Washington DC - Day 1

Ben had a conference in Washington DC last weekend. It was always the plan that I would go but we decided to take James along as well. 

 

He was super nervous during take-off and I didn't help the situation when I said it was kind of like being on a roller coaster (he HATES roller coasters). Once we were in the air though he was all good! 

The time change threw us off a bit. It was hard going to bed at a decent time because our body clock was three hours earlier. It was even harder waking up in the morning! We headed to Mt. Vernon first thing in the morning. This is where George Washington lived. There was a movie we watched that explained the history of the house and Mr. Washington. 

After waiting in line for an hour we got to walk through and learn what all the rooms were used for. Unfortunately we weren't able to take any pictures inside.  This is the view from the back patio though.

James wasn't really impressed by anything until we got to the bed that Mr. Washington died in. Of course he thought that was cool. Not only was Mr. Washington a General and our first President, he was also an innovative farmer. We spent hours walking around his plantation. James got this  adventure map that had a bunch of clues to go searching for. It made the day even more informational.

We decided to go to the Arlington National Cemetery after Mt. Vernon. That was completely sobering. There are 362,297 people buried at this cemetery. Everywhere we turned the white headstones just seemed to stretch on forever. We got there in time to see the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier. 

 

We found out that the tomb has been guarded, 24-7 since 1937. Inclement weather, terrorist attacks, etc do not cause the watch to cease. The tomb guards are soldiers of the United States Army's 3rd Infantry Regiment. It is considered one of the highest honors to serve as a Sentinel at the Tomb of the Unknowns. There is a meticulous routine that the guard follows when watching over the graves

1. Marches 21 steps south down the black mat laid across the Tomb.
2. Turns and faces east, toward the Tomb, for 21 seconds.
3. Turns and faces north, changes weapon to outside shoulder, and waits 21 seconds.
4. Marches 21 steps down the mat.
5. Turns and faces east for 21 seconds.
6. Turns and faces south, changes weapon to outside shoulder, and waits 21 seconds.
7. Repeats the routine until the soldier is relieved of duty at the Changing of the Guard

We then headed to the Iwo Jima Memorial. It was a lot bigger than I expected.

We wanted to see the Lincoln Memorial before the sun set. Just like everywhere else we went, there were mobs of people. 

Gettysburg Address

I let James have my SLR camera the whole trip. He took over a hundred pictures.