an evening walk...

Capitol Building
Originally uploaded by rbohlender.

We were invaded last night by eighteen folks from Sarasota, FL...fourteen high schoolers and four leaders. This evening as our interns and their team staffed the House of Prayer, the youth pastor and I grabbed Starbucks and went for a walk.

We walked two blocks west on Independence and crossed the street onto the Capitol Grounds where we meandered past the construction of the new visitors' center and down in front of the building. From the steps, you can stare up at the rotunda (I took that shot with my cell phone) or turn your back to the Capitol (an idea that has some merit) and see the 2 miles down the National Mall to the marble blip that is the Lincoln Memorial. While we stood there, the red lights on top of the Washington Monument came on - markers for airplanes, I presume, although if you're that close with an airplane, hitting the Monument is the least of your problems. Better start looking for Sidewinder missles. The Washington Monument is fairly pretty in the daytime, but at night it's spooky. The red 'eyes' make it look like the world's biggest KKK hat.