Back in May, we made a quick trip to the Washington, DC area. Gordon was going to a Washington National Airport FAA reunion with a bunch of other geezers from the late 60's and early 70's. As always, we also spent some time with friends and family. Dropped by to see Gordon's Uncle Carl and his wife, Alberta. Carl's in his 90's now and has lots of good family stories to tell. We had dinner with Gordon's childhood friend Nancy and her husband Jerry, as well as with Gordon's cousin Amy and her husband, John.
We had a free morning, and we had just seen something on TV about the Masons. Gordon remembered that when he was a kid, his school class went on a field trip to the George Washington Masonic Temple in Alexandria, Virginia. He recollected a huge hanging tapestry that was hand-knotted by children in someplace like India and wanted to show Pati. Off we went for the guided tour. The temple's website is www.gwmemorial.org.
The inside of the temple is interesting, especially the elevators in the tower than slant inward. They start out at the bottom, one of each side of the large central room...when they reach the top, they're next to each other. It's a wierd feeling. Once you're at the top, the view is outrageous:
We enjoyed our time there, but we both had issues as we finished the tour. First, Pati's interested in Masonry, but women can't be Masons! 'Cause they think girls can't keep a secret! Pooey! And when Gordon enquired about the tapestry, which we had not seen on the tour, the guide said it had been removed...seems that its origins had been misrepresented. And they didn't even have a stinkin' snack bar.
