Day 13

Washington DC

May 19, 2013, 9:23 PM

We are in the Nations Capitol. It is very much a big city. Traffic and people and tour buses and motels and hotels and highways, all the usual stuff, but it also has some amazing history. We went to Mount Vernon today and Arlington National Cemetery. Mount Vernon was just so beautiful. Last year we went to Monticello and that was beautiful, but there is something so special about Mount Vernon. The setting is so picturesque. It sits right on the Potomac, I wish the morning hadn't been overcast so I could have gotten good landscape photos, but oh well you have to take what they give. We not only toured the mansion but we did one of the behind the scenes tours. It was really interesting and we saw some areas that aren't typically seen and we got some information that isn't commonly known. We saw where they got the set ideas for the movie National Treasure Book of Secrets. 

My gosh we walked so much all over the estate and it is a huge estate. It was beautiful and we had a great time. Then we went on to Arlington National Cemetery. I have to admit I was a little hesitant about that stop. It didn't feel right to be at that cemetery where it is a monument to the horrors of wars and be treating it like it's a tourist attraction like Disney World, but I did want to see the changing of the guard and JFK's burial site. I was shocked at the rows and rows and rows and rows of tombstones. It's so shocking. You can't imagine it if you haven't seen it for yourself. I can't say enough about how sad it is seeing all those graves, all those lives lost. 

It is horrible how it HAS become a cemetery theme park, they have tours, and buses, and people taking their pictures with the graves in the background. I was really shocked and sickened. There was a little kid that knocked over one of the poles that keeps the chain up around JFK's grave site, of course the racket it made was horrible and Steve and I just looked at each other. Welcome to Arlington Cemetery World, please keep your hands and feet inside the tram at all times. Please seat small children to the inside and make sure to collect all your belongings before you exit the ride. You can't teach class, if only you could. 

After that we drove around Washington a little bit. It is a crazy place and tomorrow we will be back to do the Smithsonians. We are taking the METRO into the city. It's will be a trip in and of itself. I can't wait!!