Arlington National Cemetery
It was like this every which way you turned.
JFK's Headstone.
JFK, Jaqueline Onassis and 2 of their children with the eternal flame above them.
Robert Kennedy's Headstone with a bright, white cross above.
Pretty view.
The Arlington House which is on a hill right above the Eternal Flame.
Changing of the guard- you've got to see this at least once in your life. It happens every 1/2 hour during the summer.
Awesome picture.
The Ampitheatre.
Honoring the astronauts from the Space Shuttle Columbia.
Honoring the members of the Armed Forces who dies during an attempt to resuce American hostages held in Iran in 1980.
Honoring the astronauts who dies aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger.
3 of the Astronauts are buried here.
Ben in front of one of the pieces of the USS Maine.
Me in front of the Ampitheatre.
Ben in front of the Ampitheater on our way back to the shuttle.
For the life of me I can't remember what the tour guide told us about this headstone- something about that this is how the father found his soldier son when he died so he made his headstone look exactly the same? I've tried looking online but no luck. If anyone knows please let me know.
Doubleday- is famous for creating the game of baseball.
Lock of Robert E. Lee's hair and also some hair from his favorite horse.
A mess kit he used during the war.
View from the Arlington House onto the Eternal Flame and Washington Monument.
Me in front of the Capital Building. This is about as close as we got to it.
Aero Space Museum- Ben loved it!! Standing in front of Russian missel.
When they took a monkey to space this is what it must have looked like. Poor Monkey.
Givin' a shout to to the Tour De France riders!!You can thank the Wright Bros. for starting it all.
Go Lance!!!
A Replica (I think) of the Wright Bros. plane.
The original fabric used on the plane.
Ben in front of the Spirit of St. Louis.
Me in front of the Spirit of Texas- this was the first helicopter to go around the world.
Fragment of the B-25 flown by Lt. Colonel Doolittle during his raid on Tokyo.
All of his medals. Dude was awesome!
Plane that the Japanese used during the war.
Me touching a moon rock.
Ben in front of the coolest looking building- it ended up being the "Old Post Office"
The Pier in Alexandria, VA. It was so pretty- it almost didn't look real, like a scene from a movie.
Market Square in Alexandria- it was here that slaves would come and sell their wares.
Gadsby's Tavern- Washington hung out here as did many other historical figures.
This is what every street looked like in Alexandria- it was so cute I didn't want to leave.
The Carlyle Mansion- it was closed so I don't know exactly what happened here.
OUR SWEET RENTAL CARE- Lovin' the blue baby!!!Sorry I didn't write yesterday- we wanted to get to bed so we could be ready to go early this morning for our drive to Williamsburg, VA.
We set out early and took the Metro to Arlington National Cemetery and man, that place is the coolest!!! We went ahead and did the shuttle tour so we wouldn't have to walk all over the place- the first stop was the eternal flame which is framed with Cape Cod stones. This is also the grave of John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Onassis and 2 of their children if you looked behind you there were quotes from JFK on really pretty marble "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country") Off the left of their memorial is a single white cross with a white headstone for Robert F. Kennedy.
We got back on the shuttle and as you drive around the driver tells you about different parts of the cemetery, what groups of people are buried where and so on. Our next stop was at the Amphitheater where the Tomb of the Unknown is- they time it so you can watch the changing of the guard (a must see!) we have both video and pictures of it----- totally emotional and very interesting to watch the tradition- The sentinel paces 21 steps down the mat before the tomb, pauses 21 seconds, and returns. Very awesome to watch!! We then walked across the street where there is a plaque honoring the astronauts from the Challenger and Columbia with a plaque in the middle honoring the members of the armed forces who died during an attempt to rescue American hostages held in Iran in 1980. 3 headstones are right in back of these where Laurel Clark, David Brown and Michael Anderson who were 3 of the 7 astronauts from the Columbia are buried. When I was young I really wanted to be an astronaut (I even have the Astronaut Cabbage Patch Kid to prove it!) and I remember sitting in my 2nd grade classroom watching the Challenger take off and when it blew up I didn't know what had happened until I looked at my teacher and she was crying- I still didn't really grasp the concept until I realized that the space shuttle wasn't on the TV anymore- it was a very sad day for me- I remember coming home and my mom had to explain what happened and I cried because I wanted to go up in space so bad.
Next to that was the Mast from the USS Maine so I took a picture of that and some other artifacts from it. We then got back on the shuttle and found out some other neat things about the people that were buried there- I wish I could remember them all but luckily I have it on the cam corder. We then got dropped off at the Arlington House which stands on the top of a hill overlooking the Eternal Flame and you could see all the way to the Washington Monument- very pretty photo opps!! We walked through the house but they're doing some major renovations so they had taken all the furnishings out of the house but they had pictures of what each room looked like. Kinda a bummer so we were able to walk through pretty quick! There was a small museum off to the side so we walked in and they had some really neat things in there- I really like it when they have personal effects from the person's life- they had a lock of Robert E. Lee's hair and a lock from his favorite horse! There was a small mess kit that he used throughout the war, a pin that contained a lock of Washington's hair and a pen that was used by Dwight D. Eisenhower that signed the legislation making Arlington House a permanent memorial to Robert E. Lee. Our last stop was back at the Visitors Center so we hopped back on the Metro and went back into DC so Ben could go to the AeroSpace Museum- we took lots of pictures of some of the earliest space capsules and some cool Russian space artifacts. I took a pic of the crew patch that was flown as part of the Official Flight Kit aboard the Columbia and a small flag and crew patch that was flown as part of the Official Flight Kit aboard the Challenger- both were recovered from the debris. We then went into the section on the Wright Bros. so I took some pictures of some of the actual pieces that were used on the original plane- very cool! Saw and took pics of the Spirit of St. Louis and the first Helicopter to travel around the world (ironically enough, it was called the Spirit of Texas and when they came home, they landed in Dallas!!- Ross Perot's son was one of the pilots!!!) We then went to the WWII Exhibit and i'm not going to lie- I was a little dissapointed in the scarcity of what I saw- there were only about 5 planes hanging from the ceiling and one of them was a plane from Japan!! They had a bunch of tiny planes on one of the walls to show you all the different planes that were used in the war but they were all the same color and they weren't the real things!! There was a cool exhibit about Dolittle's Raid and there was an actual piece of fragment from the B-25 flown by him on the Tokyo Raid that was recovered from his plane in China. There was also a case of all the medals that were awarded to him during his career. I got to touch a moon rock while Ben took a picture- it was wayyyyy too smooth for me- too many people have touched it!!!
We then just walked around the city for a little while- Ben wanted to see if the FBI building still did tours- when he was around 10 his grandma, mother and his cousin, Judd went on a vacation there and he vividly remembers taking a tour and watching the newbies train- I guess after 9-11 everything changed because there was no way they were letting anyone near the building entrances!!! So we kept walking and taking pictures of cool buildings- one in particular looked like a huge giant castle and when we got up right next to it- it ended up being the "Old Post Office" with a big statue of Benjamin Franklin in front- We were just plain tired at this point so we got back on the Metro to take us back to the hotel- we rested for a bit and then decided to get back out on the old town of Alexandria. We walked to the water and that was so pretty- people outside eating on the pier and some guy making music with different glasses with water in them- it was fun! We then went to Market Square, it was once the site where George Washington drilled his soldiers but is now one of the nation's oldest continually operating farmer's markets, where farmers and artists have been selling their products since 1753 (Ben also told me he heard that is where the slaves used to come sell their wares.) We walked down the street to Gadsby's Tavern where in 1798 the first celebration of Washington's b-day in which he participated and from its steps Washington held his last military review and gave his last military order November 1799. Other prominent individuals were entertained here, including John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe. We were too late to go into the Carlyle Mansion so we walked around it taking pictures. We knew we were going to need to get up early the next morning to make the drive here to Williamsburg so we went to bed early!!
We set out early and took the Metro to Arlington National Cemetery and man, that place is the coolest!!! We went ahead and did the shuttle tour so we wouldn't have to walk all over the place- the first stop was the eternal flame which is framed with Cape Cod stones. This is also the grave of John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Onassis and 2 of their children if you looked behind you there were quotes from JFK on really pretty marble "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country") Off the left of their memorial is a single white cross with a white headstone for Robert F. Kennedy.
We got back on the shuttle and as you drive around the driver tells you about different parts of the cemetery, what groups of people are buried where and so on. Our next stop was at the Amphitheater where the Tomb of the Unknown is- they time it so you can watch the changing of the guard (a must see!) we have both video and pictures of it----- totally emotional and very interesting to watch the tradition- The sentinel paces 21 steps down the mat before the tomb, pauses 21 seconds, and returns. Very awesome to watch!! We then walked across the street where there is a plaque honoring the astronauts from the Challenger and Columbia with a plaque in the middle honoring the members of the armed forces who died during an attempt to rescue American hostages held in Iran in 1980. 3 headstones are right in back of these where Laurel Clark, David Brown and Michael Anderson who were 3 of the 7 astronauts from the Columbia are buried. When I was young I really wanted to be an astronaut (I even have the Astronaut Cabbage Patch Kid to prove it!) and I remember sitting in my 2nd grade classroom watching the Challenger take off and when it blew up I didn't know what had happened until I looked at my teacher and she was crying- I still didn't really grasp the concept until I realized that the space shuttle wasn't on the TV anymore- it was a very sad day for me- I remember coming home and my mom had to explain what happened and I cried because I wanted to go up in space so bad.
Next to that was the Mast from the USS Maine so I took a picture of that and some other artifacts from it. We then got back on the shuttle and found out some other neat things about the people that were buried there- I wish I could remember them all but luckily I have it on the cam corder. We then got dropped off at the Arlington House which stands on the top of a hill overlooking the Eternal Flame and you could see all the way to the Washington Monument- very pretty photo opps!! We walked through the house but they're doing some major renovations so they had taken all the furnishings out of the house but they had pictures of what each room looked like. Kinda a bummer so we were able to walk through pretty quick! There was a small museum off to the side so we walked in and they had some really neat things in there- I really like it when they have personal effects from the person's life- they had a lock of Robert E. Lee's hair and a lock from his favorite horse! There was a small mess kit that he used throughout the war, a pin that contained a lock of Washington's hair and a pen that was used by Dwight D. Eisenhower that signed the legislation making Arlington House a permanent memorial to Robert E. Lee. Our last stop was back at the Visitors Center so we hopped back on the Metro and went back into DC so Ben could go to the AeroSpace Museum- we took lots of pictures of some of the earliest space capsules and some cool Russian space artifacts. I took a pic of the crew patch that was flown as part of the Official Flight Kit aboard the Columbia and a small flag and crew patch that was flown as part of the Official Flight Kit aboard the Challenger- both were recovered from the debris. We then went into the section on the Wright Bros. so I took some pictures of some of the actual pieces that were used on the original plane- very cool! Saw and took pics of the Spirit of St. Louis and the first Helicopter to travel around the world (ironically enough, it was called the Spirit of Texas and when they came home, they landed in Dallas!!- Ross Perot's son was one of the pilots!!!) We then went to the WWII Exhibit and i'm not going to lie- I was a little dissapointed in the scarcity of what I saw- there were only about 5 planes hanging from the ceiling and one of them was a plane from Japan!! They had a bunch of tiny planes on one of the walls to show you all the different planes that were used in the war but they were all the same color and they weren't the real things!! There was a cool exhibit about Dolittle's Raid and there was an actual piece of fragment from the B-25 flown by him on the Tokyo Raid that was recovered from his plane in China. There was also a case of all the medals that were awarded to him during his career. I got to touch a moon rock while Ben took a picture- it was wayyyyy too smooth for me- too many people have touched it!!!
We then just walked around the city for a little while- Ben wanted to see if the FBI building still did tours- when he was around 10 his grandma, mother and his cousin, Judd went on a vacation there and he vividly remembers taking a tour and watching the newbies train- I guess after 9-11 everything changed because there was no way they were letting anyone near the building entrances!!! So we kept walking and taking pictures of cool buildings- one in particular looked like a huge giant castle and when we got up right next to it- it ended up being the "Old Post Office" with a big statue of Benjamin Franklin in front- We were just plain tired at this point so we got back on the Metro to take us back to the hotel- we rested for a bit and then decided to get back out on the old town of Alexandria. We walked to the water and that was so pretty- people outside eating on the pier and some guy making music with different glasses with water in them- it was fun! We then went to Market Square, it was once the site where George Washington drilled his soldiers but is now one of the nation's oldest continually operating farmer's markets, where farmers and artists have been selling their products since 1753 (Ben also told me he heard that is where the slaves used to come sell their wares.) We walked down the street to Gadsby's Tavern where in 1798 the first celebration of Washington's b-day in which he participated and from its steps Washington held his last military review and gave his last military order November 1799. Other prominent individuals were entertained here, including John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe. We were too late to go into the Carlyle Mansion so we walked around it taking pictures. We knew we were going to need to get up early the next morning to make the drive here to Williamsburg so we went to bed early!!
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