~~~~Click here for Part I of our trip~~~~

Sunday found Darling Boy and I hoping that the weather would clear, since we had nothing but outdoor activities planned for the day, until we met April and her son for dinner [Click here for her post about meeting us].  Fortunately the clouds broke around mid-morning and it was a beautiful fall day.

[Click any picture to see a full size version]

Our day started by walking down by the US Supreme Court building on the way to a Metro station and a train over to Arlington National Cemetery.  It wasn’t until later in the day that we realized that this is a view of the back of the building.  I though that it looked a little less impressive than I was expecting!  Moving on…

We managed to find the Metro station and headed over to Arlington National Cemetery.  Some people may think that it’s a little morbid to take a 9 yr old to a cemetery, even this one, but there were some things I wanted him to see. As we were heading towards Kennedy’s tomb we passed this sign, which made it easy for me to start a conversation about honoring the dead, especially the men and women who died in the service of their country.

We saw Kennedy’s tomb, along with his brothers grave sites nearby.  Considering that we’re from Massachusetts and Ted Kennedy just died a few weeks ago, DB was familiar with his name.  We then made our way to the Tomb of the Unknowns and our timing could not have been better, as a changing of the guard was just starting.

With some military service in my background I had an idea of what to expect, but these soldiers blew me away with the discipline and precision they display.  And DB was very impressed with the manual of arms and inspection of the incoming soldier by the Sergeant of the Guard.  If any of you are ever in the area, watching these men perform there duty is a sight not to be missed.  And don’t worry about the schedule, they’re out there 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week, no matter what the weather.  The Tomb of the Unknowns is NEVER without a guard.

Looking at the map of the cemetery, I realized that the Marine Corps’ Iwo Jima memorial was very close by, so I convinced DB that we had to see it.  Okay, I TOLD him we were going there.  The deal was we would see that, walk over the Memorial Bridge to the Lincoln Monument and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, then we could take a cab back to the hotel.

I had no idea that it was so big! [That's what she said.  hahaha.  Okay, anyway...].  Seriously, it’s 32 ft from the ground to the top of the men’s helmets.  DB got a kick out of the idea of a statue that is a replication of a photograph and we both enjoyed looking at the statue and comparing it to the original picture and admiring the attention to detail.  We both learned that the iconic photograph that this memorial depicts is actually of the second flag raising on the island- a smaller, less visible flag was placed when the island was first taken, which was then replaced by the larger one we see in the photograph.

The next stop on our tour was the Lincoln Memorial, after a stop at a hot dog cart along the way.  By now it was almost 2pm and we had not had lunch yet.  I was really impressed by DB’s positive attitude.  My feet were getting tired, so I could only imagine how he felt.  We spent some time sitting on the steps of the memorial, people watching and identifying what memorials we could see from there.  We went inside and saw the Emancipation Proclamation written on the walls.  DB remarked “For such an important speech, it sure was short!”.

Then it was time to move on to the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial, which is just a short walk from the Lincoln Memorial.  Of the 50,000+ names on the wall, there was one in particular that I wanted to find.  Marine Corps LTC Albert Pitt was shot down in his F-4 Phantom fighter on January 24, 1966, 4 years to the day before I was born.  No remains were ever found- not of his plane, of him, or of his co-pilot.  To this day he is still listed as MIA.  There was an alleged sighting of him in a POW camp a few years after he was shot down, but that was never substantiated and he was eventually declared dead.  He was my fathers cousin.  Here you can see DB pointing to his name and the name of his co-pilot next to his.

By now I had succeeded in showing DB 2 of the 3 building that represent our government.  We could see the Capital Building from our hotel and each time we went out, and we saw the Supreme Court building earlier in the day.  I managed to convince my tired little man to walk to the Washington Monument and from there we could see The White House.

This shot was taken from near the base of the Washington Monument and when I asked DB if he wanted to go walk closer and get a better look, his reply was an emphatic “noooooooo, my feet hurt”.  Mine did to, but I wanted to give him the option.  I was more than happy to walk with him to Constitution Avenue and hail a cab to take us back to our hotel.

We rested up, I dozed for a little bit and almost overslept, which would have made us late in meeting April.  Not that it would have mattered, since she got lost and was 30 minutes late in picking us up. Monday morning we slept in, got breakfast then made our way to the airport and were home by 2pm.

I was so proud of my little man.  He didn’t complain, much, was inquisitive, quiet and respectful when appropriate, and had a great time.  We had a great time and I’m looking forward to going on another man-trip with him someday.

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Tired of this nice, vanilla family talk? I’m particularly excited about what I have planned for HNT this week, Veronica and I are seeing a couple on Friday night [regular playmates, though it's been a month], then next Friday we leave for 4 days in Las Vegas.  Tales from that trip will be A LOT naughtier than from this one, I promise!!