July 9, 2009   Uncategorized

Quack, quack! DUKW, DUKW!

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We had planned to visit the Natural History and American History museums today, but that didn’t work out.
 
We started out with breakfast at the Silver Diner again, and then took the Metro Orange and Red lines into Union Station again.
 
This let me get some more pictures of the inside of the station.  It’s really something.
 
Union Station 1

Union Station 1

Union Station 2

Union Station 2

Union Station 3

Union Station 3

We had come back here to take the DC Duck tour.

It’s a 90 minute tour, one hour on land and 30 minutes on the Potomac River.  We traveled in a WWII DUKW amphibious vehicle, or Duck.

Duck 1

Duck 1

We had a great time on this tour.  We saw a number of places we didn’t see on the other tour, and a different view (from the river) of others.

While still on land we did get a better view of the Jefferson Memorial.

Jefferson Memorial

Jefferson Memorial

When it was time for us to hit the water, we just drove down a boat ramp on the Potomac River and off we went.   Neat !!

Duck 2

Duck 2

I want one.

We also got a river view of the Pentagon.  This is the opposite side from where the plane hit on 9/11.

Pentagon from the Potomac

Pentagon from the Potomac

We passed under the 14 St. bridges where  the Air Florida 737 took off Washington National Airport (now Ronald Reagan – Washington National), fell out of the sky, bounced off the bridge, and crashed into the freezing Potomac on January 13, 1982.

The bridge was later renamed the ‘Arland D. Williams Jr’  bridge after one of the plane’s passengers who repeatedly helped others to safety until he died in the frigid water.

78 people died, including 4 whose cars were crushed when the plane hit the bridge.  Only five passengers survived.

From the river we also got a unique shot of two famous monuments in one, The Washington Monument and the Jefferson Memorial.

Two Monuments in One

Two Monuments in One

We came back out of the river near the airport and hit the road again.
Duck 3

Duck 3

We pulled back into Union Station about 2:45.  We then realized that we really wouldn’t have time to do two, or even one of the museums,  justice.

So we decided to eat supper at Union Station and head home early to miss the ‘going home’ rush on the Metro.

We’ll try the museums again tomorrow.

PV: 24