Part 2: Arlington and National Monuments

The next day of our trip, July 7th, was busy (but I think it's fair to say they were all busy). We had to do some last minute shuffling with who we were staying with. Originally we were going to stay the whole trip with my cousins Alan and Bobbi in Bethesda, Maryland, which is very close to DC and distance-wise made the most sense for our sight-seeing. However, a few days before we left, Bethesda was hit by some massive wind storms and Alan and Bobbi's condo was completely without power for days - in 90+ degree heat. So Mark and I stayed with Jim and Fran in Frederick, Maryland, which is closer to Pennsylvania, the night of the 6th, and luckily by he time we drove down to Bethesda the next day the power had been restored. Whew! We returned the rental car and then Alan and Bobbi drove us to the nearest Metro station so we could ride the subway into town. Our first stop was Arlington National Cemetery.

The Eternal Flame and the graves of JFK and Jackie Kennedy

The Tomb of the Unknowns

The Arlington Memorial Amphitheater

Looking back on the Tomb and Amphitheater

Washington, DC

We got to watch the changing of the guard ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. That was a very solemn experience.

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After wandering around the cemetery as much as we could handle with it still being well over 100 degrees and so humid you felt like you were smothering, we walked across the Potomac River to see the national monuments.

*This helicopter says "United States of America" along the side and flew right over us as we were crossing the Potomac. This was not taken using a zoom.

Crossing the Potomac towards Washington. You can see the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial.

Lincoln Memorial

Washington Monument. Sadly they were doing construction so the Reflecting Pool had been drained.

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*Vietnam Memorial

Vietnam Memorial

World War II Memorial

*The American Red Cross

By the time we got to the World War II Memorial we were so hot and so tired and cranky and hungry and thirsty that we only stopped long enough to snap one or two pictures and then we didn't care anymore. It also didn't help that we were blocks (it felt like miles - maybe it was) away from food but there was only one way to get there so off we went. We finally found a little cafe near the White House (which was swarming with Secret Service) and I can tell you that air conditioning never felt so good!!!! I have never felt so hot in my life. Even with all the water we'd been drinking from the Camel-back (this will be TMI for some people but I'm going to put it anyway) we barely urinated at all. We were drenched in sweat but my eyeballs and the inside of my mouth felt so dry. Mark kept saying he didn't feel right, he felt dizzy and light headed. We're lucky he didn't pass out from heat exhaustion - I think he was almost there. We refilled the Camel-back with ice and water and made one more stop, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. (For some of you who may not know or who forgot - a few years ago an officer in Mark's department was killed in the line of duty. Officer Charles Skinner was involved in a pursuit when his car hit a slick spot on the road causing him to lose control and crash. He suffered massive head trauma and was removed from life support a few days later. His wife Katie had given birth to twins just a few weeks prior. Besides the fact that Mark works for a small department and this hit everyone hard, Mark had been the one to train Charlie and was Charlie's idol, according to his wife.)

"The wicked flee when no man pursueth but the righteous are bold as a lion."

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The wall with the thousands of names continued all the way around in a circle. Way too many good people died.

We couldn't find a pencil at first to make a rubbing so we asked a family that was walking along the pathway if they had one. They didn't, but while they were digging through their bags Mark pointed out the name and said that was his friend that was killed in the line of duty. They were so sympathetic, and not the fake kind either - they really felt bad. They apologized that they couldn't find a pencil and as they walked off the little girl said sadly, "I'm sorry about your friend." I almost broke down crying from that and I don't know why but it was so heartfelt and sincere - and they were strangers.

We did finally find a pencil hidden away with one of the directories so we finally made a couple of rubbings.

By then we were so done with the heat we took the Metro back to Alan's condo and had some time to de-stinkify ourselves and enjoy the air conditioning.

*The inside of a Metro station - in case anyone was feeling deprived of a life experience by not seeing the inside of a Metro station. :)

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Another great part about modern technology, in addition to climate control, is Skype. We were able to Skype with Mira most of the nights we were gone. She of course is too young to talk on the phone yet (we'd have whoever was watching her go on speaker phone, Mark and I would talk and apparently Mira would smile and wave at the phone and blow kisses at the phone and then try to grab it and press buttons) but Skype worked a bit better. She recognized us on the screen and smiled, babbled, tried to grab at us on the screen, and when she waved or blew kisses or whatever we could see and blow kisses back. It was so nice to stay connected like that and even though sometimes I'd want to cry for missing my baby so much it did help to see she was doing well. And I liked to think it helped her to see our faces too.