Fall RV Trip - Day 4 - Deciding to Go to DC

Sunday night we watched the new accounts of the veteran's marching in Washington and removing the barricades and dumping them in front of the White House. Although we had originally decided to go to Monticello on Monday (hence we stopped in Richmond, VA), we thought we'd enjoy ourselves more if we just went straight to DC. And so off we went. After we packed up and unhooked, that is. Brandon loves when I take his picture :)

I had to hold this in the ground with my foot. nice.

We headed out early and I remembered the LOVE signs at various spots around Virginia. We decided to stop at the VA Welcome center in Fredricksburg because they have a big one there. So we drove to mile marker 131, where it was supposed to be, but no welcome center. Well, DUH! We were almost to Maryland. It was on the other side of 95. We made a U-turn (which is no small feat in the monster) and headed south to check it out. Yes, my hubby loves me. Virginia is for lovers ;)

Then we promptly jumped back in the RV and headed to the nearest Chick-fil-A for breakfast (it was 10:20!). After maneuvering the beast around Spotsylvania, we got back on the road. Yes, it's called Spotsylvania. Then there was another ____sylvania. So I looked up sylvania and it means "place in the woods." Who knew?

We arrived at our campground - Cherry Hill Park - not too far up the road. It's nice and has its very own Metro bus stop.

These are some pictures I took while driving - I was so excited to see the city. And the Pentagon ... it's HUGE! I never knew.

The roads here are EXTREMELY busy! And the highways right around the city have all this stonework on the overpasses and guard "rails" (which are not rails at all, but stone walls).

We rented a car (which took forever and I'll spare you the reason why we rented car until tomorrow's post) and made our way into the city.

Our first stop: Arlington National Cemetery. What a lovely place! And so sobering. And moving.

We watched the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns. And we were fortunate enough that many people left right after and we were able to see a wreath laying ceremony as well complete with the playing of Taps. It was very moving. I know there were tears in my eyes during Taps.

The cemetery is vast, as you can see from the pictures. The gravestones go on as far as you can see. what an honor to walk among them.

 

The day was waning and so we made our way into DC to at least drive around and see what we could see.

We decided to stop at the National Mall because, although it was "closed" there were people everywhere.

And then we saw the World War II Monument and I knew we had to visit. We are both (Brandon much more so than me) World War II buffs because his grandfather fought in Europe for the US.

We had heard and seen that people were going into the monument even though it was barricaded. And so it was. And so we went in anyway, like many others. In the pictures you can see the barricade and where it was moved to allow entry.

This next display was sobering ... "Here the Price of Freedom". Each star on the wall represents 100 who died. There were 405,000 who died in World War II.

Then we decided to make our way to the Lincoln Memorial via the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. That, too, was somber.

Hahaha. More barricades that people moved.

Onward to the Lincoln Memorial:

This is as close as we could get to Lincoln. People had not moved the barricades here because there were park police. I very much wished someone would start and I think I would have joined right in!

I had heard that the dining in DC is excellent, so we ventured to find a good place to eat. We discovered the Old Ebbitt Grill ... YUM!!! It was very cool inside. It was very Washingtonian. One could imagine important meetings taking place in back rooms in the Old Ebbit Grill, which was established in 1856. The food was great, but the dessert? Well, we made ourselves sick eating a Butterscotch Blondie Sundae. Oh.My.Goodness. Best dessert ever.

After that I was so stuffed and so tired from walking a.lot. (the National Mall is huge!) that I was glad we had the car with us and could just jump in and drive to the RV. I promptly fell into bed and slept very well!

Tomorrow I'll tell you about today ;)

It's time to say goodnight! Thanks for reading this far :)