US Parks Horse Stables on the National Mall

There has to be more to it. We drove in to town today to see the new US Parks horse stables because they are only open on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Not only were we there for a morning walk, this was the third time we have tried to visit without any luck. So we parked by the tidal basin and walked to the MLK Memorial, then crossed independence avenue over to the stables. There was one horse standing out in front. When we walked in to the center, there was a volunteer who said we couldn’t go past the doors that happens to be the “working section.” What was left was a small room with not a lot to see. There was a looping video, a saddle, a couple of hats… I could see from the window a horse getting a brush down in the stables but couldn’t find any way to enter. When I looked it up on line it said there was the ability to interact with the horses in the stables. I’m not sure when the next time will be that we check this place out again. Maybe the next time we will walk around the entire place and see what we missed. Apparently there were 6-8 horses on site but we only saw two - from a distance. Needless to say we were a bit underwhelmed by the whole thing. There has got to be something we missed. 

Horse Stables and Spring in January

Last week we drove in to town for a morning walk. Usually it takes twenty minutes but with the GW parkway construction it can get much longer. If we stop near the tidal basin rather than the National mall or Capitol in our old neighborhood it’s not as long. And that’s what we did. We love walking through Constitution Gardens. It’s a very peaceful place and not ever busy. I think most people don’t know it exists. It was a beautiful day as we made our way by the Viet Nam Memorial, on to the Lincoln Memorial, then the Korean Memorial. What was even more interesting this time was that there is a new structure that is almost completed. And you would never guess what it is. It’s a stable for the park police horses. But it won’t be opening until spring. It appears that it will not only be a place for the horses, but also an educational center. Having that structure there will make it so much easier to manage the livestock. We oftentimes see the beautiful animals on the National Mall, along with all of the paraphernalia to drag them around. The building I s located in between the Korean Memorial and the WWI Memorial next to the hockey field and the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool. We then noticed something even more remarkable - flowers in bloom - in January! It was a sight to see. This winter has been more mild than most aside from the deep freeze over Christmas and this weekend. The unexpected pops of color looked so pretty against the dreary backdrop of winter. So there is something to look forward to - horses and spring flowers.