Benson and Sarah: The Trip - Part 7 - Washington DC, Mt. Vernon & Arlington Cemetery

Day 8

We pretty much chose the worst day in history to see Washington DC. It was the day after the 4th of July celebration meaning it was extra packed. It also happened to be right in the middle of a huge heat wave meaning it was like a billion degrees plus humidity. Add a huge crowd to that kind of heat and I am sure you can start to imagine the misery we experienced that day.

We had only that day in the city to see all of the museums so we got a list, picked what we wanted to see the most, and started running. We were able to make it to; part of the holocaust museum, the Air and Space museum, the Native American museum, the Natural History museum, the American History museum, Ford's theatre, and the Portrait gallery featuring private collections of Norman Rockwell prints all in a matter of hours. It was exhausting to say the least but, again, so worth it.

In all the hustle and bustle I forgot to take pictures all day except for a couple on my cell phone - oops.

Day 9

After another early morning we started the drive to Mt. Vernon, the home of George Washington.

It was sweltering hot again but the house and gardens were wonderful and they also had a "learning center" on site with four short movies and loads of information about Washington's whole life from birth to death.

(The house)

(The garden house)

(The kitchen - separated from the house so in case there's a fire it won't burn down. They would stand over the fire cooking most of the day and remember, there's no a/c - as hot as the day was, I about cried just thinking about having to deal with that - we're such wimps!)

(Did you know Washington bred some of the first Mules in the US?)

(Carriage House)

(Garden Wagon)

After finishing at Washington's house and seeing his Grist meal (and eating the worst 'Mexican' food of my life) we drove back into the city to see Arlington cemetery and the monuments we were not able to get to the night before.

Benson's uncle's grandfather is buried in Arlington so we were able to drive around quite a bit of it.

We were there right before closing time but we wanted to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier so we hurried over and magically made it right on time for the last public changing of the guards that day which was one of the greatest things I have seen. The precision and exactness of the soldiers movements left us in awe.

Facts about the guards:

- The guards walk exactly 21 steps across the mat in front of the tomb (representing the 21 gun salute). On the 21st step the guard will turn and face the tomb for exactly 21 seconds, then turns to face the other way across the tomb, changes his weapon to the outside shoulder then repeats.

- They wear special shoes with metal in the sides to accentuate a clicking sound during certain maneuvers. They also wear sunglasses that specially form to their face as part of the uniform.

- While on duty, guards wear no medals or show of rank as to not out-rank the entombed soldiers.

It was getting dark so we hurried again over to see some of the monuments