We’re off on a patriotic trip this weekend to Washington DC …
We’ll be in the Nation’s Capital for the annual Cherry Blossom Festival. The National Mall’s Tidal Basin & Potomac Park will be lit up with the bright pink flowers of 3,700+ Japanese Yoshino & Kwanzan Cherry Trees. They were a diplomatic gift of the nation of Japan in 1912 & 1965. An additional 250 arrived this year for the United States’ America 250 Celebration.
I’m all-in on the country’s Semiquincentennial. I was 10 years old for the Bicentennial in 1976, and I thought it was thrilling. I doubt anything can match the grade-school perspective I had back then, but I’m going to do my best. Perhaps only a 10 year old and an early retiree have time to enjoy the silliness.
In addition to Washington DC, we are going to start our trip with a drive down to Virginia to visit the ‘historical triangle’ of Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown. I first visited this area on a high-school civics trip. Next week, after the weekend in DC, we’ll take the train up to Baltimore for a day.
This is the first of a couple patriotic trips I would like to take on the East Coast this year. I haven’t figured out the dates (or talked my wife into any other trips), but I’d also like to go to Philadelphia, Valley Forge, and Gettysburg this summer. Perhaps a side trip by train up to NY or Boston would be good, too. That would really maximize the historical theme.
Unfortunately, I haven’t spoken with anyone else that is very excited by ‘America 250’. Like many things, I think people are choosing to look at it through a political lens – and that’s never good. I hope people can take a break from the fighting to celebrate the good things that America has uniquely accomplished in our history.
Any plans to commemorate America 250 yourself in any way? Anything happening in your state?
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MrFireStation 
Sounds like you have a lot of historical travel planned!
Our main 4th of July activity will be attending the Beachboys with Fireworks afterwards at the Hollywood Bowl. They put on a great fireworks show with the LA Philharmonic playing patriotic music in the background.
I was a Senior in High School in 1976 for the Bicentennial and everyone was on board in small town Wisconsin. Something has changed for the Semiquincentennial besides it being super hard to pronounce and spell. I am now going to write about the white elephant standing in the middle of the living room.
I have just finished two books that explain what has changed in our country since 1976. Peter Schweizer’s best seller, “Invisible Coup” explained how the Clinton Administration did away with passing English literacy and Civics classes in order to become a citizen. Slick Willy gamed the system by turbocharging citizens who initially tend to vote Demonrat. The resultant instant citizens are not becoming part of the melting pot or even know what makes the United States of America special.
T. Casey Fleming’s, “The Red Tsunami” describes the Chinese Communist Party’s asymmetrical war that they have been fighting against the USA since the Nixon Administration opened China up in the 1972. Communist propagandists have successfully infiltrated Kindergarten through College Education, religion, government, legacy and social media. The messaging is clearly anti-American. Many young people think they are getting their news from Tic-Toc, which is really just weaponized propaganda.
One takeaway from the reading Mr. Fleming’s book is that I am beefing up the security in my household to protect our finances by putting all the Internet-of-Things devices on a separate subnet from our laptops and printer that we use for our financial management.
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The Beach Boys in California on Independence Day is as all-American as you can get! That should be terrific!!
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