NATIONAL HARBOR CONTINUED...LAST POST FROM THIS TRIP

 

A restaurant I wouldn't mind trying next time we are in town.

Buddha and the Soldier/Warrior/Guard were near the entrance, a very nice welcome for customers. 

As it grew dark we came across the statue of Marilyn Monroe. In my previous post I mentioned all the heights of the statues that we saw, as they were kept true to life. She was 5 ft. 5 in. in height. This scene is from a very famous photo taken by photographer Sam Shaw. I read that it made him better known to a larger audience and plaid a roll in making Marilyn even more famous. It has been reprinted millions of times, making it one of the best known in the world. Shaw had been friends with Marilyn for quite a while before this picture was taken. Before she had her own breakthrough as an actress, she was actually Shaw's driver, since he did not have a driver's license. You can read the whole story at this website. Her sculpture is called Forever Marilyn.

After we crossed the street on our way back to our car before driving home, I looked back and saw this scene. Marilyn's real name was Norma Jean Baker and she was born in Los Angeles on June 1st, 1926. We all probably know that rather sad ending to her life and I won't go into it.  However, if you're curious you can read her biography telling about the rest of her story here. There were other much larger replicas of this statue that stood 26 feet high, and as reported, they were in Chicago-Illinois, Hamilton Township-New Jersey, Stamford-Connecticut, Palm Springs-California and Bendigo, Australia.  I am not sure whether they are still there.  The dates seemed to be long ago. Placement in Palm Springs apparently caused quite an uproar. If it is a permanent placement or a temporary one at National Harbor, I don't know.

The lady across the street certainly didn't seem to approve. You can barely see her underneath the shop light towards the right. She is to the left of the red traffic light, a few feet down on the sidewalk, standing next to the building. 

I certainly didn't notice her and she was so life-like, until you got up really close.

I remember seeing exhibits of sculptures on a trip to Florida several years ago. I'll have to share the posts as they were fantastic, life-like statues by the same man, J. Seward Johnson Jr. This lady with the groceries is called Holding Out. And of course I had a nosy inside her shopping bag.

The Capital Ferris Wheel can be seen in this photo.

More window shopping. 

We are almost back at the car having had a wonderful time walking around.

Last one driving across the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge as we cross back into Virginia from Maryland. A bit blurry but it's the first half-way decent shot I have managed to get in years. 

This is the second and last part of our trip to National Harbor. We will be back again in a few months.

Thanks for looking and I hope the beginning of your week is going great.

SUNDAY DRIVE - 2-5-24

I wanted to mention and say a big thank you to all of those who follow me, old blogging friends and new blogging friends. It is very much appreciated, as are the comments you leave when you visit. I enjoy reading every one of them. I also want to add that I am continuously late in returning your visits, but I never forget your kindness and will be returning in kind hopefully sooner than later.  It is another wonderful part of blogging to see what is going on in your part of the world.

I forgot to share these at the beginning of February.  We were on the Snickersville Turnpike.  There is a short history if you click on this link.

In part, it reads:

“Snickersville Turnpike has been a setting of great significance to our nation’s history. While still a land surveyor for Lord Fairfax, George Washington traveled this road over Snickers Gap and often spent the night along the Shenandoah River, where Edward Snickers kept an inn and operated a ferry.”

I couldn’t see the property that is guarded by the stone lions. I have mentioned before but whenever we come across these large gates, I often wonder who lives at the end of the long driveway. The  properties are often hidden by either hills or trees. I found another photo of this gate entrance last year in May. If you would like to see previous drives along the Snickersville Turnpike, you can click on this link.

We passed a man on his own Sunday Drive. The closest I came to identifying this old car was a 1930 Ford Model A Station Wagon which you can see at this link.  The website belongs to the St. Louis Car Museum in St. Louis, Missouri. In part it read, “Ford faced competition after the unrivaled success of the Model T and had to update and improve their next design to be more convenient for the driver and still efficient for production. Ford introduced the Ford Model A in late 1927 to be sold as the 1928 models.” and “He sold almost 5 million units in its span from 1927 to 1932.”  Also, "2,848 Woody Wagons were built in 1930."

There are other forms of transport on this road.

The historical markers are always interesting.

Not too many photos today as we went for a shorter drive than we normally do.