Full Fun Filled Day in D.C.

What a day today! We started with breakfast(or trying to find a place to eat) at about 3:30am! We ended up finding a "Bob Evans" to get some food at around 6am and then it was a long drive into D.C. fighting rush hour traffic!

Our first stop was the Smithsonian Air and Space museum and then the capitol where we went into the visitors center and then took a guided tour. There were a lot of people in the building today and congress was in session. Our guide was very strict with us as we were told there was a suspicious package found there a half hour before we went through.

I'm not sure if you'll see them but we all have headphones on to hear what our guide is saying!

The boys thought they'd pose for a picture near the National Mall while waiting to get into the Air and Space museum.


Next it was off to Arlington National Cemetery where we watched the changing of the guards, presenting of wreaths for the tomb of the unknown soldier, and took a tram to Robert E. Lee's old home.

The trams made it much easier to get around the cemetery.

On the left is a view of D.C. from the front yard of the Arlington House(Robert E. Lee's house) and on the right is the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier.

Pierre L'Enfant is who is buried above. He was the designer of Washington D.C. The changing of the guards is a special ceremony to watch. It's amazing the discipline and practice it must take to be one of those guards.

After visiting the cemetery we were supposed to go the Iwo Jima Memorial for a photo opportunity but since there was a performance there later on we couldn't get in. Instead we went to dinner and had a little trouble finding the restaurant. So much trouble that we made a wrong turn into a marine base and we had to be inspected in order to get out. It sounds and looks worse than it really was but I must say it was a unique experience for all to have a police officer and a marine come through the tour bus.

The orange vest was the police officer and marine in back was kind enough to give us directions to our dinner destination.

After dinner we went back to Iwo Jima for the "sunset parade". It was an awesome show with the marine drum and bugle corps and marines showing just how good they can be. Ten pound rifles were flipping and flying and the marines did everything to perfection with only the noise of their feet hitting the ground or their hands hitting their rifles to keep them in time with one another.

Here we are getting comfy before the start of the "sunset parade".




The marines marched right past us at the conclusion of the program and many students took pictures with them afterwards.



This was a great picture that looked like it could be a postcard!! One of the men helping put the flag up was from Wisconsin.