Welcome to Sleepy Shorts Short Stories for Bedtime. This podcast is brought to you
by I have a story to tell you that will help take your mind off
of all your worries and cares. You will listen and relax and drift peacefully
into sleep. It's time to turn off the lights and snuggle into your bed.
Find your most comfortable position there. Now take a few seconds to relax
your mind. It's time to sleep. Time to rest and rejuvenate our minds
and bodies. In order to prepare our bodies for sleep, let's do a
couple of muscle relaxation and breathing exercises. I want you to inhale for a
count of three, and while doing so, tighten all your muscles ready and
inhale one two three, Hold your breath, keep your muscles tense. Now
exhale to account of six. While you relax your muscles one two, three,
four five six, feel your body sinking deeper into your bed. Let's
do this one more time. Take a deep three second breath as you tighten
your muscles one two three, hold it now, relax and exhale to account
of six. One two, three, four, five six. Let your
body sink even deeper into your bed again. It's time now for your sleepy
short. Let me help you fall us sleep A day in Washington DC.
Have you ever spent a day in Washington, d C? We have,
and in tonight's Sleepy Shorts episode, I want to tell you all about it.
We rode the Metro in from the Dunloring Metro station, headed for the
National Mall in Washington, d C. The Metro was busy and loud,
people riding escalators up and down looking at maps as they tried to figure out
what train to take and where to exit. We got on the Orange Line
train and sat and watched people getting on and off as we made the multiple
stops to get to our destination. The people on the train were an eclectic
group of tourists, businesspeople, and your average everyday travel I always want to
ask them where they are going and where they are from, but we just
sat and people watched for the thirty minute ride. Capital South was our first
stop, and we got off there with water bottles in hand and excitement to
explore. From the Metro station, we headed north to get to Independence Avenue
that took us past a couple of huge pillared house of Representative office buildings and
the United States Postal Service. We could see the side of the United States
Capital from there. This white building is massive and beautiful, with arches and
pillars and copper domes. One day we would like to go inside and take
a tour, but for that day we were just sightseeing. The trees were
all in full loom with pink and white cherry blossoms. The hundreds of cherry
trees were a gift from the Japanese back in nineteen twelve. We marveled at
how old these trees were, and how beautiful with their dainty blossoms and horizontal
bark striations on their trunks. Oak trees also abound at the National Mall.
We wondered how old some of those must have been. Surely at least two
hundred years old, wouldn't you think. We wondered what kind of stories these
gentle ancient trees would tell if they could. The sidewalks weren't terribly crowded,
and the weather was pleasantly warm, with a cool, soft breeze. After
a couple of minutes of walking past the Capitol Building, we came to the
United States Botanic Garden. It has a huge domed greenhouse is home to over
ten thousand living plant specimens. I had heard that some of those plants are
over one hundred and sixty years old and that they are hand watered every day.
As we walked along the outdoor gardens, there were actually a few different
species of cacti. We wondered how the cacti managed to stay alive in what
can be such a humid climate. But these cacti weren't really thriving, not
like the hundreds of plants and trees that love the humidity of Northern Virginia.
Continuing down the street, we passed by the First Lady's water Garden, the
rose Garden, and the butterfly Garden. So many shapes and colors and scents
abound there, along with too many different species of birds to even count.
Blue jays, cardinals, sparrows, finches, and other birds we couldn't identify.
Just past the gardens, we came to the National Museum of the American
Indian It looks like a huge bige rock formation, with the edges blown smooth
and round by the wind. It is surrounded by four acres of wetlands,
cattails, ponds, and aquatic plants. In front of the building, there
was a life size teepee, which of course had to serve as the backdrop
for a few selfies. The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum was next Inside
we found the Apollo eleven command module, which landed on the Moon, and
a moon rock. We also found every type of flying spacecraftaginable, from the
Right Brothers flyer of nineteen oh three to modern jets and military aircraft planes made
of wood and metal, with every different design imaginable. Some looked as though
they never could have taken flight, and others looked as though they could fly
forever. We headed farther down the street and came across a cylinder shaped building
called the Hershorn Museum. There are over twelve thousand pieces of modern and contemporary
art in that building. One day we would like to come back and take
a little more time perusing through the rooms full of beautiful, imaginative and creative
artwork. At the next block we found a huge red brick building. We
thought it would house some amazing artifacts or something, but it turned out it
is closed to the public and rented out for private events only. We found
out this was the Arts and Industries building, and this was the very first
national mall museum. It's too bad it isn't used for the public anymore.
Our next few stops were the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, the Smithsonian
Castle, and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. The African Art Museum has
over nine thousand works of art and relics inside its gray walls and green copper
rooftop. The Smithsonian Castle really did look like a big red castle, but
unfortunately only administrative offices were inside. But the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery was
very impressive. It is actually the National Museum of Asian Art. Beautiful sculptures,
exquisite jade from China, and modern pots and vases from Japan line the
walls in this museum. We kept walking along Independence Avenue and came upon the
cutest farmer's market. Who would expect to find a farmer's market in downtown Washington,
d C. We sure didn't, but they had an array of organic
fruits and vegetables and colorful herbs and flowers. We will be sure to go
back sometime. Just past the market was a big concrete bridge spanning from one
side of the road to the other. We found out. This was one
of the two United States Department of Agriculture pedestrian arches that serve as walkways between
the two USDA buildings. The buildings themselves are beige colored stone with sculptures embedded
in the exterior of cows and sheep. After we passed under the second pedestrian
bridge and crossed fourteenth Street, we could see the beautiful lawns of Constitution Garden
with tourists strolling on paths that connect to different memorials. The Washington Memorial was
there, jutting up out of the ground with its cream colored brick and pointy
top. There is an elevator in there, and we were told that originally
it was thought that an elevator rising that high would be unsafe for women and
children, so they were not allowed in. Also, that original elevator took
along twenty minutes to get to the top. We decided to skip an elevator
ride and continue walking toward the tidal Basin. The title basin is a man
made reservoir that releases two hundred and fifty million gallons of water twice a day.
Today, the basin was covered with Happy Life jacket wearing tourists in paddle
boats, enjoying the warm sun and cool breeze. There was a lemonade vendor
there, and we bought two large lemonades to quench our thirst and continued on
our walk. The World War Two memorial caught our attention as we sipped our
lemonades. It's a huge monument with granite pillars and arches surrounding a large fountain.
The splashing of the cool fountain water invited us closer, so we decided
to go take a more detailed look. We discovered that the granite pillars were
easily fifteen to twenty feet tall and had inscriptions on them. We also found
a large wall with thousands of gold stars covering it. It was hard to
leave the serenity of this memorial, but we still had a few more places
to visit. We strolled down the sidewalk under the tall cherry trees toward the
Martin Luther King Junior Memorial. This memorial features a thirty foot tall sculpture of
doctor Martin Luther King Junior, standing just past two other huge slabs of granite,
looking solemnly out over the tidal basin. There were many tourists here taking
pictures and smiling and talking with one another. We spent a few minutes looking
out over the tidle basin with Doctor King before we continued on to the final
destination on our journey. At this point we were happy to be nearing the
end of our explorations for the day because we were tired, yet we were
pleased with what we had seen so far. The Lincoln Memorial was our last
stop. It is a giant Pillard memorial at the top of a huge staircase.
Within the memorial is a larger than life statue of Abraham Lincoln sitting on
a chair and looking out over the reflecting pool in Constitution Gardens. We sat
down on the steps and joined Abraham Lincoln and looking out over the shimmering pool.
As the sun began to set, It felt good to rest our feet
As we chatted about the things we had seen. From our perch on the
steps, we could see the huge Washington Memorial reaching toward the sky just past
the reflecting pool. The crowds of tourists were starting to disperse, getting into
their tour buses and driving away. It wasn't long until we were two of
the last tourists there. We sat in silence, listening to the breeze,
and taking in the scenery and beauty all around us. This was a trip
we would not soon forget, and as we finally walked back to the metro
station by moonlight, we promised each other we would do it again. Good
Night, m m h