We choked down another mediocre-at-best breakfast before loading up and driving to Arlington National Cemetery. We were going to correct my ignorance and go visit "THE" Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This cemetery is absolutely massive and filled with countless solders who served our country. It was somber, and quite warm. We had a tight schedule because we had a timed tour scheduled later in the day, but apparently the Prime Minister of Italy was on site today, so the secret service had closed the JFK grave site and the tomb of the unknown soldier. Bummer, but we decided to push our luck and wait.
Luckily, it didn't take too long before the secret service loaded up in their cars and drove off, opening up the JFK grave site. We walked up the road and up the stairs to a wide stone area with JFK quotes etched into them. Up a few more stairs on the left was a small flame burning with gravestones marking the burial place of the former president and his late wife. We quietly reflected for a few moments before setting off on a trek to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
It was a very, VERY hot day today. When we pulled into the parking lot, the thermometer on the car said it was 97 outside and very humid. Even the Secret Service agents were remarking about how unseasonably hot it was today. The walk from the JFK grave to the Tomb is only about a half mile, but there's basically zero flat ground, it's all hills and stairs. By the time we made it, I think we were all sweating through our clothes. Our timing couldn't have been better though, as we walked up right at the changing of the guard (which, granted, does happen every 30 minutes right now - but hey, we didn't have to wait or miss it!). We watched the brief ceremony, took a few pictures, and then hiked all the way back to the parking lot. We were all very, very sweaty by the time we made it back to the van.
Our next stop was Mount Vernon, Virginia at the home of George Washington. We had a tour of his mansion, which was beautiful inside and out. And the main home had air conditioning which felt fantastic (and was quite forward thinking for a home in the 1700s). We saw their slave quarters, the kitchen, Washington's study, and the room in which he suffocated and died. We also spent a few minutes on the back porch, staring out at the Potomac. It really was quite beautiful. Afterwards, we walked around the bowling green, which was apparently quite revolutionary at the time but essentially looks like a large manicured lawn which isn't uncommon today.
On our way out, we accidentally stumbled into a museum that was much larger than we'd anticipated and was included in our admission price so we meandered through it. There was a ton of information related to the revolution that we'd already seen in numerous other museums so far on this trip, but some of my favorite pieces were the map of the US that marked out schools, cities, parks, states, counties, and more named after George Washington and his actual teeth that had just been returned from being restored. Bask in their greatness:
That was the end of our stops for today and we loaded up, heading for Lewisberg, West Virginia for the night. There were some very strong rain and thunderstorms on the drive, but luckily they were short lived. Even with the windshield wipers going as fast as they could, it was difficult to see through all the sheets of rain coming down. We made it to our hotel without incident, unpacked, get everyone through the showers, and collapsed into bed.