Charlie Bottita's Adventures: History Tour Day 10 and some of 9

Yesterday was brutal to all of us. It was so hot during the day and humid. We walked for miles and miles. As I said in my last post, We Saw Ford's Theater where Lincoln was shot and the home he was taken to where he died the next morning. The museum has on display the gun used to kill him. It was amazing to stand next to something that had such an impact on our history. That tour took way much longer than I had planned, so we had to high tail it through the rest of the plan. We saw the White House and I was disappointed that there was a secondary barrier setup so no one could go to the main fence and take pictures unobstructed. Some idiot a couple months ago or so decided to climb the fence and charge at the white house. So now we all have to suffer. Jerk. We made our way to Hotel Washington. It is one block from the White House and has some cool views from top. If anyone is in DC, you must go to the top of Hotel Washington and at least take a look. There is a cafe / bar on the roof. You don't have to stay there to go up. We then made our way to the American History Museum. That walk almost melted me. I was drained of fluid by the time we arrived to the museum. It took us a good 1/2 hour to regain strength. Food and Water helped. It was so cool seeing many artifacts from the history of America. Standing next to George Washington's Uniform was amazing. After we have been to many of the places he had been on our history tour. Dorothy's shoes were cool to see too. We saw so much more. We went to the Natural History Museum next. I was very disappointed that the dinosaur exhibit was closed. I wanted the kids to see it. I saw it a couple years ago and it was way awesome. We were able to see the mammal exhibit and other things. The kids really liked that mammal exhibit. The museums close at 5pm, and it was now 4pm. We still had to go through the Art Museum. We booked on over and I picked out some key areas for the kids to see. Rembrandt and the Italian art on display. We were able to spend a good hour looking at paintings and such. By 5pm we were spent and headed back to the Metro Station. Oh, I forgot to mention, this was Michael and Ann Marie's first ride on the Metro / kind of a subway thing. They thought it was pretty cool. It worked out well for us. The attendants at each station are very helpful. I needed help getting our tickets and on the return trip, I had to add some money to the tickets and that was a challenge too. Both times attendants were patient and helpful. We returned back to the hotel around 6:30pm and thunder storms began to roll in. We drove a few blocks to Casa Felipe restaurant. We just made it in and the storm started. By the time we were done eating, the lightning and rain was over. Was cool to watch. We had planned on returning the Mall to see the monuments in the evening, so it worked out great. We got to the Washington Monument and parked right next to it. We got some great pictures of it and video with Lightning off in the distance. We walked through the WWII memorial, stopped and said hello to Abe and walked through the Korean War Memorial. If you have seen it during the day, you should see it at night. The soldier statues come to life. It is spooky, but emotional. Walked through the Vietnam Memorial and it is also amazing at night. We walked upon a young woman approached the wall with all the names of the soldiers that perished, I stopped and thanked all of them for their ultimate sacrifice. All the government around DC, the ones that I appreciate the most are those men and woman that gave their life for the freedom of others.

Day 10 Wed. We checked out of the hotel and headed to Arlington National Cemetery. I had never been there before. Mary has, but it was new to me and the kids. There is a tour bus that you can pay for to take you around the cemetery, but we chose to walk. I really wanted to walk, because all the graves of the men and woman who gave their lives were in between each stop. I wanted to pay my respect to as many of them I could. It is a great reminder what sacrifices were given for me to be free. The grave stones went on and on and on. I thought of taking a picture of the rows, as they are uniform in rows and shape. But I felt this is one site that I want to just be in my memory. I will never forget them and their sacrifices. The humidity was much lower today and the walk was a little more pleasant. The aid at the visitor center desk told us the walk was uphill and I had to laugh because she showed us a very steep slope with her hand. I said , we are from Oregon, that is not much of a hill. Haha. So, even though the humidity was low, the sun was hot and I was sweating like a beast. But as I beaded sweat, I thought of what each person endured that is buried there. The pain, the suffering. So a few beads of sweat was nothing. We headed up to the Tomb of the Unknown soldier. We arrived just before the changing of the guards. That is an amazing thing to witness. To see the tomb and how respectful the guards are. The guards stand in the heat, the cold and anything to stand by their falling comrade. That is the ultimate in respect. There were some wreaths presented as well. I caught all of this on video and will put that together when I return home. We walked over to the grave of Jackie and John Kennedy. It is a nice resting place for them. Very beautiful. We didn't tour the rest of the cemetery, as that would take all day and we chose to drive to New Jersey a day early. So we walked back to the car and reflected on what we just witnessed. We drove to Baltimore Inner Harbor for Lunch. and Little Italy for desert. I had been there before, so I wanted to take Mary and the kids to Vaccarros for eclairs. They are huge and yummie. I cannot eat them any longer, but I did not disappoint with my suggestion that they try them. They loved them. They are huge. the size of my foot. I wear a size 11. We ate lunch at Hard Rock Cafe and the waiter was awesome. He kept bringing me sweet tea as my glass would get almost empty. It was a nice break for the long drive north. We are now in Clifton NJ and will be seeing the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island on Thursday. Maybe even the town and house I lived in when I was a kid.

The internet connection is not that great at the hotel, so I didn't upload as many pictures as I wanted to. But below is a good sampling.