Another Day in DC

Back into DC for our last day of tourism before heading back to the Badger State. We started out with a stroll through Old Town DC, in search of Ford's Theater, the site of Abraham Lincoln's assassination. We found it here:



And across the street we saw the house they carried him, and where he subsequently died:



From there it was on to the National Archives, home of the Declaration of Independence, The Bill of Rights, and The Constitution. We waited in line for about 15 minutes, but it was worth it. It was humbling to think that right before our eyes lay the very documents that were handled by the country's founding fathers. It's nice that they have been so well preserved for future generations to enjoy and appreciate. Photography is not allowed inside the building, but I snuck one of the outside:



Our next stop would involve our first experience riding the Metro (that's the subway). We trekked over to L'Enfant Plaza and rode the escalator down under the streets of DC. We bought our farecards and found the Blue Line and we were on our way to Arlington National Cemetery.



Arlington is hallowed ground, and one really feels that vibe strolling the grounds. We walked up the hill to the JFK grave site:



We continued on up the hill to Arlington House, once the home of Confederate General Robert E. Lee:



What a view of DC from up there!



We made it over to the Tomb of The Unknowns just in time to see the changing of the guard.



Arlington was our favorite stop of the day. It was an honor to be in the presence of the spirits of all those soldiers who gave service and shed blood for our freedom.

It was a short Metro ride back to The Mall, where we grabbed some chow and listened to a little bit of music. There was a Smithsonian Folklife Festival going on there, and one of the stages had blues music. It's the first time I ever heard John Prine's "Sam Stone" done as a blues tune. Nevertheless, it was a very appropriate song to listen to right after having visited Arlington.



We made the journey over to the Tidal Basin and saw the Jefferson Memorial...



...and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial:



All the memorials and monuments made me wonder what a president has to do to get memorialized. "Something good," says Dave.

Our last stop of the day was the Air & Space Museum. We hadn't planned on going there, but we decided to do it because it was free! We're glad we stopped in. We saw some pretty historically important flying contraptions, such as Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis:



The actual plane that the Wright Brothers flew (the fabric has been replaced):



And a plane the once belonged to Amelia Earhart:



Over 28,000 steps later, we were spent. We headed back to Donna's office and relaxed for a while, contemplating the sights of the day.

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