111/365
This morning we got up and headed into DC. Linda has never been to DC, so the whole point of this trip was to get in as many tourist attractions as possible. Well, we couldn’t have picked a better day.
In my infinite wisdom, I basically picked the least efficient way for us to get as many monuments in as our feet would let us. We started off by stopping at Theodore Roosevelt Island. Much like previous years’ Teddy at the National’s games, Teddy’s monument is sort of underachieving and underappreciated. But the dude has an entire island! Our first stop of the day was a quick one, but we got in a visit with Teddy. One of the nice things about his memorial is that since basically no one remembers it, it’s never crowded. We were basically the only people there so it was easy to mosy around, get good pictures, and not have to fight swarms of people.
Our next stop was Arlington National Cemetery. I hadn’t been there since eighth grade, which basically meant it was like visiting for the first time. We first headed up to the Tomb of the Unknowns where we got to see a wreath laying ceremony and the changing of the guard.
After a very circuitous route, we also managed to find the JFK Memorial. What struck me more than the memorial itself was the very basic and sparse markers for RFK and Ted Kennedy. They were so simple that if you weren’t looking for them, you might not even notice them.
We also got to see Arlington House, which is a memorial to Robert E. Lee and tied in nicely with yesterday’s trip.
After walking across the bridge into DC, we started to hit up the memorials. We started at the Lincoln Memorial which is as majestic and grand as ever.
We also got to see the Vietnam War Memorial, the WWII Memorial, and the Korean War Memorial before deciding we were beat and needed to eat something.
We walked up the street towards the White House and saw a mass commotion as kids and parents left the Easter Egg Roll at the White House.
We stopped at the White House for a quick photo op before heading to get a late lunch.
As we sat down to eat, we realized we had walked nearly 10 miles today and decided we were beat and to tackle some of the other monuments tomorrow. We all got home tired and sore and ready for a good long nap (or early bedtime) so as to be ready for tomorrow’s adventures.
I did somehow manage to get the energy to make a flourless chocolate cake though. After a long day on our feet, a small slice of cake was the perfect way to end a very full day.
