We are finally back and settled after our vacation to Washington D.C.! 5 days without Ryan was just about as much as my mother's heart could handle, but he had a wonderful time with his Grammie and Papa. The bond between the three of them now is just so special.
I don't want to completely bore you with every little detail so here's a little summary of what we did. We arrived in town on Saturday evening and hopped a cab to our hotel. After settling, we went to the subway to see how to get tickets and figure out how to get around for our trip.
Sunday we went to Arlington Cemetery (amazing), Iwo Jima memorial (for my Great-Grandfather who fought in WWII), and walked up and down the National Mall. The weather was terrific and it made each of the monuments and memorials we visited even more wonderful.
JFK Family burial site at Arlington
Amphitheater where the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier resides
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Member of the Honor Guard who guards the Tomb. 24 hours a day, every day, someone guards the tomb. He walks 21 steps then pauses for 21 seconds. Then walks 21 steps and pauses 21 seconds. 21 signifies the highest honor in the military, the 21 gun salute. We also witnessed the changing of the guard which was very moving.
The view of Washington from Arlington
The Pentagon is in the background of this picture. I had no idea how enormous that building is. Actually all of the buildings are enormous!
Iwo Jima Memorial
Lincoln Memorial
Mr. Lincoln
The new World War II Memorial
Shout out for Iowa!!
The Washington Monument - there was a kickball championship going on which was fun to watch
Whoa. Big.
The White House
Barry even decided to come out for a photo op!
The photo above was taken on Monday morning. Also known as "The Day the Heavens Decided to Open Up and Rain Down." Incidentally, it's also the day I forgot our umbrella in the subway..... :/ As we were waiting in line to get into the National Archive, Dennis pretended to tie his shoe in order to get under the umbrella of the people ahead of us. I was laughing hysterically!
Monday was also Capitol Tour Day thankfully. This is the Capitol Rotunda and my camera really doesn't do it justice. The Capitol dome weighs a whopping 9 million pounds!
Dennis and I with our Senate gallery passes!! It was fun to see the Senate proceedings though most of the Senators were at a hearing for the Gulf oil spill.
The Capitol at night.
Tuesday and most of Wednesday were cold and rainy and we spent the days touring the abundance of museums around. We also went to Ford's Theater and saw a play on the assassination of President Lincoln and toured the house he passed away in. On Wednesday night we took in a Washington Nationals game and saw a triple play and inside-the-park home run int he same game! That hasn't happened in 55 years so it was great that we could be there!
So all in all, I walked away from the trip with a renewed patriotism and appreciation for those who fight for the honor of our country. I also have a renewed appreciation for a little boy that calls me his "mama," and for a man I too often take for granted. It was a great trip!
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