Our Monuments, our Memorials, our Nation

We left at 0625 to drive (8 miles) to the Franconia Train station. Parked the BFT, took a free shuttle bus to the Pentagon, then took the Yellow Metro (subway) to Gallery Station, where we took the Red line to Union Station. It took a little bit to figure it, but it was smooth and easy.

This was test run for tomorrow morning as we are taking the GrayLine doubledecker bus tour at 0830. So we train like we fight, so it should be a piece of cake tomorrow.

We ate some breakfast at a cafe, then caught the free “Circulator” bus. The red-line is a hop-on hop off bus that goes around the 4 miles of the National Mall.

We saw all the monuments and memorials except for FDR (we will go back). The Washington Monument majestically touched the clear blue sky as our 16th President, Abe Lincoln sits in the West overlooking all the grandeur of our great American History. Wow…

I could not help to think of all those that sacrificed to keep our Nation great and free, and in a relatively short amount of time. We have a young nation and we are proud and strong. We are very glad our grandson wanted to visit, and to be able to share this experience with him.

At different times we talked about the tragedy of 9-11 and how it affected us as a nation.

There were no crowds, it was warm, and by 130pm we were at the Shake Shack for lunch. Then we called it a day and reversed the transportation process and home by 330.

Washington DC, like many cities, show their unspoken side of life. Many homeless people (not at the National Mall), but at Columbus Square out side Union Square. It was filthy, and folks laying and sitting everywhere. Well not everywhere, but, well you know what I mean. Its not easy to see (or smell) and it made me wonder just how did some of these folks get there. It is too bad, but I digressed, that is a different topic.

As we sat in the subway car going home, we were all well satisfied of our first day in tourist mode at our Nations’s Capital. We are proud to be an American!!!