Shake It Up

Some of our trip plans were curtailed by Mother Nature. That beyotch can hold a grudge.

Seems Hurricane Irene brought down lots of branches and leaves but wasn't nearly as big a deal as the unnamed 5.8 earthquake had been a few days earlier.

Evidently, we had no need to trek up past Georgetown and the embassies to the National Cathedral. They were going to be busy tarnishing some of its magnificence by installing a safety net inside to prevent the faithful and the awestruck from being bonked on the head with falling debris. Debris jarred loose from its moorings by the 5.8 quake. I am delighted to report however, that the piece of moon rock is still affixed to the space travel triptych. God only knows how it got there. It may be illegal for it to be there. In a completely unrelated story, (unless you are me who can connect any two dissimilar dots almost effortlessly) I recently learned that if I were to commandeer a piece of space junk that falls out of the sky when something like Skylab reenters the Earth's orbit and threatens to crash into my house, my car or my person, it would be unlawful for me to keep it. It is government property. So that little chunk of moon rock is illegal from a possession standpoint, and frankly, a separation of church and state standpoint, too.

Also, some of the spires and gargoyles were a little jangled. I can see why. Out there high atop the cathedral, exposed to the elements. Waving back and forth as the Earth moved.

And the flying buttresses. A few of those were damaged. Despite the fact that their name inspires giggles from 8 year olds the world over, they are serious architectural necessities. A crack in a buttress (no pun intended) is all I need to hear about to stay away.

And the Washington Monument. Evidently a bunch of chunks fell to the ground and there is some kind of crack somewhere that has everyone in a structural integrity uproar. (Hil swears she can see it.) Even the hill surrounding the monument is closed, again, to prevent any unfortunate bonkings on heads. But can you imagine the poor folks who were on their scheduled tour to the top the day of the quake, and were swaying back and forth for no explainable reason? It must have been pandemonium. I bet the tour guides all quit and that is why it's closed. Crack, schmack.

What to do, what to do? We had to find a plan B and quickly. DC is our oyster and we had no shortage of time or money, so we gathered around a kiosk depicting a map and the noteworthy sights nearby, and rock-paper-scissorsed our way to a game plan.