Okay, so I was a bit crazed over the gargoyles and grotesques on the National Cathedral.  First, you should know the difference.  A gargoyle is used to drain water away from the building...like a downspout on your house.  A grotesques job it to deflect water when it hits the building so as not to damage the structure.  You can imagine that with all the peeks and points on the Cathedral they have LOTS to protect.  What I found most interesting was they were all different.  So, I began to take a few pictures.  Then, we heard about the story of the Darth Vader grotesques and how it came to be.  Well, we had to find that one, which, in turn, led to more photos.  Bear with me. 

Things we learned:

 

The large basin of water in the center of the Cathedral is not because they have a leak in the ceiling. 

Internment means you are buried there.

Jesus, probably never saw an igloo.

There are 112 gargoyles at the NC, click HERE to see them.

The crypt is not a spooky, spiderwebby dungeon like place.

           The following people are interned there:

                                      Larz Anderson, U.S. Ambassador to Japan

                                       George Dewey, United States Navy admiral

                                       Philip Frohman, cathedral architect

                                       Helen Keller, advocate for the blind and deaf

                                       Anne Sullivan, tutor and friend of Helen Keller, first woman interred here

                                       Stuart Symington, U.S. Senator from Missouri and presidential candidate

                                       Henry Yates Satterlee, first Episcopal bishop of Washington

                                       Leo Sowerby, founding director of the College of Church Musicians

                                       Henry Vaughan, cathedral architect

                                       Woodrow Wilson, 28th U.S. President .            

                                       Wilson's tomb bears variants on the Seal of the President of the United States and the coat of arms of Princeton University.

                                       Edith Wilson, second wife and second First Lady of Woodrow Wilson

                                       Cordell Hull, 47th United States Secretary of State

Other cool sites:

 

This guy built a lot of the Gargoyles (yes, MORE about gargoyles) and grotesques on the NC.

More about how they make and artistically express the gargoyles on the NC

Toadhaven at the National Cathedral

 

 

The Administrator

Tusks

American Rattlesnake

Humanoid

Dragon

Lawyer

Caden thinks this is creepy, but he is my favorite one!

Do you think this is a pirate?  Or a Viking?  Or what? 

And there he is.  Darth Vader.  You too can see him at the National Cathedral.  Now, isn’t that strange?  You thought the moon rock was weird!  Ha!  This is a pretty small picture of it, but that was as good as it got, even with digital zoom ;)

If you are in the area, and it is a pretty day you should see this place...amazing inside, but, don’t miss the gargoyles!

Upon leaving the grounds we came across this black squirrel.  He is, indeed completely black.  Turns out there is an interesting, and apparently somewhat controversial, story— click HERE to read all about it...and then there is what this guy says.  Overall, pretty interesting no matter how you look at it.