Tidal Basin Monuments, Blue Crabs, and the Arlington Nat'l Cemetary

For our very last day in DC, we decided to visit three very important monuments that we were yet to see - what's referred to as the Tidal Basin Monuments, because they all three sit on a big looping path along a tidal basin.  They consist of the Martin Lutheran King Memorial, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, and the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.  This path is also where the famous cherry trees are that bloom so beautifully in the spring.

We met Elise at the Lincoln Memorial, and along the way, enjoyed the views.   

There are just so many things to see in this area!  Before we met Elise, we found a place to get stamps for our National Park Passports.  Usually when we visit a park, we are used to getting just one stamp, but there are so many things all located here, they had like 25 stamps!  We used almost everyone of them!

We began walking around the pathway, and first encountered the Martin Luther King Memorial.  It was really nice!  On the monument, it says, "Out of a Mountain of Despair, a Stone of Hope," and apparently comes from his "I have a Dream" speech.  There was also a wall that had many of his quotes engraved in it, and you couldn't help but realize that he had so many wonderful quotes, I bet they had trouble deciding which ones to use for the memorial.

Then we proceeded on around the path, and came to the FDR Memorial.  This was in four different sections, all with waterfalls.  We all decided, that FDR got a REALLY nice memorial!  Great design.  I think the four sections represented his four terms in office.

As we continued on around, we had beautiful views of the other monuments across the water.  There were nice benches underneath the shade of the cherry trees to take breaks as we made our way around.  

Soon we arrived at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.  A Ranger was there, and showed us something we would not have noticed otherwise.  She pointed out that some trees had been removed that had once blocked the view of the White House, and that was because FDR had them removed, so he could always view the Thomas Jefferson Memorial from the White House, as he drew a lot of inspiration from Thomas Jefferson. 

After this, our plan was to eat lunch, and head over to the Arlington Cemetary.  Our host, Lea, had told us about a great place in Arlington to have blue crabs, and so we headed there for lunch.  It was quite a walk, and the day was quite hot, but we finally made it.  Keith and I split a dozen (medium sized) crabs, and it took us FOREVER to eat them.  None of us minded though, because we were all sitting down, and we were all in air conditioning the whole time.  The crabs were good, but Keith and I both agreed, that there was not enough meat in them to make it worth the the money or the time.  Maybe next time, if there is one, we'll get larger sized crabs.  Keith said, he will stick with lobster.  Elise was wise and ordered a crab cake sandwich - the better deal by far. 

After the crabby lunch, we headed on to the Arlington Cemetary, and along the way, got to see the Marine Corp Memorial.  It was really beautiful!!!

We walked on to the Arlington Cemetary, and then proceeded to JFK's grave, and then on to the tomb of the Unknown Soldiers, where the guards change every 30 minutes.

When we left JFK's grave, we were surprised to walk past a grave off to itself, with just a small headstone.  It turned out to be Bobby Kennedy's grave.

Then to the Tomb of the Unknown Solder.  There was quite a crowd gathered.  As we all waited, a single, solitary soldier marched back and forth in front of the tombs.  He marches exactly 21 steps, then pauses 21 seconds, turns, pauses anothe 21 seconds, and then paces back across another 21 paces.  When it was time for the changing of the guard, about half of the crowd stood up, and then a soldier addressed the crowd, explaining in an loud, very authoritative voice, what the ceremony was, what it represented, and that the crowd was to remain quiet and STANDING throughout the ceremony.  At that point, the other half of the crowd wasted no time in standing up.  They went on to do the ceremony, and it consisted of one senior officer checking the rifle of the guard that was taking over the watch, and then checking the rifle of the one that was coming off of watch.  The two with rifles then swapped places. 

 It was all very precise and regimented, and interesting to observe.

After the changing of the guard, we walked out to the Metro (not far, thank goodness), and headed out to the Metro station near our place we were staying at, where we all went for gelato.  At this point, we had to tell Elise goodbye, but we know we will see her again in a few weeks!