This week I had to travel to Potomac, MD (just outside of Bethesda where are corporate offices are located) for a work conference. It was the senior Health Services and Network staff from all of Coventry's health plans. These used to be annual events, but they haven't evolved the last couple of years. So this was my first time to attend. It was nice to finally put a face to the names & voices that I've worked with for the last several years. The conference consisted of lots and lots of speakers, but they also threw in a little "mandatory fun"...as I like to call it. Mandatory fun can be defined as any activity that you absolutely do not want to do...but that the company thinks would be fun to make you do.
Surprisingly, I was actually looking forward - somewhat - to the mandatory fun this trip, since I have never been to the DC area. It consisted of some free time (2 hours to be exact) to walk around the grounds of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, etc. I threw in the "somewhat" because it happened to be in the low 40's and super gusty on this afternoon. BRRRR!!! In this case, 2 hours was way too long!!! We spent the last 40 minutes huddled in the Lincoln Memorial trying to stay out of the wind. I did manage to take lots of pics though. There were some great clouds in the sky from the storm earlier that day. They made for some really great pics!
The two sites that I wanted to see the most were the White House and the Reflection Pool. I did get a glimpse of the Reflection "Pool", but the White House was a no go. Boo!
We were supposed to be viewing the cherry blossoms, but most blew off in the storm. Here's a pic of the last couple trees that had the blossoms.
Here's the Korean War Memorial. These statues made the hair stand up on my arms!
This is the WWII Memorial. It was amazing how large it was. Gorgeous!
This is the Freedom Wall, which is part of the WWII Memorial. Forgive me if I get this wrong. If I remember right, each star stands for 100 lives lost during that battle. It was a bit breathtaking.
I took tons of the Washington Monument! It's such an enormous structure!!
Next up...the Lincoln Memorial
Love this pic! It's from atop the Lincoln Memorial. You can see the Washington Monument and the top of the Capitol building!
...and the drum roll please! The Reflection Pool or as I like to call it...the Mud Pond!!
(Darn construction/rehab project!)
