Wednesday my aunt was nice enough to drive us around to see all the different memorials/monuments. It was fun spending the day with her even though it was a little cold at times. First we stopped by the Pentagon Memorial, for those who died there on 9/11. Lance and I both thought it was a very well done memorial. The bench things you see behind Lance are for each of those who died, they have water running under them. The ones facing away from the Pentagon are those who died on the ground. The ones facing towards are for those who were on the plane. They also have them lined up so each row is for those who were all born during that year i.e. 1955, then 1956 etc. It was really sad to see how many young children were on the plane, many in the same family. I can't believe it has almost been 10 years. If you'd like to read more about it you can go
here.
Next we stopped at the
Air Force Memorial.
Then we went up to
Arlington Cemetery . I really think it is one of the prettiest places. While we were walking around we saw a funeral procession going through. It was neat seeing all the soldiers marching with the procession. We went up to Arlington House, which was Robert E. Lee's house. They were doing construction in all the rooms so there wasn't too much to see, other than the pictures they had of what the rooms usually look like.
It is amazing how straight all the grave sites are.
Lance and I with the
Vietnam Memorial in the background. I really like this one because it has the names of everyone who died engraved on it. It really puts into perspective how many people lost their lives. I also thought it was neat they had many books around there that you could look up people to see where their name was on the wall.
The nurses memorial. I had to get a picture with this one of course.
The
Einstein Memorial. Kind of a funny memorial but neat.
Outside the
Lincoln Memorial.
Lance and Honest Abe.
Looking out towards the Washington and over the reflecting pool. Which was not so reflecting. Like many things we found, was under a big renovation.
The
Korean War Memorial.
The
World War II Memorial. Another one of my favorites just because it was so pretty. This was the first time I'd seen this one since it hadn't been built when I had been here back in High School.
From the WWII Memorial looking up towards the Washington Memorial. After here I think is when we went and stopped for lunch. We ate at an Ethiopian restaurant. It was a good new experience. Lance thought it was pretty good. I thought it was alright but not something I need to eat again. It was neat having so many different cultures, not something we get a ton of at home.
The start of
FDR's Memorial. This one was a favorite for all of us. There is a lot of cool information about the symbolism of the design on this one. It's also really pretty.
Check out those cherry blossoms! It had been so nice earlier in the week (unlike the last have of the week which was cold and wet a lot of the time) that they came out a little earlier than expected. It was great getting to see them and enjoy them and not have the crowds that come during the official Cherry Blossom Festival. Also a neat view from the FDR of the Washington. I think you can see that from almost anywhere in downtown.
Lance and Carter standing in the bread line.
One of Carter's favorite things from the whole trip. If you haven't seen the cute video of him meeting Fala you should look back in my previous posts. We got him out of the stroller when we were coming up to it and as soon as he saw the "woof-woof" he ran up and started hugging the statue. He just kept hugging her and saying "woof-woof." Then here and there he'd turn around and point up at the Statue of FDR.
Still excited about the dog.
Lance helping Carter check out some cherry blossoms.
More cherry blossoms on our walk around the Tidal Basin.
Lance on our little stroll with the Jefferson Memorial in the background.
Here's Carter and my aunt at the
Iwo Jima Memorial. Carter had lots of fun running around there. My aunt also taught him to throw sticks down through the drainage grates. He had great fun!
He was not so excited about being stopped from his fun for picture time. I hadn't realized how huge this statue was. There is also a lot of interesting history about this statue.
You can barely see his battle wounds from Iwo Jima on his forehead. He had a little incident with the pavement while we were there. He didn't let that keep him down for long though. He was happy to be down running around after our family picture moment. He wasn't so happy when we started leading him towards the van to leave.
Next we stopped at the Air Force Memorial.
Then we went up to Arlington Cemetery . I really think it is one of the prettiest places. While we were walking around we saw a funeral procession going through. It was neat seeing all the soldiers marching with the procession. We went up to Arlington House, which was Robert E. Lee's house. They were doing construction in all the rooms so there wasn't too much to see, other than the pictures they had of what the rooms usually look like.
It is amazing how straight all the grave sites are.
Lance and I with the Vietnam Memorial in the background. I really like this one because it has the names of everyone who died engraved on it. It really puts into perspective how many people lost their lives. I also thought it was neat they had many books around there that you could look up people to see where their name was on the wall.
The nurses memorial. I had to get a picture with this one of course.
The Einstein Memorial. Kind of a funny memorial but neat.
Outside the Lincoln Memorial.
Lance and Honest Abe.
Looking out towards the Washington and over the reflecting pool. Which was not so reflecting. Like many things we found, was under a big renovation.
The Korean War Memorial.
The World War II Memorial. Another one of my favorites just because it was so pretty. This was the first time I'd seen this one since it hadn't been built when I had been here back in High School.
From the WWII Memorial looking up towards the Washington Memorial. After here I think is when we went and stopped for lunch. We ate at an Ethiopian restaurant. It was a good new experience. Lance thought it was pretty good. I thought it was alright but not something I need to eat again. It was neat having so many different cultures, not something we get a ton of at home.
The start of FDR's Memorial. This one was a favorite for all of us. There is a lot of cool information about the symbolism of the design on this one. It's also really pretty.
Check out those cherry blossoms! It had been so nice earlier in the week (unlike the last have of the week which was cold and wet a lot of the time) that they came out a little earlier than expected. It was great getting to see them and enjoy them and not have the crowds that come during the official Cherry Blossom Festival. Also a neat view from the FDR of the Washington. I think you can see that from almost anywhere in downtown.
Lance and Carter standing in the bread line.
One of Carter's favorite things from the whole trip. If you haven't seen the cute video of him meeting Fala you should look back in my previous posts. We got him out of the stroller when we were coming up to it and as soon as he saw the "woof-woof" he ran up and started hugging the statue. He just kept hugging her and saying "woof-woof." Then here and there he'd turn around and point up at the Statue of FDR.
Still excited about the dog.
Lance helping Carter check out some cherry blossoms.
More cherry blossoms on our walk around the Tidal Basin.
Lance on our little stroll with the Jefferson Memorial in the background.
Inside the Jefferson Memorial, which also had some renovations going on.
Here's Carter and my aunt at the Iwo Jima Memorial. Carter had lots of fun running around there. My aunt also taught him to throw sticks down through the drainage grates. He had great fun!
He was not so excited about being stopped from his fun for picture time. I hadn't realized how huge this statue was. There is also a lot of interesting history about this statue.
You can barely see his battle wounds from Iwo Jima on his forehead. He had a little incident with the pavement while we were there. He didn't let that keep him down for long though. He was happy to be down running around after our family picture moment. He wasn't so happy when we started leading him towards the van to leave.
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