Open Eyes Travel

Dedicated not only to it's namesake, Mrs. Parks, but also to the many activists and ordinary Montgomery residents who made the Montgomery Bus Boycott a successful, non violent protest against segregation. Entrance to the museum, which is part of Troy University. The...

The Legacy Museum and the Peace and Justice Memorial are the creation of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), an organization that provides legal representation to indigent defendants and prisoners who have been denied fair and just treatment in the legal system.  The...

Before I move on to Montgomery, I want to share our phenomenal dining experience at the Magnolia House, which, we found out too late, has also reopened as a bed & breakfast.  Recently renovated with spacious dining inside and in the yard, the menu was varied, the...

The Greensboro Coffee Cups Collaborative Walk is a self guided walking tour featuring 8 sculptures.  Their brochure describes it this way: “ On Feb. 1, 1960, the sit-in movement began.  This historic event was commemorated by the creation of 8 bronze coffee cups....

A lot has changed since I visited Monticello decades ago.  Then, there was no recognition or acknowledgement of Sally Hemings' significance in the story of Thomas Jefferson and Monticello.  Now there is.  From the tour names & topics to the info shared by the tour...

88 degrees in the afternoon, but we hadn't yet been to the MLK Memorial so that was our first stop after the morning tour.  Beautiful walk past the Washington Monument, around some of the tidal basin to the Memorial. Then a visit to the Lincoln Memorial with it's...

Joined KBTours of the Shaw neighborhood this morning, which is where Howard University is located.  Kenny B., a native DC'er, runs the tour with a focus on Black American history of the city.  He's a good storyteller with lots of stories to tell.  We spent a long time...

Went here to see the official portraits of Barack and Michelle Obama but discovered many great exhibits and stayed far longer than we had anticipated. I love his portrait but, I'm not crazy about Michelle's.  (I don't think it captures anything of her grace, beauty...

Not having been to DC for at least a decade, I'd forgotten how early it's in bloom and how wonderfully diverse the people here are.  Colorful flowers, hearing languages from all over the world, seeing lots of blended families, makes me happy.

Day 2 in DC began at another Smithsonian museum, this one dedicated to Native Americans.   Somehow, it balances beauty and spirit of many of the tribal nations with the treacherousness and tragedy of their treatment from the US Gov't. And because I am a Cape Cod bird...