Ma Ferguson was elected a few years later, then lost due to allegations of corruption before being elected once more.

An old joke about Ma Ferguson goes that once when she entered an elevator a man inadvertently stepped on her foot and said, "Pardon me." Governor Ferguson responded: "Oh, you'll have to talk to my husband about that."