Day 231: White Houses and Cricket on the Mall

The White House, the Pentagon, the Capitol, the Mall, the Memorials, the Monuments.  In DC there is enough architecture, sculptures and buildings to keep anyone’s head spinning.  Our original plan to come to the nations capital went from a simple meeting with The Roy Castle Foundation’s sister charity, The Lung Cancer Alliance, to a full blown extravaganza including a tour of the fireman’s museum, a bath for Martha, cricket on the Mall right in front of the Capitol, photos in front of the White House and a generous free lunch from the manager of the Fireman’s museum.

With all of these different building names and being the defacto yank tour guide, it is easy to get a little mixed up from time to time.  After a nap during the short ride from Fredericksburg to DC, I was woken with a myriad of questions from the crew about different buildings and directions. “Steve, what is that?  Steve, where is the white house?  Steve, is that the Pentagon?  Steve, Steve, Steve…” Of course, I was a bit mixed up upon waking and mistakenly called the Capitol the White House.  This proceeded to award me a barrage of never ending pokes from the crew, which I certainly deserved after such a gross mistake.  Luckily enough the Lung Cancer Alliance has its headquarters just down the street from the White House to it was easy navigation to their headquarters once everyone stopped listening to my unreliable answers to their rapid fire questions.

Maureen at the Lung Cancer alliance could not have been more accommodating on our arrival.  Not only did she line up a row of parking spaces directly in front of the Capitol, she had even printed a banner showing the alliance’s support of the expedition.  Even better yet, she lined up everything with the local Fire Station, effectively ramping up our afternoon from a simple meeting to a overwhelming display of hospitality on all fronts.

Steve and James gave all of the Americans some brilliant Cricket lessons on the Mall and to keep a long story short, the day was an absolute treat.  It is moments like these that take the expedition from excellent to completely surreal.  We cannot thank everyone here in DC more for their incredible warmth and time spent welcoming us to the city.  Day 231 will certainly go down in the log books as an epic day for all.

A special thanks goes out to Maureen from me for squashing the crew’s razzing of me on the White House mistake, when she admitted to having made the same mistake as I did calling the Capitol the White House when organizing the permits for our parking on the mall.    Especially for Steve Moore, this was an epic moment seeing Martha beneath the Capitol steps and fitting in a quick round of cricket in one of the most iconic places on the planet.  And one thing is certain, DC will keep all of our heads spinning until we leave, with all the amazing monuments and history.

[flickr album=72157626086572921 num=30 size=Square]