Saving Private Ryan

Adding Washington, DC, to our coddiwomple was an afterthought. After all, we don’t enjoy leashes, and hence, don’t enjoy cities. But we had to spend one night between Provincetown and Isle of Palms somewhere. We’ve previously chosen a chain hotel off the highway as far from metropolitan areas as possible.

But I was strangely compelled to see Washington’s monuments for the first time in forty years. As a child, my father brought us to DC several times and took pride in showing us around.

I reserved a room half a mile from the Lincoln Memorial in the Hive Microhotel, parked Clarence in a garage, and checked out our room before taking a five-mile sunset walk around many of the monuments. Even as the night crept across the sky, crowds were nearly everywhere, and while I was happy we did take the walk, Samwise and Emily were not thrilled.

I slept deeply that night with vivid dreams of the historical stops we made as day turned to night. And then, with a start, I woke up as if to a whisper a…