June 12 - DC

June 12 – DC sites

Early on the 12th we met drove into DC only to be rerouted due to the Sunday 30th annual Gay Pride parade near the Mall. We eventually met our tour guide, Julien, at Union Station before starting a three hour tour of the city. We stopped for a cool phot0-op on the South side of the White House and had the lawn in front of the Capitol Building to ourselves. We made our way over the Potomac to Arlington Cemetery where I'd never been. My only memory of this part of town was driving over this same bridge with a friend years ago and having his hat fly out the moon roof. I remember playing Frogger across the bridge to retrieve the hat.

The two major sites at Arlington are the tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the other is the eternal flame. We walked high up the hill towards the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Each and every grave has one of 23 symbols representing that soldier's faith.

When we arrived Julien said to wait after the changing of the guard to see if we could watch the writhing ceremony where they change the wreath outside the tomb. The actual tomb contains three soldiers from four wars. The Vietnam soldier was eventually identified through DNA testing and taken to his hometown for burial. They say there never will be another unknown soldier because of technological advances.

We continued up hill to General Lee's home where he and his wife lived before he rejected the leadership over the northern armies in the Civil War. He then went south and led the Southerners until Appomattox Courthouse where he finally surrendered to General Grant toward the end of the war.

The next stop was a simple white cross where Robert Kennedy was buried. Robert and John were best friends in life and Robert had a few simple requests of where he would be buried. He wanted to be on a hill overlooking water in Massachusetts. After his assassination in 1968 he was buried near his brother in Arlington. Two out of three ain't bad.

John & Jackie Kennedy are buried nearby surrounded by stones from Massachusetts. The eternal flame blew in the wind behind their graves that were surrounded by the graves of two daughters who died at child birth.

Julien announced a down hall walk to the joyous cheers of all, and we headed to the water fountains, restrooms, and air conditioned bus. A local came on the bus and sold us post cards, 10 for $100 which is the best we could ever hope to get.

We had time to visit one memorial before leaving Julien and he walked us around the Jefferson memorial reflecting off the water across from the Washington Monument and the Mall. It was impressive to say the least and I was moved by the words of Jefferson engraved in marble in the rotunda above his immense statue.

Lunch was at Pentagon City shopping mall before we made our way to the National Archived. I had never been to the Archives and didn't really realize their significance, even after seeing National Treasure. The line was shorter that we'd expected for a Monday and we made our way inside quickly. I went straight to the rotunda to see documents that included the Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of America.

In the archives room behind the Rotunda I was able to read a letter Einstein wrote to the president outlining the importance of Uranium in creating a nuclear weapon unlike any ever made. This lead to the Manhattan Project, the dropping of the bombs in Japan, and an entire Nuclear Culture in America that permeates our society into the 21st century.

Dinner was at Union Square where we had burgers from Johnny Rockets before going to B Dalton's to ask the locals the points of interest outside the usual things. The next day we had planned to break away from the group in the afternoon to see more of the city and less of Mt Vernon. I bought a pop-up DC map and whish I had one for NYC and Boston as well, so when we left dinner to do a walking tour of the mall around the monuments I was prepared.

I have been to DC several times but I never really toured the monuments and I cannot tell you which my favorite was. The Lincoln Memorial struck me the most I believe and I took several pictures. I was also tickled that I was standing where Forrest Gump stood giving his Vietnam speech before reuniting with Jenny in the pool.

After taking a group photo I dropped my camera and broke it! I was not too thrilled and everyone was concerned, but I found a way to temporarily take photos for the remainder of the trip. If you had an Olympus be very careful about the sliding hinge on the front. They're not perfect.

The Vietnam memorial was sublet but impressive, and there was a young man on a ladder searching for a relative and becoming frustrated because his long search thus far had been in vain. I asked the man's name before proceeding to recognize it carved in the marble directly in front of me. Once I pointed it out, I moved away while the man was tearfully thankful.

The Korean memorial is one of the two newest we visited and very cool. It's the small triangular plot of land with statues of soldiers walking through the fields. After taking several photos here, our group walked towards the newest memorial to the men and women of World War II. That massive low-lying pool and circular monument moved me to call my grand parents since my grandfather had served. I took several photos for him before we loved on around the tidal basin where the Cherry Blossoms bloomed in the spring and Matthew McConaughey flirted with Jodi Foster in Contact before we arrived at the FDR monument. I was practically out of disk space in my camera and quickly deleted some duplicates before shooting off a few photos of this interesting monument. There were several exterior rooms that even included a statue of Eleanor, which is the only presidential monument to include a woman –not to mention a pet dog.

Iwo Jima was next after a short bus ride and the soldiers loomed high above us in the dark night sky. They said the sculptor added an extra hand to represent the Hand of God, but historical documentation and evidence eventually discovered there was another soldier who was not included in the final form.

Back at the hotel, we ordered pizza and played Spoons with some of the Floridians and two chaperones before we sent the girls off to bed and said goodnight to my boys.