Jerry has a little trouble with the ticket machine.
Jerry and Lee think "They made us take PUBLIC transportation!"
Actually, that's the lower level of the double-decker bus which we had reboarded to continue our sightseeing.
You may recognize this building. You have probably seen it on the back of both the $5 bill and the valuable penny. We heard that a famous man was sitting inside.
Indeed, inside we found the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln (also known as Honest Abe), presiding. The statue, carved from white Georgia marble, stands 19 feet 9 inches tall and 19 feet wide.
Next we visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial where visitors can search the directory for names of those who fought in the War and died in service or are still unaccounted for.
The nearly 500 foot long wall containing over 58,000 names gets over 3,000,000 visitors annually.
Personal mementos are placed by family members and friends.
The bronze statue The Three Soldiers stands a short distance from the wall.
Arlington National Cemetery was our next stop for the day.
Established during The Civil War, today more than 290,000 people are buried in the 624 acres of the cemetery.
The most well-known individual grave in Arlington is that of President John F. Kennedy. Kennedy was the first individual known person to be given the honor of having an eternal flame at his grave.
Other notable graves at Arlington include JFK's wife and two of their children, as well as his brother, Robert.
Also notable at Arlington is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The tomb actually contains the remains of one unknown soldier each from World War I, World War II and the Korean War. A Vietnam War soldier was disinterred and identified in 1998.
The Tomb of the Unknowns, as is it also known, has been perpetually guarded by the U.S. Army since April 6, 1948.
A hilltop at Arlington National Cemetery provides a wonderful view of the nation's capital.
The Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum was our final stop of the day.
This is an actual Apollo Lunar Module.
This is the actual capsule and couch used to transport Able, a rhesus monkey, into space. In 1959, he was accompanied by Baker, a squirrel monkey, in a Jupiter missile nose cone.
This is the actual tractor that provides nightly hayrides at Cherry Hill Park.
This is the actual Chatfield who knows that as long as he's in the driver's seat, this thing ain't moving.
These are Sammy and Pedra. Sammy is trying to figure out who the new gray kitty is while Pedra is trying to figure out who the old gray kitty is.
As promised, here is a video. The setting...Arlington National Cemetery.
For more pictures, go to http://public.fotki.com/Marlonfleenor/1/2008/june/washington-dc-day-3/ .
To be continued...
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