DocAndersen
More images of the US National Mall today these from outside. It makes me feel bad for people that don’t live in the DC area. If you live where we do in Maryland, going to the museums is a Metro ride. We can decide to go at 8 in the morning on a Saturday, and we are there. But if you live in Atlanta, you end taking vacation days. You bring your kids to see the treasures of our nation. But, right now, you would sadly be locked out of many of them. Yes, the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the Tidal Pond, the reflecting pool those are open. You can wander close (as in the pictures shared today) to the Washington Monument. You can’t go to the monument, that is closed.
It is not fair to hold the treasures of a nation hostage. That would be like France closing the Arc de Triumph or the Eiffel Tower. London Bridge not opening (well the original is now on Lake Havasu in Arizona US). I wonder how many vacations have been ruined. While you can reschedule, the prices change. What is reasonable in DC in January, is horrifying expensive in the summer. Spring break is probably a 20% cost increase as well. It is really sad in the end when you think about it. The impact of the impasse over the partial shutdown of the government isn’t either side of this argument. It is the 800,000 federal employees now on furlough. It is the 1.2 million contractors that cannot work.
Oh yeah and the families, US and sadly and probably even worse those coming from Overseas. Imagine a dream vacation (although if you are looking for US dream vacations, I would say Maine or Colorado personally) of coming to Washington DC from London, Paris or perhaps Sydney Australia. Trips that have to be cancelled because the things to see are limited now. What a sad image this must send to the world. Two sides locked in a battle that has no winners. But, if you look lots and lots of losers. It is a sad time for the world anyway. Why should we dig in and make it worse. Anyway today’s pictures outdoors at the national mall and pictures of the Washington Monument. Near the base of the Washington Monument is the WWII monument, The Vietnam Memorial and many other beautiful places to see!
One of the things I will never understand what with people planning vacations well in advance and this bringing so many great disappointments.
It is so sad for people that have to schedule at a specific time, and really want to go to a specific place.
What really happened there?
So, vacation with family can only be done to surround the buildings?
Yes, if your goal is to see the museums, the memories and the treasures. It would be like the national hero’s cemetery in Indonesia was closed because of funding. Instead of saying you can walk around freely they put a fence around it and say you cannot enter.
I have a really good friend who is a school teacher. She and her Husband had planned their vacation for two years (saving money to pay for everything). Now, they have to wait another year.
Yes, I understand what you mean by that, but why does that happen? Is it due to unavailability of maintenance budget for example? and if for that reason, there must be a deeper reason, right?
sorry, Albert, I didn’t understand. yes the US government ran out of money and non-essential services had to be shut down.
That’s okay, Doc. Now I understand more.
I was just thinking about that the day before yesterday. What about all the people with dream vacations from other parts of the world. Really there should be a better way than to close everything. Sighs. Still it looks like it was a nice day and there are plenty of oustide things to see.
Most of the outside attractions are open, but there is for some of them a trash issue. Federal workers (park service) empty the trash cans. The city of DC has started doing some, but there are some that aren’t emptied daily as they used to be.
It is really sad.
I thought the gov used private contracts for clean up in the parks. Maybe that is just some of them. Still I guess they would still be off work right? There are still parks all over the states, federally run ones, that have been closed since the last one. They never did open back up, some only opened parts of the parks back up.
It is a mix of federal employees (supervisors) and contractors (actually trash haulers) so you are correct!