Road trip 2012 - Day 3 in Washington DC

Major technical difficulties in posting!!...

 

Today we went to church and Arlington National Cemetery and monuments on the National Mall.  It was possibly my favorite day!

At church in Arlington we experienced a few firsts.  1- some of the best testimonies can come from members of other faiths, 2- first time someone ever asked my kids if they would please sit by them every week (so her baby would be entertained), 3- first taxi (a minivan LOL) I ever saw at church, 4- it was the only place back east where we saw another Utah license plate.


We changed into red/white/blue and did all day Metro passes to get around.

 

Arlington was amazing.  I picked it for Sunday because I was hoping for a reverent atmosphere and I wasn't disappointed.

 

 

Visitors center painting and quilt.

 

 Then you go through the building and just begin walking up the hill.

 

 

 

The headstones reach as far as you can see in every direction.

 

 

JFK and Jackie

 

 

Here is the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier.

 

 

 

 

It was a sight to behold.  I took video, but it would not upload to blogger.

 

 

 

Challenger disaster.  I remember being in 5th grade and our teacher telling us, then coming in right after lunch with a TV so we could watch news coverage.

 

 

 

 

My favorite picture from Arlington.  I love the Washington Monument in the background.

 

 

 

 

We took the Metro to Federal Triangle and Strider thought he was taking us the right way.

 

 

We took the LONG way to the sights, but we got to see amazing buildings on our trek.  I actually didn't mind at all.  And hey, did you see those donuts?  We needed the walking ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok, finally getting our bearings.

 

 

Look at sassy-pants.

 

Closer.

 

 

Hee hee, I love her and her poses.

 

 

Finally to the White House!!  Yes, sassy-pants was in a foul mood and we couldn't get a decent shot.

 

 

 

 

And a storm was moving in fast.  The sky was getting so dark!

 

 

Lovely!  This place is just dripping with history and I just can't stand it.

 

 

So we snapped our last pic in front of the White House and the rain started.

 

 

 

We hiked and hiked.  Past the Constitution Garden Pond, past the war memorials, all the way to the Lincoln Memorial.

 

 

 

That's it!  I could not stop looking at the statue and I was so emotional.  It's bigger than I thought, too.  Huge and wonderful.

 

 

We were soaked! 

 

Terrible picture :(  But proof of how wet we were.

 

 

 

 

 

There was construction on the reflection pool and it was drained, but the rain made it look wet enough to be almost the way it normally looks.

 

 

 

 

 

We debated walking back to a Metro station near the mall, or walking a similar distance and crossing the Potomac back to Arlington. 

 

 

 

The Potomac won :)  We did 6 miles today. Not bad!

 

 

Love, love, love this place.  I can't even tell you.  I wish I could hug George Washington.