The very fame of our strength and readiness would be a means of discouraging our enemies; for tis a wise saying, that "One sword often keeps another in the scabbard." The way to secure peace is to be prepared for war. They that are on their guard, and appear ready to receive their adversaries, are in much less danger of being attacked than the supine, secure and negligent. - Benjamin Franklin
Another full day in Washington DC! This is our last day here so we are going to see as much as possible. It is cold and overcast today with spitting rain so you will see a lot of umbrellas. We started the day by visiting the Pentagon Memorial, then off to Arlington National Cemetery. After lunch we will ascend to the top of the Washington Monument, then off to the National Achieves and the White House. As we leave Washington DC later this afternoon, we will drive past the Avenue of the Embassies and, if we have time, stop by the National Cathedral.
This may be Ms Calvert’s favorite - the Pentagon Memorial. She is instructing the class on the events of September 11, 2001, explaining that this Memorial is not only for those who died in the Pentagon, but also those who died in the plane.
It was raining, so almost everyone had an umbrella. It’s a good thing Nick, Austin and Thomas had umbrellas. Well, at least Nick and Thomas had umbrellas!
The Memorial was designed to be used like park benches where a person might sit, think and meditate on the tragic events of September 11th. These benches look like the tail of a jet airplane with some of the benches facing toward the Pentagon and some facing directly away from the Pentagon. Inscribed on the edge of the bench either facing toward the Pentagon or away from it is a name on one individual who died on that fateful day. There is one bench for each person who died, either in the Pentagon or on the airplane and they are organized from the youngest person to the oldest person.
The benches that face the Pentagon are the names of the passengers that were on the airplane, symbolizing that the last thing they saw was the Pentagon straight ahead of them. The benches that face away from the Pentagon are the names of the workers and military personnel that worked in the Pentagon, symbolizing that the last thing they saw was an airplane crashing into their building. It was on this side of the Pentagon that the plane crashed.
Next, we went to Arlington National Cemetery to pay our respects for those brave soldiers who gave their lives that we can enjoy our freedoms today.
JFK gravesite with the eternal flame.
We were privileged to see the changing of the guard. These specially trained military personnel guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, 24/7 and they change the guard every hour.
The changing of the guard.
The new guard is going to his post.
After the changing of the guard, we walked to the Challenger Memorial to do a wreath laying ceremony. These four young ladies were very honored to participate in this ceremony.
As we were walking down the path to exit Arlington National Cemetery, we heard the sound of horse hoofs walking on pavement. Coming up the street was a horse drawn wagon that had a casket in the back and three empty horses pulling the wagon. The horses with no rider signifies that this individual might have fought in three campaigns. One horse for each campaign.
After lunch, we had 1:30pm tickets to go up the Washington Monument. The wind was blowing and it was spitting rain so you can see a parade of umbrellas.
Cory and Nick at the top of the Washington Monument. It has narrow hallways with two small windows on each side of the monument so you can see outside.
This is the view of the Capitol from on top of the Washington Monument. If I remember correctly, Danny Lee told me that the cap on the very top of the monument is made out of aluminum. I would think that were be like a lighting rod!
They try to cram as many people in the elevator as possible. The ranger said if you can see your feet, we can get more people in the elevator. It takes 70 seconds to get to the top.
There were a few more essential stops to make before we left Washington DC. We needed to see the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution and the Bill of Rights which are housed at the Archives of the United States of America Building. It was great to see the actual signatures of Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, etc. We couldn’t take pictures inside so we snapped a few photos on the steps of the National Archive building.
There are two statues, one on each side the building with one of these sayings under each statue:
Eternal Vigilance is the Price of Liberty.
The Heritage of the Past is the Seed that Brings Forth the Harvest of the Future.
Last stop in Washington DC, the White House.
It is hard to get a group picture with the limited space and other people walking in front of you, but we managed to get a couple of pictures. This one is for the Acorn Newspaper in Camarillo, to show that we were at the White House.
This is a photo without the newspaper, but it was difficult getting everyone in the picture. I didn’t realize that I cut the right side off of Jordan till I was viewing the pictures on the computer. Sorry Jordan. Hope somone took a better picture.
After we went to the White House, we took a bus tour down the Avenue of the Embassies and stopped by the National Cathedral, but since it was closing at 5:00pm (we got there at 4:50pm) we couldn’t go in. This will give me a reason to return to Washington DC in the near future.
We continued our travels through Maryland and into Pennsivalia, stopping for dinner at a Dutch Smorgasbord called Mountain Gate (which is located not far from Camp David) and then onto Gettysburg. It is late and we have to get up early in the morning to tour this historic civil war battlefield.
In closing, let me say that it is my belief that our Founding Fathers were men of God and were inspired from on high to write this constitution and form this government. They were a unique group of men that came together at just the right time in history. I do not believe this was a coincidence or luck.
President John Adams captured this feeling in the closing words of his Inaugural Address, “And may that Being who is supreme over all, the Patron of Order, the Fountain of Justice, and the Protector in all ages of the world of virtuous liberty, continue His blessing upon this nation and its Government and give it all possible success and duration consistent with the ends of His providence.”
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