Our Nations Capital............

Washington DC is "AWESOME"

Pictures only show you a small view of the overall size and detail.  This is another place you should put on your bucket list.  We got pretty lucky with the weather, with only a few drops of rain one morning, and then sunshine the rest of the time.  The evenings got down in the low 40's, but the days were perfect.

OK, we are going to let you in on a little secret.  We both have always thought that the Capital and the White House were the same place...........  Boy are we embarrassed.  Pennsylvania Avenue was built to go directly between the White House and the Capitol Building.

So many Museums and only 3 days to see them.  We stayed at an RV Park, about 15 miles out of town, where we were only minutes away from a Subway Station.  The DC subway system is much less complicated than NYC's, and not as many people.  We became Pro's in just a few trips.

We will apologize now, for the length this post is going to become.  I know that I am going to get  wordy.

The National Mall seems to stretch on forever, with Reflection Ponds, Monuments, Administration Buildings, Museums, Trees, Lawn and it is just pretty much "Amazing".  If we come back again, we will bring our bikes to ride, or rent a segway, to get around town.  The city is pretty bike friendly, and it would have saved us lots of miles walking.

We wanted to take a tour of the Capitol, and luck was with us again.  We went to the walk up counter, and they had plenty of tickets.  When we got in line, there were a lot of people, but after the introductory film, we were broke up into small groups. We ended up in a group of only 12 people.  Other groups had 40 or more.

The Capitol is huge and beautiful, unfortunately we were only allowed to see just a small part of it.  Above is the Hall of Presidents.  We could go on and on, but we won't.  If you ever get close, you really need to stop.

At one end of the National Mall is the Capitol, the other end is the Lincoln Memorial, with a reflection pond, the Washington Monument, the World War II Monument and another reflection pond between the two.  On either side of the National Mall are the Vietnam Memorials (both Mens and Womens), Korean War Memorial, Martin Luther King Memorial, the Smithsonian Buildings and who knows what else.  Impressive.

World War II Memorial

Washington Monument

Jefferson Memorial

Martin Luther King Memorial

After two days of subwaying, we surmised that we were now ready for the ultimate challenge, a transfer. Way to easy.  We made our transfer, and we were off to the Pentagon, and the Pentagon 911 Memorial.

The benches, or table looking structures that you see, are Memorial Markers for all the lives lost on September 11th when the airliner hit the Pentagon.  The markers are arranged by date of birth.  You can still see where the damage to the side of the Pentagon was repaired.  Very Moving Afternoon.

Our last day in Washington DC, and we still wanted to see the Arlington Cemetery.  Yippie-yi-yo-ki-yay, another transfer opportunity on the subway.  We are indeed pro's.  Pulled it off flawlessly.  Arlington Cemetery would take you days to walk, so we jumped on a shuttle bus that took us around.

The Flame....????      The Eternal Flame over the grave of President John F. Kennedy

A visit to the Arlington Cemetery would not be complete without paying our respects at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  The large structure is the Arlington Memorial Amphitheatre.  Behind the amphitheatre is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

We arrived, with 10 minutes to spare, to see the Changing of the Guard ritual.

Our time in Washington DC was terrific.  We had super nice weather, the Government was reopened, we saw some amazing sites, made our feet hurt from walking so much, and became DC Area Subway Pro's.

Not bad for a couple of  Old Retirees.

So we hooked up the Old Wheelhouse, pulled out to the highway, and made a left turn, heading for Virginia.

Hope you come back to check on us again soon.

Steve and Roberta