On the same road trip we went on in 2012, we also went to Washington, DC. We literally had less than a day there. So, we each picked one thing we wanted to do. The rest was a bonus…
Jeremy picked Arlington National Cemetery. JFK is his favourite President so he wanted to see where he was buried. While I was there, I wanted to see where Gus Grissom was buried. And my famous “last” words: “I’ve been here before, Jere. We don’t need a map…”. It was kind of like Doc Brown in Back To The Future: “Roads? Where we’re going we don’t need roads”. I was like “We’ll be fine!”. I get a smile and nod from Jere and off we went to have an adventure. Too bad I inherited my dad’s sense of direction, which is ZERO. If the goal of the day there was to get lost at Arlington National Cemetery, I achieved it! We totally laugh about it now.
The day started off promising. We found JFK’s grave. Mind you, there are lots of signs. And, I did remember the way there from before. Okay, yes, the signs helped…
This is a photo I took from JFK’s grave. We walked all the way to the Washington Monument (and past it…). I’d do that again. It was a great walk across the bridge into DC.
Things kind of went downhill after that in a way that makes us laugh now. We went to see the Unknown Soldier and after that, we got lost. For about an hour. Or maybe more. At least it was a nice day.
We finally found our way back and we managed to see the Challenger Memorial. This was a great experience for both of us since we both love the space program and the history of it. Kennedy Space Center is another of our favourite places to visit.
But back to the day in DC…
When we got on the bridge, I thought “I’m almost home!”. I say that because I’ve always felt very at home in DC.
YOU GUYS! YOU GUYS! YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE WHERE I PICKED TO GO! NOT IN A MILLION YEARS! HAHA! I’ll give you a big hint if you haven’t guessed yet. I literally ran up the steps at this point…
Luckily, Jere knew exactly where to find me…
And I think this is one of my favourite photos from the entire trip…
being dragged off akin to a child leaving Magic Kingdom leaving the Lincoln Memorial, we’d been able to see what we had each wanted to in our one day in DC. But we did manage to see a few other things…
I wanted to go to Ford’s Theatre but we didn’t have time. We ended the day by going to Natural History Museum at the Smithsonian. We had 45 minutes to look around since they were closing. We just wanted to be able to say that Jeremy had been to the Smithsonian. I’d been there twice before…
Our day in DC was fantastic. We can’t wait to go back and hopefully that happens soon! Next time, we plan on spending about a week there. I’ve already started making a list of places to see, both in DC and in the surrounding area.
On my list so far: Ford’s Theatre, the Lincoln Memorial (yes, again…), the Lincoln Cottage, the Smithsonian, this restaurant called the Lincoln (at least, I think that is what it’s called). Of course we’re going back to Gettysburg. We plan on going to both Alexandria (I’m a huge fan of Mercy Street) and Richmond, Virginia. Jere wants to see the Confederate White House (and so do I). We also are going to Baltimore to see where John Wilkes Booth is buried plus a few of the Confederate Generals. We’re definitely going back to Arlington again.
Is there anywhere else we should make a point of going to? What’s your favourite place to visit in DC or the surrounding area? Let me know by leaving a comment! I don’t know when exactly we’re going back yet but it doesn’t hurt to start thinking about it and planning it out.
Civil War Fangirl 