Road Trip, Day 8 - Arlington

I slept on a massage table last night - pretty comfy except I almost fell off a couple times. Katherine and her "Amigas" (Avery, Hannah & Natalia) fixed breakfast for everyone and did a great job...except for the burnt Stripples and subsequent 2 hour, ear-splitting fire alarm. By the time we found the reset box/keys in the basement, the kids didn't even notice because of the loud banging on the piano and voices drowning out the noise. Spent most of morning doing laundry and working on homework. We had a group meeting to work out the food-dividing episode the day before - humbling stuff but good to work through things.

Later that afternoon, we headed out to Arlington National Cemetery. I didn't realize Virginia was so close, and the Subway took us right there. We saw President Kennedy's grave with the eternal flame and then walked up hills past thousands of headstone marking soldiers who have fought in every battle since the civil war. Acres and acres, as far as the eye could see, there were rows of graves. I was also surprised at how wooded and beautifly landscaped the cemetary was.

We watched the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldiers. "Here lies the tomb of soldiers unknown but to God" was engraved on the monument in front of which the somber and stately ceremony took place. Three soldiers were involved, clicking their heels in unison. The rain that started falling seemed appropriate.

J.J. was really dragging, so Kevin and Paul (any maybe others?) took turns giving him piggy-back rides. It was a warm, muggy day.

Next we walked up to Robert E. Lee's old house (Arlington Cemetery is built on his plantation which was confiscated at the end of the civil war). From the front steps, you can see across the capitol city. Then we went to see the new IwoJima monumnet with the Marines raising the American flag (it was huge). We got back to the houses by 9:30 PM and we were all quite tired, but dinner had to be made and it was midnight before I got to sleep (and many girls were still awake).