Washington D.C., continued

Day Five: We found the Capitol Hill ward only a metro stop away, and enjoyed meeting there. It was cool to see a much more diverse congregation, but know how unified we are because of our beliefs.

After church, we caught the metro to Arlington National Cemetery. This was the least crowded we saw any metro station during our stay.

Rob and Robbie pretended not to know the stereotypical tourist taking their picture on the metro.

It was a gorgeous day, and paying our respects at the cemetery seemed like an appropriate Sunday activity. Hard to see the eternal flame in broad daylight, but on the hill above is Arlington House, built by George Washington Custis, and inherited by his daughter, Mrs. Robert E. Lee. It seemed like everywhere we went there was a Civil War tie-in. Years ago I read Mrs. Robert E. Lee: The Lady of Arlington, which was a fascinating biography, and I was excited to see the home. Unfortunately it's undergoing renovation, so the furniture has all been removed, but it was still fun to see.

It's a beautiful setting.

I love the quotes carved into stone, here, and at so many monuments.

Although we missed THE cherry blossoms, by less than a week, there were many blossoms, and it definitely looked like spring.

We saw the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which was very cool.

The view from Arlington House was almost as pretty as the view from Mt. Vernon.

We then walked over to the Korean War Monument, which is amazing.

I didn't get a very good photo of the wall—it was crowded. I guess a lot of people thought this would be a good Sunday activity.

The Lincoln Memorial was VERY crowded, but still awesome.

An Abraham Lincoln biography is high on my "to-read" list. Anyone have a favorite?

Here we are at the Vietnam Memorial. I like the simplicity, and think it goes well with the Korean Memorial. Robbie is just shading his eyes, but it brings to mind a salute, which we did in our hearts, if not with our hands.

Late afternoon we headed toward Georgetown.

We passed the Watergate Hotel...

On our way to the Kennedy Center. Every night they have a free performance, and we caught one of the best, the Brubeck Institute Jazz Quartet. You can actually catch their performance here.


We went up to the terrace for a beautiful sunset view of the city.

Read up on JFK, and his vision of art for everyone.

Then we caught a shuttle to the metro and headed for Dupont Circle. I couldn't get a great shot of it, but the moon seemed so big, and low.

We tried BFG, The Burger Joint, and it was pretty good. Plus their playlist is all '80's music, as you can see from the album covers on the wall.


After trying unsuccessfully to get some good shots of the monuments at night without a tripod, I gave up, so we headed back to the hotel.

Maybe a little too much walking to call this a restful day, but it was definitely an enjoyable one.