In late February, I made my last trip to visit our North Dakota legislators on Capitol Hill in my capacity as North Dakota Wing Commander for Civil Air Patrol. During my tenure, I’ve made the trip to D.C. each February. Until this year, it was cloudy, dreary, and rainy. This year, as our contingent walked from the Senate office building complex to the House of Representatives office complex, even though it was quite cold, it was a beautiful day. As we walked by the Library of Congress, I had to stop and capture a cellpic of this beautiful exterior.

The interior is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful buildings in the city. For more details on the library and to see some of the beautiful interior, look here. The Great Hall with its ornate ceiling, large columns and arches, and grand staircase is nothing short of spectacular. The dedicated congressional library building opened in 1897.

The photo was captured on a Samsung S7 cellphone. The image will likely be the last photo of Washington D.C. taken with the cell phone’s camera. The phone actually belongs to Civil Air Patrol. It was assigned to me when I assumed the job of Commander, and it’s served me well. The glass case is shattered on the back, it’s barely held together by the protective case that apparently didn’t provide full protection at some time when I dropped it. The battery is in constant state of needing a recharge, lasting less than 3 hours on a charge. Our wing’s new Commander will take over in early April and he will be assigned a new phone with a new number. This phone will be taken out of service.

About the photo: On a beautiful sunny afternoon, I had to step around several tour buses parked across the street to get a clear view of the building. The bright sunlight allowed the camera to provide an automatic shutter speed of 1/3800 sec. at f/1.8. The ISO of 50 allowed a noise free image that I tweaked using Adobe Lightroom. If your browser supports it, you can click on the image above for a better view.

John Steiner

Washington D.C.

As a Wing Commander in Civil Air Patrol (CAP), two of the travel duties assigned are attend the National Summer Conference and attend the Winter Command Council meeting, usually in late February or early March. The Command Council is composed of each state’s Wing Commander and Region Commanders. In addition to briefings of importance that must be shared with the membership, each wing delegation meets with every senator and representative from their respective state to brief them on activities performed by CAP in their state. As North Dakota is a small state, our visitation list is quite small, like all states, we have two senators, but we only have a single representative. Minnesota, our neighbor wing to the immediate east has eight representatives to visit. Larger states have to bring a large delegation of CAP members, For example, California Wing must visit their 53 representatives and two senators in the time allocated for our meetings. Long before I reach Washington DC, my Director of Administration has already scheduled my appointments and I know when I need to be in the Senate and House office buildings and where each person I must visit is located in the collection of buildings.

Our first meeting was in the Russell Building, the Senate Office Building named for Georgia Senator Richard B. Russell Jr, Senator from 1933 to 1971, the location of Senator John Hoeven’s Office. As it turned out, he was called in to a vote just before our meeting. That also meant I wouldn’t be meeting with Senator Heitkamp either. Her meeting in her office in the Hart Senate Office Building was to follow immediately after Senator Hoeven’s meeting. Representative Cramer had left Washington D.C. due to a family illness the day before. This year would be the first time that my meetings would all be with legislative aides. Nevertheless, the meetings go on and I know from previous experience that the legislators get our information based upon follow up contacts.

Prior to becoming Wing Commander, I was twice in the delegation from North Dakota that accompanied our then Wing Commander. This year, due to budget constraints, I had no one with me from our state. When possible we try to take cadets as well as senior members (the name given to members over 21). It’s an educational experience for the cadets and it adds a bullet point about our cadet programs mission for our legislators to meet some of our cadets. Though North Dakota Wing wasn’t able to send anyone but me this year, the Kansas delegation brought several cadets, two of whom were in attendance due to their involvement with CAP cadet activities at the national level. The Kansas Wing Commander graciously volunteered them to accompany me in my meetings. On the left is Cadet Captain Noah Enders and on the right is Cadet Major Donald Leonhardt. Kansas is in our region and these cadets did a great job sharing CAP’s story of our North Central Region and National cadet training programs and activities.

With only three meetings to attend, and those being in the late morning and mid-afternoon, we were able to avoid the rush hour on our metro ride from our hotel in Alexandria, VA to the U.S. Capitol grounds. After our meetings with the two senator’s aides, we ate a leisurely lunch in one of the Capitol lunch rooms, a rare treat for us mid-westerners. Sorry, no photos are allowed in the food service areas. After our last meeting we had time to visit some of the nearby buildings including a tour of the Capitol itself arranged for us by Senator Heitkamp’s office. The view above is of the Washington Monument as seen from one of the patio areas beside the main building.

We walked across the street intending to visit the Supreme Court building, not necessarily to go inside, but to maybe grab a photo or two of the exterior. As we neared the building (on the right in the photo above,) we could see many people milling around and could hear, though not quite understand the person speaking into a bullhorn or other public address system. Were we to approach closer, we’d be in the middle of some sort of protest, no doubt people upset about some recent Supreme Court decision. As we were in uniform, we wisely elected to stay out of photo range and decided to visit the Library of Congress instead.

As with most buildings in Washington D.C. of historical importance, the Library of Congress is a beautiful structure. The images above are details of the Great Hall, the main entrance area into the library, We didn’t spend a lot of time there, but we did go upstairs to get a view of the Main Reading Room. There is a procedure for visitors to be admitted to any of the many reading rooms for research and review. As it was nearing our appointment time for our Capitol tour, we opted to save that for a future visit. The view of the Main Reading Room below was taken from an observation area accessible on the second floor of the Great Hall.

We left the Library of Congress and made our way to our Capitol tour mentioned above. As this trip is a working trip for me, I didn’t want to be dragging around any photo gear, not even my Sony Point and Shoot. All of the images taken this day were with my Samsung S7 cellphone’s rear camera. I took a few photos inside the Capitol during our tour, but I wasn’t happy with any of them, none being decent enough to share. The gallery of images below features high resolution versions of the images captured on our trip to Washington D.C. In most browsers, you can select an image to enlarge it and to scroll through the gallery.

John Steiner

Washington D.C.

This week I finally got around to telling about my Spring trip to our nation’s capital for the Civil Air Patrol’s annual Legislative Day visit with our senators and representatives. That story will be coming soon to a Travel Tuesday post. In the process, I discovered some cell phone photos I captured during my visit. One of the most impressive buildings I happened to wander through in my free time on the hill is the Library of Congress. I shared a couple of photos of the national library in Cellpic Sunday posts a while back. This image is of one of the two staircases in the Great Hall, the library’s entryway to a wealth of knowledge and many reading rooms and other resources.

About the photo: Captured on my Samsung S7, The room wasn’t as well lit as it looks, the camera choosing a lens opening of f/1.7 and shutter speed of 1/25 sec. The ISO was set at 160 to provide a noise free image. Holding the camera steady gave me a nice sharp photograph to share. In most browsers you can click on an image to give you a larger high resolution view.

John Steiner

Washington DC.

On a chilly, gray day in early March, finished with our visits in the congressional offices, my colleagues and I walked over to the U.S. Capitol grounds. A couple weeks ago, I shared a cellpic of the Washington Monument as seen from a side portico of the building. Here’s a front view of this beautiful structure.

About the photo: I used my Samsung S7 to capture the image. The rule for Cellpic Sunday is simple. The image must be captured on a mobile device.

John Steiner

Late February and early March found me in Washington DC for my annual visit with the North Dakota Senators and our single Congressman. The purpose of the meeting is to let them know what Civil Air Patrol has done for their state in the previous twelve months. After the visits, I stopped with a couple of other CAP members at the Library of Congress. We also found ourselves in front of the U.S. Capitol on a cool and slightly breezy afternoon. An overcast sky didn’t make for impressive images, but as we walked toward the main entrances to the Capitol, I spotted the Washington Monument, visible in the distance from the north side of the Capitol building.

Normally I don’t share but one cellpic, but my colleagues offered to take my photo at the Capitol steps. So, here I am, in my official corporate uniform, a little cold and ready to move someplace indoors.

About the photos: These photos were both captured on my Samsung S7 cell phone. The rule for Cellpic Sunday is simple, the image must be captured on a mobile device. On most browsers, you can click on an image to get a better pixel peep (looksee).

John Steiner

Founded in 1800, destroyed by British Troops in 1814, the library is the oldest federal cultural institution in the nation as well as the largest library in the world. There are more than 167 million items in the catalog with over 39 million books alone. Laid end to end, there are about 838 miles (1349 km) of shelving. The library is growing, adding about 12,000 items to the collection daily due to the fact that the library is where people register copyright.

About the image: From a viewpoint on the upper floor, visitors can get a birds eye view of the library’s main reading room. Visitors to the library have access to the room, just ask at the information center as to the procedure. From there, the library is open for your research. The image was captured with my S7 cell phone. The viewing area was separated by a large plexiglass wall. I put the cellphone directly against the plexiglass and took the photo. While that method limits composition angles, it does eliminate reflections from the objects behind the photographer. On most browsers, you can click on the image to enlarge it to view greater detail.

John Steiner

This week, I am spending a few days in our nation’s capital on Civil Air Patrol business. For my friends and family in North Dakota, I am bringing home this cellpic of Sakakawea, photographed in the Emancipation Hall at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center. Sakakawea is linked to North Dakota because as a Shoshone child, she was captured by Hidatsa tribe in what is now North Dakota. She accompanied her husband, Pierre Charbonneau on the Lewis and Clark Expedition, functioning as a guide and translator. The statue depicts her and her son looking westward as they traveled with the expedition. It was presented in 2003 to the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall and is displayed there with statues from the other states.

About the photo: Captured on my Samsung S7 cellphone at f/1.7; 1/60 Sec. ISO-80. The rule for Cellpic Sunday is simple. The image must be captured on a mobile device.

John Steiner

Technically, our trip to Washington D.C. was really a trip to Arlington, Virginia where our hotel and our conference was located, specifically the Crystal City Marriott Hotel. Our work on Thursday, however, was to meet with the legislators for our respective states. Fortunately, a short walk from our hotel through an underground mall brought us to the Crystal City Metro stop.

The Capitol Building, as you might be able to note in the photo above, is having its dome refurbished. We would be near the Capitol for our meetings in the offices of our senators and representatives. The metro would take us to within a block of our appointments, or we could step off at a different stop and ride the escalator to street level and enjoy a walk amid the sights and sounds of our nation’s capital city.

On Sunday, after our work was completed, my wife, Lynn, and I spent the day doing some sightseeing. We rode the metro downtown to visit some historical places, a couple of museums and generally enjoy the sunny February Sunday. There are so many buildings that have familiar names. The J. Edgar Hoover FBI building pictured above is but one example.

On our way to the one Smithsonian museum we would visit, we walked by the National Mall. It’s completely torn up for a several month renovation. Anchored at one end of the mall is the Washington Monument. Having been to some of the other museums along the mall, this trip we would visit the Museum of Natural History. Earlier, we’d also been to Ford’s Theatre and the International Spy museum, so we found ourselves “museumed out” a little earlier than normal. After only a couple of hours wandering through the exhibits at the Natural History Museum, we headed outdoors again. It was getting late and we needed to grab the metro for our ride home. Fortunately, our walk to the metro station was short and we made it a bit shorter by cutting through the sculpture garden.

The garden, which is part of the National Museum of Art, has a public ice skating rink as its centerpiece. In the shadow of the National Archives Building, the rink was quite busy the day of our visit. The photo above gives the impression it’s not being used, however as we walked by, the Zamboni was busy resurfacing the rink so skaters all were waiting on the sidelines for fresh ice to resume their skating.

The Metrorail subway consists of six lines identified by color. There are 91 stations located throughout Washington D.C., Virginia, and Maryland. Most tourist attractions are within a couple of blocks of a Metro stop and the Metrorail System Map identifies station names and general location within the system. There are three hub stations at or near the downtown core, Metro Center, Gallery Place and L’enfant Plaza. If you’re not sure where the closest Metro station is, grab a taxi to the nearest station or hub. If you’d rather walk, visit one of the many venues that provide free maps of the city. All of the metro stations are identified on all of the maps I saw. Not all stations are underground, as can be seen in this view of Arlington Cemetery Station above.

Here is one more tip about travelling the metro to keep in mind. The lines are named by their color, Red, Blue, Yellow, etc. Each color line is identified by it’s endpoint stop. For example, the Blue Line travels between Franconia and Largo. You will need to know the end stop in your direction of travel so you can descend on the correct escalator that puts you on the landing with the train heading toward your direction of travel. For example, departing from the Crystal City stop, we wanted to travel to L’Enfant Plaza. We would have to descend to the landing on the side of the trains going to Largo. At L’Enfant Plaza, we used the opposite escalators to descend to the ramp on the side of the trains going to Franconia. It sounds way more complicated than it really is. Grab a map from one of the metro station stands and visit with one of the station attendants if you have any questions.

You can purchase daily or weekly Metro smart cards, or you can load a smart card with a few dollars and ride until the card won’t let you exit because there isn’t enough on the card to cover your trip. Be sure to have cash or a credit card handy in the event you run out of funds on your card. There are machines nearby where you can load more funds onto the card so you can exit the turnstiles.

You can hang onto your smart card for your next trip and you can go online before you get to Washington D.C. to determine how much is left on your card. You can even add funds to the card so it will be ready to use when you get to our nation’s capital city.

The gallery of images below features views of some of the sights on our walk around the National Mall. Click on an image to enlarge it and to scroll through the gallery.

John Steiner

Washington D.C.

Yes, that unassuming piece of dog excrement could just be a radio transmitter. The photo above features one of the items espionage agencies really used in their daily lives, James Bond’s Q notwithstanding. This 1970s artifact is just one of many “spy tools” on display at the International Spy Museum.
 Your visit starts at the Adams Building, the small building’s appearance is its own “spy story”. The museum is much larger than the small building front would appear. Just around the block from Ford’s Theatre, I was sceptical that the museum might just be a way to separate a tourist from some travel funds. Though the privately owned museum isn’t inexpensive, a person could spend much more at a theater watching a spy thriller and munching on those expensive treats. So maybe you don’t get the expensive treats (or their unnecessary calories), you will see many exhibits featuring tools of real spies, view artifacts of movie spies and even participate in Spy Training School or go on a one-hour spy adventure. More information on the Spy Museum can be found here.

After purchasing our senior tickets ($16 each), my wife Lynn, and I rode an elevator to a small waiting area where we were given the opportunity to pick a secret identity. This activity is optional, but we decided to play along. I chose the identity of Antonio Silva, a 58 year-old carpenter from Brazil. It would be my job to learn and remember my itinerary details. After all, I would be interrogated. I grabbed a quick snapshot of the ID on my cell phone and hoped I wouldn’t be tortured to give up the phone where my secret would be easily discovered.

The first set of exhibits we viewed features a School for Spies. The school teaches some basic techniques of observation and behavior that all spies need to know. The interactive displays were at once interesting and informative. I found myself crawling through a ventilation duct being as quiet as possible. Noise picked up by security microphones would give my presence away. I successfully navigated the ductwork to find myself in the historical archives of espionage equipment. Or, you could simply walk over to the archives. No need to climb through ductwork.

There are many items on display in the archives. The tiny camera in the photo above is normally disguised inside a fancy cigarette case complete with fake cigarette top. More photos of the archive are included in the gallery of images that accompany this post.Along the way, interactive kiosks are available that “demand” your credentials. It’s time to put on your spy hat and adopt your secret identity. You will be quizzed as to the purpose of your visit and other details that you should have remembered in spy school. Again, participation is voluntary. In the photo above, Lynn is being interrogated.

In a dimly lit room dedicated entirely to the German World War II message coding device, the Enigma, visitors are given an interactive demonstration as to how messages were coded and decoded by the device. The Germans never knew that the allies had broken the code. Credit is given to Alan Turing and a team of British mathematicians for breaking the code, however in recent years, a trio of Polish cryptologists are being given credit for their work as well.

The museum isn’t all history and exhibits. The hands-on games are entertaining for young and old alike. The device in the photo above tests the would-be spy’s ability to “hang in there” holding onto a pipe as it moves upward. It takes a strong grip to make the trip all the way to the top. In the few minutes that Lynn and I watched, no one made it to the top before their hands gave up their grip and the fledgling spy would fall to a mat below.

As you can see in the photo above, we came within one-second of destroying the world. You can thank me. After pushing the red button on the top, the “bomb” is armed and the clock starts counting down to zero. I had but a few seconds to twist the handle on the fusing device and pull it out carefully so that the cylinder did not touch the housing. Failing to pull the fuse up straight and true in the allotted time would set off the bomb. This exhibit, and many others, were featured in a section of the museum dedicated to the movie spy. Clips from many spy thrillers are featured, along with artifacts from the movie productions. One bit of trivia I learned in this section is that Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond series, also wrote Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

The last stop on the museum tour is another set of kiosks where you can be questioned as to your identity and the purpose of your trip. Don’t get it wrong. I was allowed to leave, however Lynn was detained, tripped up by a single wrong answer. Don’t let it happen to you! The gallery of images below features some of the exhibits we viewed at the museum. Click on an image to enlarge it and to scroll through the gallery.

John Steiner

On one fateful day for our country, April 14, 1865; Ford’s Theatre closed and remained so for over a century. In 1968, the theater opened again in cooperation with the National Park Service and a private organization known as Ford’s Theatre Society. The theater is not only a historic site, it is also a museum and a working theater. Back to April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, arrived at the theater to see a performance of “My American Cousin”. During the performance, John Wilkes Booth fired the shot that killed the 16th President of the United States.

An abandoned church leased in 1961 to theater manager John T. Ford, became a popular Washington DC theater. Today, just north of the original theater visitors will find a modern lobby, gift shop and reception area as can be seen in the opening photo. Tickets are required to enter the theater, whether it’s for a live performance or for a visit to the theater and museum.

Stopping at the ticket window, we were to find out that a limited number of same-day free tickets are given to people who “just show up.” I don’t know the number of available same-day tickets, and we were there in February, their off-season. On the website here, they recommend tickets in advance. The $3 fee ensures a tour of the museum and the theater. And if you time it right, a volunteer from the National Park Service in period costume will provide a narration from the balcony of the theater, in full view of  the Presidential Box, now preserved and open only to viewing from the balcony and main floor of the theater.

Another attraction at certain times of the year are live plays that focus on the assassination. The schedule can be found on the Ford’s Theatre website. In the photo above, the lobby of the original theater is the first thing visitors see as they head downstairs to the basement museum.

The museum exhibits, as shown in the photo above, include schedules for that fateful day, not only of the President, but of his assassin. The gallery of images includes several photographs taken in the museum.

From the theater balcony, it’s easy to see that John Wilkes Booth had a clear and open shot into the Presidential Box. I captured this image from the balcony. I decided to treat it as a photo of the day might have looked. Another view of the Presidential Box is included in the gallery.

After the shooting, President Lincoln was carried across the street to the Peterson House where he passed away from his injury. The Peterson House is open for viewing as part of the Ford’s Theatre experience.

The gallery of images below features some of the museum exhibits. Click on an image to enlarge it and to scroll through the gallery.

John Steiner