Thursday

They said it would be sunny in the morning and start to cloud up after that, so we planned to get as many outdoor shots as we could, then go in - to the museums and such (haven't set foot in the Smithsonian yet!!) So off we go, early, it's about a 1/4 mile walk to the capital bldg from here, so we start there..

The sun is behind it and that makes a bit difficult to frame the shots, but we manage. It is a beautiful site, I took WAY too many pics, but I wanted to remember it! lol

Then it is time to walk down the National Mall....I don't know how long it is, but it Looks like a kazzilion miles and is rather daunting after Wednesdays adventures...but we are off! here is an interesting site for the history of the Mall.

http://www.nps.gov/archive/nama/feature/page1.htm

There is an vast number of things to see on this walk, so we look at all the wonderful buildings (The American Indian museum, the Air and Space museum, the museum of African Art, The Smithsonian Castle, The National Gallery of Art, The Natural History Museum...didn't set foot in any of them, but we saw them all), see loads of interesting people, take pictures of most anything, and eventually we arrive at the Washington Monument. That is one Tall building! 555 feet actually and I understand that it is the tallest building in DC and by law will stay that way. Awesome.

From there it was off to the WWII Memorial. That is a beautiful tribute. Very much an area that invites one to stroll around and read all the carved wording on the walls. Pictures were a must...

Then it was on to the next - which is the Lincoln Memorial. It is a fairly long walk alongside the reflecting pool, watching the geese swim, walk and fly - as I think they live there - but it is a nice walk and worth it in the end. Watching the Lincoln Memorial grow larger with each step is awesome. We spent some time inside reading.


It is rather surprising just how many people are here this week...for some reason we didn't think it would be this busy.

Then is was just a short walk to the Viet Nam memorial. That is a site to see, as mentioned yesterday, there are WAY too many names there.



I don't think that I have known anyone who died in that conflict, for which I truly thank God, and I can not even imagine how those families felt at the time and quite obviously still feel. They have my prayers.

Then it is off to find a metro station...turns out to be about a half mile away, uphill of course, and by now we are both hongry as all get out, so we find this little place called Potbelly Sandwich works. That was a really good sandwich. And just a few blocks up was the station. We figured out what train to get on and were off to Arlington.

When we planned this trip we were hoping to see Arlington Cemetery with a light coating of snow, to better show off all the wreaths that Wreaths Across America places on the graves every year.., that did not happen, they are having some pretty warm weather this week. Aint that just the way of it? we WANTED snow, so it's warm...lol. Well, even without the snow it is an awe inspiring site....
row upon row of headstones, standing at attention, in formation, as a testiment to the dedication and sacrifice that our fighting men and women. We didn't really see any place in there that had a concentration of wreaths, just one here and there, but that's ok, we saw enough to warm our hearts. We went on over and saw the Eternal Flame and the graves of the Kennedy Family. Did you know that Bobby has the only wooden cross in the entire cemetery? And his was one of only two night time burials ever preformed there? (can you tell we took the tour?) From there it was off to watch the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldure. While we were waiting (it changes on the hour and we got there 35 minutes early) we wandered across the way and saw the memorials to the Challanger and Columbia crews as well as the mast of the Maine. Wow. I can't say as I have ever seen anything like the changing of the guard...it is indeed a ceremony and is very moving.

From there we rode up to Arlington House, which is in the middle of renovations, so we didn't go inside. Very pretty, and very historic, but pales in comparison to the rest of the cemetery.

Then back to the metro for the trip to Union Station and the walk to the hotel. It is now after 4 and we are a bit tired, so we order in some chinese and take our shoes off, put our feet up and look at all the pics we took, some of which you are seeing in this post.

After a bit, we put our shoes back on and walk up to Union Station cuz Trav has the munchies...we take some pics there too, get him some apple pie and walk back to the hotel. As you can tell, we have sorta figured out the metro system so the adventures are over for now, you just get sightseeing stuff. sorry.