The Capitol Christmas Tree From Idaho

As is usual, we took our morning walk with the intent to stop at the Botanic Garden to see the trains. But something else caught our eye. There were a lot of police and the roads were blocked. And out in the distance was a very long truck with a very large tree on it. So we headed over to where all the activity was and watched as the US Forrest Service, the Architect of the Capitol, and a host of other helpers hoist the Capitol Christmas tree from the flatbed of the truck using a very large crane and taking a lot of time. Once it was off the truck, the extra branches were cut away and the cleanup began. One of the rangers thoughtfully distributed tiny snippets of evergreen branches to the bystanders. We waited for awhile to see if they would ever move it to the final show place in the middle of the Capitol Grounds. But something was wrong with the balancing mechanism of the forklift and crane so we decided to leave after almost three hours! It was interesting to see the flatbed truck with the Idaho license plates collapse in to a smaller version of itself via a logistics phenomenon. My husband was more interested in watching that! So we will need to visit the trains later this week. But this was a great excuse to wait.