Washington D.C. (Day 1)

What a week we had in D.C.!

It was AMAZING!

By the end of the week, my brain was quite overstimulated with all the things I've seen there,

so just like I did with our Hawaii trip a few years ago, I think I'm gonna have to post this trip one day at a time because there is so much that I want to show you.  Between my camera and Chuck's phone, we took 872 pictures.  Obviously I won't be posting all of them, but that should give you an idea of the abundance of interesting things to see there.

As you might already know, Chuck had to go to D.C. to shadow someone in a higher management position (it was part of his "homework" for his manager training program).  Anyway, since the hotel was already paid for, he said I could tag along, and of course I jumped at the opportunity.

So, we left Monday morning, and we were supposed to get there at noon, which left the rest of the day open for Chuck to do stuff with me.  We decided the first thing we would do was go to the Arlington Cemetery because they close at 7:00, and we didn't know how much time we would want to spend there.  Unfortunately, we got a bad start - our first flight from South Bend to Chicago was an hour delayed, which caused us to miss our connection flight.  So when we got to Chicago, we got onto the next available flight, getting us to D.C. at 3:00.  So that was 3 hours wasted that we could've spent at Arlington  (argh).  But, fortunately, that did not turn out to be a bad omen; the rest of the week went really well, no other problems (except at the end of the week our first flight back to Chicago was also delayed).

Anyhoo - So we landed in D.C. around 3:00, took a taxi to our hotel, got all settled there, and then started our trek to Arlington.  Our hotel was in a really good location so it was easy to walk everywhere.  Some things were a longer haul to get to, but thankfully we are both healthy and willing to face the challenge of walking, even in the heat, and it was HOT there.  It was in the low 90s the whole time, and humid.  I made sure I had a water bottle with me at all times!

I think we left the hotel around 4:15 and started walking toward Arlington.  The walk was supposed to take an hour and 15 minutes.  On the way, we passed the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial, but we didn't stop there - we wanted to get to the cemetery as quickly as possible, knowing that they were gonna be closing at 7:00.

Unfortunately, there was some construction going on, so we had to take a detour, which of course lengthened the time it took to get there, but it was still a nice pleasant walk (despite the heat) because there were so many neat things to see on the way.

We had to cross this bridge.

These pillars and statues marked the beginning of the bridge.

Yay, we made it!

By the time we finally got there, it was 5:45, which meant we only had an hour and 15 minutes to look around (thanks to our delayed flight).  We had to choose what we were gonna look for first:  Kennedy's grave, or the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  I knew that the "changing of the guard" takes place every hour on the hour, so I suggested we go there first.  On the way, we admired the beauty of the cemetery, and the size of it.  That place was huge!

They don't let you walk around in the tomb area, you have to stay on the roped off walkways.

When we made it to The Tomb, this soldier was pacing back and forth and clicking his shoes together every time he stopped or pivoted.  They take 21 steps, pause for 21 seconds, and pace back 21 steps, back and forth.  21 represents the 21-gun salute, which is the highest military honor.

"click!"

We got there just in time because the bells started chiming, which meant it was time to change guards.

Chuck got a video of this on his phone, and I really wish I could show it to you, but it won't let me, OR I am not smart enough to bypass the technical difficulties involved in that.

Bummer that I can't get it to work.

New guard on duty.

After it was over, we made our way towards the Kennedy gravesite.

It was a really nice walk.

I was surprised to see this deer strolling around in there.

Here is John F. Kennedy's grave and his wife Jacqueline, with the eternal flame burning.

The grave is set in a pretty big memorial site.

We knew it was close to closing time, so we started to make our way out.  I wish we had more time there.

So we crossed the bridge again, made our way through the detours, passed the Lincoln Memorial again, and the Washington Monument, which is really pretty in the evening.

The Washington Monument was kind of in the middle of the "National Mall", and only a few blocks away from our hotel, so it was a common site.  I'm really glad it was there and was really glad that it was so tall because there were a few times when I had to look for it and use it as a landmark so I could figure out where I was.  We couldn't go up to it and see it up close, or go inside it because it was closed off for construction.  But just seeing it from a distance was good enough for me.

On the way back to the hotel, we passed by several buildings that made up the Federal Aviation Administration, which is what Chuck was there for.  Normally, he would have to go to these buildings, but for his job shadowing, he had to spend most of his time in a different building.

It was interesting to walk around and see all the fancy buildings, with names on them that are so familiar to us like the Department of Agriculture, Department of Transportation, etc.  The Department of Education was right directly across the street from our hotel.

Anyhoo, that seemed like a lot for the first day, and it was getting late, so we went back to the hotel to get some rest.  The next morning, I was on my own so I wanted to plan my day.  I already had a ticket to go to the Holocaust Museum at 10:30, but I wasn't sure yet what I was gonna do after that.

That will be Day 2 (my next post).

I sure wish I could get these videos to work!

Apparently, I have to do it through UTube, but I am too dumb to figure out how to do that.