On day three we took the metro across the river over to Virginia. We started the day at the Iwo Jima Monument before walking over to Arlington National Cemetery.
Looking over at Washington DC from the monument.
The entrance to Arlington National Cemetery was very pretty.
Walking through the cemetery was somber, beautiful and draining all at the same time. The history behind the how the cemetery came to be was quite interesting and the rolling green hills beautiful and steep. During our tour we were able to see a military funeral procession, JFK and family graves, Robert E Lee house, and changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider.
President John F. Kennedy, Jackie and two of their children that died as infants.
The Robert E. Lee House
While walking up the gigantic hill to reach the Robert E. Lee house, all I could think about was having to ride up that "hill" in a horse drawn buggy. It was steep. I really had never realized that the cemetery is build on the side of a mountain, I mean hill.
The view from the top, standing in the front yard of the Robert E. Lee house. It was quite the trek to the top, but well worth the view. You could see the Potomac River and Washington D.C.
The front porch of the house.
The view from the porch
I took a view pictures from inside the house, but it was pretty crowded in there so we did not stay inside long.
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and Changing of the Guard
After spending the morning at Arlington National Cemetery we crossed back over the river to Washington D.C. and headed to the Smithsonian Zoo.
This panda bear and I were feeling about the same when I took this picture, if only I could have found a spot to lay down, I would have. My legs and feet hurt so bad by this point. The zoo was also on the side of a huge hill.
This is the escalator we had to take down to the Metro station after leaving the zoo. It was very steep and a tad bit scary. I think it is the longest, steepest escalator I have ever seen.
After the zoo we headed over to where the different museums were. Cason and I chose to go to the National Museum of American History. We both really liked it, but we both were very tired and walking at sloth speed. I would like to go back, because we didn't see a lot of the museum.
My favorite exhibit we did see was the First Ladies. I loved seeing how the styles had changed over the years.
Cason eventually just laid down at one point. It was crowded and seating was limited.
We stumbled on an area that had different virtual reality rides. Cason did the air force pilot one and two of his friends did the one below, which I can not remember what it did.
Cason ride spun around pretty quickly and even stopped upside down, sometime during the ride Cason passed out. We have the pictures to prove it!
After dinner, we headed to the Grant Memorial
The Grant Memorial is in Union Square by the reflecting pool. While we were there baby ducks were swimming in the pool,
The reflecting pool at sunset.
We then walked over to the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial
Our hotel after a very long day 3!
More swimming
We both really liked the Museum of the Bible and I wish we could have spent more time here. I didn't get many pictures because we did an interactive story of the Bible that you walked through. It was like being in the story/movie.
We landed at Hobby and headed to Chick-fil-a for dinner. Cason was delirious by this point.
Random pictures from Day 3 that posted out of order
Although it was fast and furious we had a great time in Washington D.C. I am glad Cason got to experience and see first hand with his friends the things they have been learning about in school.