Washington DC.....

We arrived in Washington DC after an eventful navigational experience from Jakeb......(front seat passenger navigates, unless it's me!!) and got to see a less desirable part of town....(unplanned!)  We were staying at the Inn of Rosslyn, which sounds glamorous (but wasn't) and we were watched by "weird, creepy guy" sitting outside every day and night, smoking! (I must admit on our last morning he did say hello to Stuart).  We were staying 4 nights in DC, and putting Morgan and Jakeb on the plane to Perth on the 3rd night.  We had 2 rooms for the 5 of us and needed all the space we could as the boys picked up their bags from Jakeb's friend's house on the first night.  It had been such a blessing not having to cart their bags around the country.
The next morning we walked to the train station around 10am (15 mins)...already it was starting to warm up....really, really humid..around 30C but it felt like Derby humidity.  We had a map that gave a route for a walking tour, which was a good way to see the sites.  First stop was the White House.....here we are waiting to be asked in......

A silent protest....

 and still we waited....in the heat.......and noone came out.

It was pretty quiet, but the good guys were still there, keeping an eye on us.

We were excited to see the White House, but a little confused.  We thought the Obama's would have had a better front yard than what we were seeing.. and we were right.....turns out we were looking at the backyard.......then we thought.... (if we happened to live next door) how we would get a cricket ball or football back if it went over the fence.  National Incident??

We headed off down the street past the White House 'backyard', in search of the front yard.....

We eventually found the front of the White House....and again waited for the invite, which never eventuated.

The White House was OK, maybe a little disappointing. The garden was quite boring....we saw Michelle's vegie garden and it would have been a really good yard for the boys to muck around in...but noone was outside playing......but, again it was one of the places you've gotta see.

We then made our way over towards the Washington Monument.  There were huge amounts of lawned area, and we saw some people playing a game of soccer and another group playing baseball....

 What a backdrop for a game of social baseball.  But what surprised me was, even though there was heaps of lawn, with trees scattered around for shade, and it was so hot...noone walked on the lawn....everybody stuck to the footpath...which was the long way to go.  It seemed everybody towed the line in Washington...except for us!
We stopped at the World War II Memorial which had a fountain, so we joined in with everyone else and cooled our feet off. which was so refreshing...

 You were allowed to sit down with your feet in the water, but as soon as someone stood in the water, Security would come running over, blowing a whistle to warn you off.

We found the US Monuments and Memorials in great taste and very respectful of those represented. Next stop was the Reflecting Pool, Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial.  Of course my knowledge of American history comes from the movie Forrest Gump and this was where Forrest and "Jenay" reunited....I was so excited!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfj4OB92MXc

The Lincoln Memorial really was amazing....such an iconic place, and one of those places that I had seen so often on the TV, and couldn't believe I was actually there....

We visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.....this was originally a wall with the names of those who died, until it was decided to erect this statue of 3 soldiers representing those who fought, looking towards the wall with the names....

and the Korean War Veterans Memorial. This one was particularly moving.....you walk up to it and it looks like soldiers in the jungle...their faces weary, frightened and resigned.....

It was so hot and humid and we had walked for so long. but there was still so much to see.....

FDR Monument

FDR Monument

FDR Monument

We made our way alongside the lake, towards the Jefferson Memorial....

and the Martin Luther King JR Memorial......

By this stage the boys had had enough...it had been a really long day, stinking hot and lots of walking, so they went back to the hotel and Stuart and I made our way to Capitol Hill, where we were treated to a very short, heavy downpour of rain...a small respite from the heat.  Again, I couldnt believe I was seeing Capitol Hill....it is a beautiful building and again, so iconic.

 It had really been an amazing day. Washington DC has so much to offer...and everything was free....a bit like Canberra.
 The next morning the boys were all too tired to surface before 11am, so Stu had booked a free walking tour of Arlington National Cemetery for he and I. The Metro was very user friendly and we got off the train right near the cemetery.  The guy giving the tour owned the franchise and he was fantastic. Knowledgeable, respectful, interesting and for 3 hours we walked (in the heat) throughout Arlington.
We kept to the older section of the cemetery, particularly the Civil War section and not visiting the "Saddest Acre in America" where soldiers who have died in the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars were buried.  Interestingly, in the last 40 years or so,  all soldiers have the same white marble headstone, so as not to differentiate your rank....everyone is equal.

JFK is buried there, as he served in the US military, in a simple grave as are his wife, brothers and his two infant children.

Lee Marvin is also buried there....

We have visited the Australian War Memorial in Canberra a couple of times and what moves me the most is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier...it always brings a tear to my eyes.  In Arlington National Cemetery there is also a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier which has been guarded since November, 1925.  Since then it has been guarded 24 hrs a day, every single day of the year...regardless of weather, and even when the Pentagon (which you can see from the Tomb) was hit by the plane on 9/11, with smoke billowing out from the Pentagon, the soldiers continued to guard the Tomb.

The Tomb Guards are from the US Army's 3rd Infantry Regiment and it is considered one of the highest honours to serve as a Sentinel at the Tomb of the Unknown. Less than 20% of volunteers are considered for training and of those only a fraction pass the training to become fully fledged Tomb Guards.  We were there for the Changing of the Guards and the drill was impeccable.

 After leaving Arlington, we met up with the boys and headed to the Smithsonian's.  There are 19 in total and are magnificent buildings.  If you have read previous posts of mine you may remember my lack of interest in museums.  Well the Smithsonian's might be the Smithsonian's, but they are still museums to me!! First stop was the National Museum of Natural History. Fortunately the rest of the family don't share my view of museums as the boys enjoyed it and it was interesting to see the different directions they headed. The most exciting part for me was the Australian section and listening to every person that walked through, hilariously (not) attempt an Australian accent.  Didn't they know they were competing with the best???  At least it was cooler than being outside.  Next "Smithy" was the Sculptured Garden, which was unappealing to the kids, but Stu and I managed another foot soak in the water feature....before we made our way to the National Air and Space "Smithy".  I found it really interesting for about 15 minutes, but questioned some of the alfoil displays.....

 Stu really enjoyed it and reluctantly left as we had plans for the evening.

I had met an Aussie in the classroom of the Amish Village we visited in Lancaster County (as you do), a few weeks earlier, and he had recommended we do a night tour of the Monuments of DC.  So after we left the "Smithy's" we had a long walk (in the heat) to the bus station, stopping at Capitol Hill so the boys could see it.....although they look more interested in bopping each other!

We wondered how a night time tour worked as it began at 7pm and it didn't get dark till around 9pm.  Turns out they give you a tour of DC first which was great....

The Marine Corps War Memorial

then as the sun went down we went back to all the Monuments we had visited the previous day.  It was still warm but the evening was magnificent and seeing the Monuments in that light was truly magnificent. And we didn't have to race around...we could take the time to sit and enjoy them.

Reflecting Pool from the Lincoln Memorial

Washington Monument

 The Martin Luther King JR Memorial was spectacular by night...

An amazing way for the boys to spend their last night in the US, and we eventually got back to the hotel despite the train station being closed and infrequent trains heading our way.
The next day I stayed back at the hotel...the 3 boys went to the Zoo and Stu went back to the Smithsonian's.......able to look at them in his own time.  The following photos are images of our last day in DC....

 That's it?  So Washington DC is an amazing city.  We had no choice but to be there at that particular time, but I would imagine it would be even more enjoyable when the weather was a bit cooler. July is a notoriously hot time of the year there.  Still, we had a fantastic couple of days there and would recommend it to anyone visiting the US
 So on the Monday evening, we sadly drove the boys to Dulles Airport in DC with ALL of their luggage (and some of ours).  The bags were spot on for the required weight and after being asked if they could lift 100 pounds, were given exit rows for both legs of the trip.  Morgan even told the QATAR lady they could swim if necessary!
Stuart and I were so delighted we were able to give Morgan and Jakeb this amazing opportunity for 6 months...which they both embraced.  They were both ready to head home to WA and we were relieved to hear they had made it home safely.