Each day we think we have seen the top of the day but yesterday was even better. We took a bus tour to WA DC and Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia and then on to Mt Vernon. A 9 hour day and many pictures and memories that you can't imagine you would ever be a part of. We traveled through heavy traffic but finally got to WA DC and drove by some of the government buildings and we were on the back side of the White House.
I shared that in Boston and NY the houses are side by side and were all brick. Well in WA DC the are still side by side but you can see they are painted different colors or the trim on the brick ones are painted different colors. This is how they distinquish their homes in this city.
This is a picture of the White House from the bus as we are driving to Arlington Cemetary.
We stopped at the Iwo Jima memorial monument where we had soldiers holding up our flag after a bloody battle.
Our second stop was at J.F. Kennedy's grave and you can see the eternal flame burning. Also Jaqueline and their two babies are burried beside him here. Hers on the right and the babies one on each side. In the back ground you see General Robert E Lee's house . Our tour guide shared that JFK had brought a individual from another country to this sight two weeks before he was assassinated and he had said to this gentleman I just love this view from here and I could spend the rest of my life here. Two weeks later he was assassinated and buried here his wife remembered what he said.
We then went on and stopped at Robert E Lee's house and toured it he owned or was inherited this property. By tradition American Military cemeteries developed from the duty of commanders on the frontier and in battle to care for the casualties. When Civil War casualties overflowed hospitals and aburial grounds near WA, DC Quarter master General Montgomery Meigs proposed in 1864 that 200 acres of the Robert E Lee family property at Arlington be taken for a cemetery. Since then 60 more acres have been purchased. There is a certain criteria in order to be buried there. They figure by 2026 it will be full.
Then the most touching part of our tour was when we got to see the changing of the guards where the unnamed solders who lost their lives are buried and it is guarded 24 hours. What a awsome ceremony. I am standing at the left hand corner of this picture so I am so close it was awsome. In addition after the changing of the guards we got to watch a ceremony where they honored a family of a loved one and changed the wreath that is put there every day with the one from this family.
We traveled on to Mount Vernon to the home of George and Martha Washington. It was a great tour also. George inherited a small 4 room house from his brother who died and then he built a second floor and a wing on each side and a huge deck across the back that over looked the patomic river.
This is the first tomb that they are buried in on this property to the right of their house and down the hill.
We saw a great short film of him fighting in the french and british war and then when he met Martha who was a widow lost her husband in war and she had two children.
We arrived back to camp about 5:30 & was exhausted.
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