We love visiting Washington DC! We have family in the area and they always make sure to show us a wonderful time. We’ve been to DC a handful of times and DC is, for sure, our favorite city in the US to visit.
It’s like DC is a different city each time we visit. We have seen the stunning cherry blossoms, a gorgeous fall, a colorful July 4th, and now Memorial Day. Sure, the buildings are the same, everything is in the same place, but the city is different – different events, different colors, different smells, and different energy. We didn’t know what to expect for Memorial Day weekend but we knew we were going to Rolling Thunder, an event where 900,000 motorcyclers ride thru Washington DC starting at the Pentagon, drive along the mall, and end at the Capitol. Rolling Thunder started about 30 years ago to bring awareness to POW/MIA since veterans felt Congress was dragging their feet on bringing back those left behind in Vietnam. It’s ballooned into a massive event attracting riders from all over the nation.
We don’t particularly care for biker culture and I have a particular dislike of bikers since I grew up in an area with a huge biker rally every year. In general, my past experiences from the Sturgis Rally lend me to believe any sufficiently large bikers event ends attracting degenerates and quickly descends into debauchery. So, I’d say we had pretty low expectations of the event.
Interestingly, Rolling Thunder ended up being an extraordinarily different biker event and a lot more somber than I would have ever have guessed. It seems biking for a purpose draws a different crowd and people are on better behavior. It was moving to see the Lone Soldier saluting all those who passed and it was incredible to see how the rain didn’t slow anyone down. All-in-all, I’m happy we had a chance to to be in DC for Rolling Thunder, it was an eye opening experience and we were lucky to have visited when we did.
Just like the last visits, this visit to DC was amazing. Fantastic all around.
Enjoy the photos!
Chris W.
