Day 2-163 last day in Washington, DC

For our second and last full day in DC, Terry picked a visit to Arlington National Cemetery, and I got to pick a museum. By the time that it was time for me to choose the museum, we were both exhausted from all of the walking over the past 48 hours so the museum that I chose was "none"... The point of this visit was not to see "all" of DC, but rather the event was centered around the wonderful trip up the Potomac and the thrill of seeing the monuments, etc. from the water.

We started our trip to Arlington with the 5 block walk to the Metro station. Altogether over the past 2.5 days we made three round trips on the Metro. We each had bought pass cards for $8.00 plus a fee of $2.00 for the refillable card. When we finished today, we each had $0.33 left on our cards. The first picture show the front entrance and General Robert E. Lee's home at the top of the hill. This also show how close the Metro Station is to the entrance.

We chose to take a Grayline tram tour of the cemetery. The second picture shows the Admiral during our short walk from the station to the tram. I have been to DC probably 20 times, usually for meetings, but I had never been to the cemetery before. It is particularly beautiful at this time of the year with the flowering trees, daffodils, tulips, etc. It is also a very serene place even though the area was full of activities. They have 27 funerals on an average day, plus numerous walking and riding tours, and yet it was very peaceful. There was very little talking and even smaller children seemed to sense the respect that this place deserves.

Our tram made three stops with the first one at JFK's grave and the eternal flame. The setting is very simple, but the location is impressive.









The cemetery is in Virginia just across the Potomac River from DC. On our Great Loop adventure, we have been in states that were part of the Confederacy until we reached the Potomac River with Maryland and Virginia on opposite shores. The entire state of Virginia is further north than any of the other Confederate States. We have probably all heard about families that were split by that war, but for me this site made it all come together. The house at the top of the hill was the home for General Robert E. Lee, and it was here that he and his wife lived and raised their family for more than 30 years. The General had risen to that rank when there was only one country and only one army. Yet, when Virginia voted to split along with the other southern states, Lee, who lived so close to DC, decided to resign his commission and offered his services to Virginia and ultimately to the Confederacy. Standing here so near and yet so far from the northern states, it was easy to see how families could be split by the war.

The old or original amphitheater is adjacent to Lee's home, and the lattice work is covered by wisteria, which unfortunately was barely beginning to bloom. There is a newer, larger amphitheater behind the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The area around the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was (understandably) quite crowded as you can see, but once again the respect shown by the visitors was very obvious. 

We opted to take a short tour of the Lee home and took a later tram back to the Visitor's Center. The home and various outbuildings, including slave quarters, have been restored.





By this time it was nearly 1:00 pm, and we headed back to DC aboard the Metro. We opted for a different station that had a Safeway grocery store and several restaurants. One thing about DC is the incredible variety of restaurants. In fact, if I had to choose my favorite thing about DC, it would be a difficult choice for #1 between restaurants and museums. Perhaps it is a good thing that the two are not mutually exclusive so I guess that I will call it a tie... After lunch, the Admiral did some quick grocery shopping at the Safeway, and then we walked about 5 blocks back to Lucky Us.

When we got back on board, we both looked at each other and just collapsed... It has been a very busy time here -wonderful but busy.

For dinner, we chose to stay close by and go to the Asian fusion restaurant above the clubhouse for the Capitol Yacht Club. Believe it or not, Lucky Us is in this picture... (Hint: just left of center).






We really would be very happy to spend several months here, but even though we officially have no itinerary, we need to keep moving along on our journey. However, DC -we are putting you on notice. We will be back!