Are you lonesome tonight?

 Today's installment is AGAIN not from the appropriate September date.  Apparently, I should have actually LOOKED at the photos from September before I said I would share a daily photo album!  Instead, we're looking at one my favorite times ever. 2011. July and August.  Dutchboy's eldest sister and her family came to America! It was an absolutely MAGICAL time, even if it was one of the hottest summers, ever.  Days were well into the upper 90's when we picked them up in Washington, DC at the end of July. 

Capitol! 

Library of Congress. People think when I go on vacation, I tour libraries. I don't! REALLY. 

                                                 

I arranged a tour of the White House!  Back when that seemed like a great idea, and the world was a safer place.  See all these people clustered together?  Who can imagine that now??  I'm almost claustrophobic looking at all those people.  I don't know what Dutchboy and I were talking about, but I can see I'm right. And he should just agree. 

Dutchoy in front of the White House. With a Safariland hat. Looks like a good 'ol Southern Boy, doesn't he?? 

National Gallery of Art. Where life imitates art!

Every time I stand in front of this beautiful work, I cry. Much to Dutchboy's embarrasment. It's one of my all-time favorites.  She is just so beautifully captured. Right down to the brushstrokes. Portrait of a Lady by Rogier van der Weyden.

Iwo Jima Monument.

Netherlands Carillon. Donated to the United States in gratitude for liberation of World War II. Couldn't have donated something prettier?  It's very...utilitarian. 

Gratuitous North Carolina photos.  It was hot. Miserably hot.  The Dutchies swam a lot at Kerr Scott Reservoir,  hiked Stone Mountain, and tubed down the New River.  I, however, did NOT.  I don't even like to sit in a bathtub.  But they had fun! 

But one can only have so much fun in Wilkes County, and the Dutchies had a plane to catch in Memphis. So we took a couple of excursions along the way. 

First stop, Nashville! 

This is the result of forcing a family to stand awkwardly on stage at the Ryman Auditorium holding a guitar.  

The next stop was just for me!!!  Third Man Records. Jack White's record label. I'm pretty sure they heard me squealing a block away. 

                                                        

 Last stop on the tour, Memphis! Dutchboy and I had been to Memphis a year or so prior, and it was a thriving, happy place.  This trip was different.  It was 105 and 110 degrees on the days we were there, so you had to go out early if you wanted to do anything. And Memphis was in a recession. Things were so economically depressed, shops were closed. Beale Street didn't even have the same sparkle.

We made a stop at the Lorraine Hotel. Such a somber and moving tribute. And an atmosphere that is completely different than the city around it.  It is one of the places where you feel history.  In the words of Obi-Wan, "as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced." 

And then there's the Heartbreak Hotel...

And Graceland itself...

Jungle Room. 

And there we were at the end of Lonely Street. It was time to put the Dutchies on the plane.  We had become so very close to this family in there time here, I was as broken-hearted as the pool at Heartbreak Hotel.  But they left us with great memories...and their soccer ball to keep us company until we saw them ! 

Tomorrow we return to Europe...and yes, I've checked. Lesson learned!

Tot Ziens!