Washington, DC to Home

Sorry it's been a couple days since my last post. I'll try to finish the trip in this post and will do a final, wrap-up post later today or tomorrow.

The final day of our adventure started out like most of the days on the trip. I woke up first, got my shower, and got dressed, as Bar woke up. She woke up with her usual bubbly, excited state-of-mind. She was excited about the start of the day. Over the trip, I was amazed at her enthusiasm for the day and her getting ready to go so quickly! She usually had to wait on me, even though I had a head start almost every day. She's an amazing woman!

We had the usual quasi "deluxe continental" breakfast and headed back to Arlington National Cemetery to board the Tourmobile for more touring on the big busses.

Having made the trip the day before, and knowing how the roads worked, it was an easier commute this time. Piece of cake!

The sights we specifically wanted to see included the Vietnam Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, John Kennedy's grave, and the Robert E Lee homesite in Arlington.

All were great. The Vietnam memorial is a sobering experience. With over 58,000 names engraved in the marble, it's overwhelming to me. Such loss. So many tragedies. So much sorrow. It was my second trip to the memorial. My first trip included me sitting on the walkway and crying; it was just so emotional. This trip was easier. We found the name of a neighborhood boy who died in 1970, Joe H Rufty.

The Jefferson Memorial was pretty awesome. When you come to know his contributions to our nation's beginnings, I am dumbfounded by his wisdom. Reading the plaques in the memorial, I was stunned with things he wrote. An amazing man.

The Kennedy grave site was solemn. I had seen it on an earlier trip, so I knew what to expect. The eternal flame is something to see. One memorable thing on this trip was two deer, grazing in the cemetery about 150 feet away from the Kennedy gravesite. It was a peaceful place.

Finally, the Arlington House, Robert E Lee's home was pretty neat. The most memorable thing is the view from his font porch. Awesome!! It lies on top of a big hill, overlooking most of Arlington Cemetery and, in the distance is the Potomac River and Washington City. Beautiful and magnificent.

So, the trip was almost over--only the ride home remained.

We pulled out of Arlington Cemetery around 3:30 pm and got on the roads home. And they were PACKED. Stop and go for about 90 miles! Very aggravating travel. Move. Stop. Move. Stop. On and on or almost 90 miles.

After a while, we decided to stop for dinner; we had not eaten since breakfast at the hotel. So, we found a place on the GPS that looked interesting about a mile off the Interstate.

I guess we should have given it more thought when we found the place and saw that all the establishments in the shopping center were Hispanic. In spite of that, we went into the place, even though it was clear that the air conditioner was not working (door was propped open).

We went inside, and were greeted by a beautiful Hispanic woman who clearly could speak or understand the English language. I asked what beer was on tap, and she had no idea what I was asking. So, I stuck with water. While the food was ok (mine was ok; Bar said hers was good), the women were interesting.

There were no other customers in the place, but there were about 5 beautiful young Hispanic women there to wait on customers. They were wearing high heels and extremely short skirts, with blouses open to show as much as possible and stay legal. We wondered if the place was a front for a bordello! Who knows...

We got home about 9:45pm, after a long, tiring day of touring and traveling.

It was a good day.