Washington D.C!
After packing up camp and having a yummy breakfast at the lodge in Shenandoah we started the quick drive to DC. It took about two and a half hours to get there. First we decided to stop off at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center and then we headed straight for the motel and got all checked in. The Space Center was really neat. It was more oriented to the adult crowd and had hundreds of aircrafts and each one had a sign that said what it was, when it was used, and how the museum acquired and restored it.
Top Left: Discovery Space Shuttle in its new home.
Top Middle: A Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber “The Enola Gay”. The plane that changed the world by dropping the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan
Top Right: Daniel and I in front of the Discovery Space Shuttle.
Bottom: The SR-71 Blackbird. AKA Jetfire from Transformers. This is where they filmed that scene for the movie.
After our trip to the museum we checked in at our motel and then we decided that we would spend the evening at Arlington National Cemetery. Daniel is kind of creeped out by cemeteries but we both agreed that the grounds were beautiful. It was a very peaceful place and we spent several hours just walking the paths. It is so incredibly quiet there and we really enjoyed our 4 mile evening walk.
Top: The JFK Memorial with the Eternal Flame.
Middle: A picture of the rows. Each one has a soldier on it. What I didn’t know is that if you go to the other side it will say the name of their spouse if they are buried together. Something we didn’t know and we thought was interesting.
Bottom: The changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This whole process takes about 10 minutes to complete. The soldier on the right is the new soldier coming in to stand guard and the soldier on the left is inspecting his weapon and uniform. After that, they march to the center where the current soldier is and relieve him. It is very ceremonial and fascinating. You can also see the paths where they have been walking and the spots where they stop. The area where they pace back and forth is covered by that thick rubber stuff and is completely worn where in the spots where they about face. The things that these soldiers have to agree to in order to become a guard is just short of becoming a Catholic Priest. It is taken that seriously which is good. It is such a respectful and honorable duty.
After our evening walk, we grabbed dinner and headed back to the motel where we slept SO well! We were up early the next morning and off to the National Mall to see the monuments. We parked off of the mall near The Jefferson Memorial in free parking and started walking.
Top Left: Inside the Jefferson Memorial
Top Right: The FDR Memorial. I really enjoyed this one. It was spread out and there were a ton of fountains, ponds, and granite walls with quotes. It was beautiful.
Bottom Left: MLK memorial
Bottom Right: Lincoln Memorial. I think this is the most popular spot in the mall. Between the statue, the building, the steps, the reflection pool, and the view of the Washington Monument, it’s no wonder that there are so many people there ALL the time! It’s beautiful.
Left: This is from the top of the steps at the Lincoln Memorial looking across the reflection pool with the Washington Monument in the distance.
Top: The Capital. This building is huge and it’s called “Capital Hill” for a reason. It sits on a good sized little hill and after 11 miles of walking, we weren’t terribly happy climbing up it. haha.
Bottom: The White House. We checked the Presidents very basic schedule on-line and he was at the white house which explains why there was a perimeter set up with so many secret service officers. We wanted to get a picture of The Sherman Monument but we weren’t able to because it was behind the perimeter.
The Capital was the last leg on the first part of our journey. Between seeing The White House and The Capital, we stopped at the National Archives and saw the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, and The Bill of Rights. Unfortunately they have an incredibly strict policy about photography so we couldn’t get any photos. After that we headed for the Capital to take some photos. We could only go into the visitors center and didn’t have time to take any of the tours unfortunately. Once we finished at the Capital we decided to head back to the car and go check on the pups.
Highlight of the day; on our way back to the car, we got to the road that leads to the White House and were waiting to cross the street when a cop came up and blocked the road. A few seconds later, about 6 more cop cars showed up leading about 8-10 black SUV’s. One of which had the back window open with a couple of guys sitting in the back with guns. We are completely convinced that it was the Pres. 🙂 We of course couldn’t see much inside the black SUV’s but there were at least two of them filled with guys in suits and the Pres was scheduled to fly up to New York to film the Letterman Show. It was pretty awesome. After that we headed for the car, checked on the pups and re-parked the car outside of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. After a short walk and a short-lived downpour we got to the museum and wandered around until the weather cleared up. After that it was off to dinner and then back to the mall so Daniel could take some photos of the monuments in the dark. This turned out to be completely worth it. The photos are BEAUTIFUL!
Left: Oregon’s pillar at the WWII Memorial.
Top Right: The Vietnam Memorial with the Washington Monument reflected in it. Beautiful memorial.
Bottom Right: Last stop of the day was the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. We liked the Air and Space Museum the day before much more. This one was more oriented to a younger crowd but it did have the “Spirit of St. Louis”, The Wright Flyer, and the Apollo 11 Capsule. No comments about my hair please. This was the very last stop on our way back to the car and by the time we got to the car, my GPS read 16 miles!
There were so many monuments on the National mall and these are a few of the smaller ones.
Top Left: The George Mason Memorial. He is considered the “Father of the Bill of Rights”
Top Right: WWII Memorial. Every state in the US is listed on individual pillars. So are the islands in the South Pacific.
Bottom Left: The Boy Scouts of America Memorial. We think that is Adam and Eve. Not really sure though. There was no signage. We found it a little creepy.
Bottom Middle: WWI Memorial.
Bottom Right: Daniel taking photos at The Lincoln Memorial. This was our routine for most of the day. We walk to a location, I wander, he takes photos, we move on to the next location. 🙂
All in all, DC has been one of the best tourist moments we have ever had. It was the most exhausting 36 hours we have ever had but it was completely worth it. We went back to the motel that night, showered, put our feet up, and completely passed out! I hope you all enjoyed reading about our adventures! Next stop, Great Smoky Mountains in October!
ShermaNation 