An afternoon in D.C.

Mike and I recently went to visit Memom in Alexandria and decided to take a day to play tourist in D.C. 

It was an overcast, chilly Saturday morning but we decided to seize the day! We hopped on the Metro and made our way towards Arlington National Cemetery first. We spent 3 hours walking around Arlington National Cemetery.  We made our way up the hill to see JFK and Jackie O's grave site at the eternal flame. Then we made our way further up the hill to Robert E. Lee's mansion and then across a field to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. We spent a lot of time at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. Watching a changing of the guards ceremony and a wreath laying ceremony and paying our respects to the soldiers whose names we will never know. After leaving the Tomb we headed down the hill to Lot 60. This is where a childhood friend of mine was laid to rest and I wanted to stop and see him. (You can read more about that visit here) Also, while we were visiting Lot 60 I wanted to stop and pay my respects to Virginia Beach's local Navy SEALS who died when their helicopter crashed in Afghanistan last year. At the end of our visit, we both decided that next time, we'll pay the money to take the tram because this place is HUGE!

After leaving Arlington National Cemetery, we got back on the metro and headed for the National Mall. As it turns out the day we were there was actually the day of the Cherry Blossom Kite Festival. As we stepped out of the Smithsonian Metro Station all we could see were kites. It was such a cool sight around the National Monument! After grabbing a quick lunch we were off to the Smithsonian Museum. First up was the Natural History Museum and then the American History Museum. You can see all of the pictures from our day in D.C. in the slideshow below.