Trip to DC - Day 3

Sunday - Happy Mother's Day!

Today we planned to go to the 9/11 Memorial at the Pentagon and then Arlington Cemetery.  It was a HOT day...in the 90s and humid!

We took the Metro to The Pentagon.  It would have been nice to tour the Pentagon but you need to get tickets months in advance (since security clearance is needed and there are no tours on weekends)--oh well, next time.  The 9/11 Memorial is on the back side of the Pentagon and so you need to walk quite a ways around the building to get to it.  There are many signs posted around the building itself stating "no photos".  However we were able to take photos once we got to the Memorial.

This Memorial was very moving as well.  The design was incredible--very simple but moving.  There was a bench for each person who perished at this site and the benches were arranged based on whether the person perished was in the Pentagon or on the plane and they where arranged by year of birth as well as angled on the path the plane took into the building.

From there we took the Metro to Arlington Cemetery.  Because it was so hot and humid, Dan I agreed to take the tour trolley to get around.  First stop was the JFK and family grave site followed by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and then to the top of the hill to Arlington House.

We had originally considered walking back across Arlington Memorial Bridge to see the Lincoln Memorial in the daytime, but because of the heat we came up with a new plan to take the Metro to Penn Quarter where we walked over to the Spy Museum.  We spent a few hours there--we really enjoyed it.  Lots of interesting stuff to take in.  We then walked around National Mall and by the Smithsonians and then took the Metro back to our hotel.  Our plan was to go out again in the evening to see the White House at night which we did and then stopped for a quick dinner afterwards.

9/11 Memorial @ The Pentagon

Arlington Cemetery

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

White House