World War II Memorial & Rolling Thunder

My Great-Uncle J, a world war II veteran, and his wife came to this area for the World War II Memorial dedication. I had made arrangements with them to spend Sunday together. Since they hadn't been able to actually see the memorial on Saturday, we headed to DC to see the new memorial.

The memorial is impressive, with its 56 pillars, 2 pavilions, and multiple sprays of water added to the two primary fountains. Being memorial day weekend, everyone seemed to be visiting--streams of people flowed in, out, and around. There were cameras everywhere and the constant roar of conversation as families and groups met, shared memories, tried to navigate the site together, and simple chatted. I'll look forward to visiting the site again when there are fewer people and I can truly take in the grandeur, meaning, and solemnity of the site and the events and people it memoralizes.

To add to the crowds and the excitement of the day, Sunday was the day for the Rolling Thunder events--literally thousands of motorcycles filled the DC area, I heard estimates as high as 300,000. Riding the metro into DC in the morning, I-66 had been closed to all traffic except the motorcycles. The motorcycles were traveling in close formation in two lanes. The procession began before we reached the metro station around 9:30 and continued as long as we could see the highway from the metro train. The roar of the cycles was truly reminiscent of rolling thunder as it was a constant background to our day in DC, especially when the parade of cycles began at noon and lasted until after 2:00 (when we left).