Arlington National Cemetery & War Memorials

I hope you aren't growing weary of my photos of our trip to Washington DC.  I've seen the comments dropping off... but I will go ahead and share this day with you as it was quite an amazing day.  Our first destination on Friday was Arlington National Cemetery.  It's a huge place and luckily we were able to get a pass to drive ourselves through the place due to hubby's war injury related handicap card.  The first photo still brings chills to me.  We were driving with our windows open on a roadway above this one and I heard a military band and asked Steve to stop so I could see and take some photos.  First to pass was the military band playing patriotic music, then I heard the clip clop of horses hooves and saw the men on horseback, pulling the caisson with a flag draped casket on it.  The family followed behind as they went towards the gravesite.

We then went on to the Arlington House, the Robert E. Lee Memorial.  Learn more HERE.

Below is the beautiful gazebo in Arlington. 

Here is another perspective, the Arlington House sitting high on the hill and before you is the Eternal Flame at President John F. Kennedy's grave, with Jaqueline next to him. 

This wonderful man was my President when I was a Freshman in High School - and I will never forget the voice on the intercom at school, informing us all that our President had been shot, and then later that he had died.  ::sigh:: 

 Our beautiful and stylish First Lady, Jackie.

One of the most memorable lines of his Inaugural Address is inscribed in the wall around the plaza in front of the graves.

Next we drove to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to watch the Changing of the Guards, done every 30 minutes during the day.  This is the building where people watch the change. Dayle took a video of the Changing of the Guards - click HERE if you want to see.

The beautiful marble tomb. 

The changing of the guard was very quiet and solemn, you could hear the metallic click of the heels of the guards. 

 The Sergeant of the Guard inspecting the relieving guard prior to his assuming duty.

 The rifle inspection.

It was so neat to see this in person after hearing about it my whole life. 

This photo was taken from another vantage point by my sister Roberta.  

This is the front of the building at the Tomb of the Unknowns. 

Then... we found the grave of the man that Dayle helped the MIA bureau identify from his remains found in Laos several years ago.  Dayle had seen him shot down and was shot down later that day and had no idea that his body had never been recovered.  They contacted Dayle and with his description, his family was finally able to lay him to rest.

Next we went to the Lincoln Memorial.  I love this place!!  Isn't it gorgeous? 

Me and my honey in front of good old Honest Abe! 

A great President. 

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.   

The Washington Monument rises high from the other end of the reflecting pool, which was empty and under repair.. darn it.  The fountain in the forefront are at the World War II Memorial and the Capitol Building in the distance. 

Next we trekked over to the Vietnam Memorial, do you see Dayle and I reflected in the wall?   

This was a very touching moment.  Dayle found the name of his good friend who was his roommate during flight school in the Army when he was learning to fly the helicopter before heading to Vietnam.  I met him too, and he was a doll. 

Jerry Johnson.  ::sigh:: 

Dayle went to see the Korean Memorial and got these photos while I rested my tootsies. 

Next was the Jefferson Memorial.  This is a beautiful building is so pretty on the water.

The inside of the building. 

And then.. we drove to Annapolis, checked into our hotel, and then went to our Aunt Helyn's house and met up with her and our cousins and followed them to the private beach that our cousin is a member of for a Crab Feed & BBQ, generously put on by our cousins Mark and his wife Dale, Scott and his wife Maribeth and Steve.  What fun we had! 

This is the view of the bay and river looking out from the picnic pavillion.  Gorgeous! 

My twin siblings, Robert and Roberta - the crabby ones! :-)

And so, another long and amazing day for us.  The next day was our family reunion with our Aunt Helyn and Uncle Harold's family - and our Aunt MaryAnn and Uncle Fred also joined us from Oklahoma.  Monday is our tour of Gettysburg Battlefield.  I hope you want to see a couple more posts of this trip! :-)  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)