PA to MD, Arlington, VA & DC, Manassas & Front Royal, VA (10/12 - 10/15)

Today is a shorter day with a move down the road to Indian Head, MD to visit with Aaron Moinet who is the son of our friends Aurelie and Jan in Sacramento, and his wife Kim. We have heard so much about their property on the Potomac, across from Quantico and south of DC, that we really wanted to see them in their own space which is very rural. 

The sunsets were beautiful and our camping spot was quiet and peaceful. 

It seems we forgot to take any pictures of Kim and Aaron but we've imported one of them with Porter their Great Dane…who they tell us is small for a boy. 

It was nice to have a day off to clean the rig, use Aaron's compressor to top off our tires, take a shower, etc. Our last evening we spent some quality time with Aaron and Kim visiting and saying goodbye as we were really heading west toward home the next day!

Monday, Columbus Day we drove into Washington D.C. to see The Pentagon Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery, and the World War II Memorial. The weather was grey and rainy, very appropriate for seeing these sites and fortunately traffic was lighter due to the holiday!
  
The Pentagon Memorial is dedicated to the 184 people who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001 when a plane crashed into the Pentagon. It is situated on SW corner of the Pentagon. 

Each cantilevered "bench" (looked like wings to us) is made stainless steel with inlaid granite and extends over a rectangular pool of illuminated water. Visitors face the sky when reading the benches inscribed with the names of the 59 passengers and crew killed when on AA-77 crashed into the Pentagon. Visitors face the Pentagon when reading the "benches" with the names of the 125 military and civilian personnel who died. 

Since we couldn't figure out where to park, due to the fact that the Pentagon is a highly secured area, we parked in a Macy's garage which then led us to a food court for lunch. After a little Chinese food, we were ready for the next stop, Arlington National Cemetery. 

We arrived with just enough time to get to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers' changing of the guard. 

The idea of honoring the unknown dead of World War I originated in Europe, and in 1921 the commanding general of American forces in France proposed a similar memorial in the United States. On March 4, 1921, Congress passed a resolution to return an unknown U.S. soldier from Europe and to build a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

We also went by the John F. and Jacqueline Kennedy eternal flame grave site. We actually learned at Gettysburg that Jacqueline got the inspiration for an eternal flame from one of the memorials there. As you can see from the pictures this is the largest military cemetery in our country. 

We wanted to go to the World War II Memorial as both of our fathers served in the Army in the Atlantic Theatre. 

The site honors the 16 million men and women who served in the US Armed Forces during the war and the millions who supported the war efforts at home. 24 bronze bas-reliefs of various scenes related to the war years depict numerous aspects of the cause including enlistments, major battles, women in the military to name a few. 

 There are 56 -17 foot tall granite pillars representing the existing states and territories at the time of the war. 

The Freedom Wall is filled with more than 4,000 gold stars representing the more than 400,000 Americans who died in service. The fall colors are still with us!

We're headed west on a day predicted to give us heavy rains.  Oh what fun it is to navigate the freeways in this busy part of the country, but we do think about time of day and direction we are going to minimize rush hour traffic impact on clueless tourists.

 
We pull off I-66 to stop for a late breakfast at Cracker Barrel, while the rain settles down, and see a sign for Manassas National Battlefield Park.  Much of the landscape within this park is little changed since the battles of 1861 and 1862. The visitor's center offers a descriptive film about the first battle, narrated by Richard Dreyfus. Having seen the WWII Memorial so recently with the huge numbers involved, the Civil War remains huge and costly.  Nearly as many American lives were lost in the Civil War (622,000) as in all other wars combined (638,000) from the Revolutionary War through Vietnam.

The rain continued at Manassas so we didn't walk through the battlefield.

 Manassas is the site where two great battles of the Civil War—The First and Second Battles of Manassas (Bull Run) were fought. On July 21, 1861, picnickers and other sightseers (can you believe it?!) came out to watch a well-equipped but ill-trained Union Army under Gen. Irvin McDowell as it battled the Confederate Army under Gens. Pierre Beauregard and Joseph Johnston. After 10 hours of deadly fighting it was clear this conflict was not going to decide the war as most had expected. The Union Army, finally broken by Confederate forces, was forced to retreat toward Washington, D.C.

General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, CSA

August 1862, Union and Confederate armies converged for a second time on the plains of Manassas (Second Bull Run). The naive enthusiasm that preceded the earlier encounter was gone.  This battle, covering 3 days, brought the Confederacy to the height of its power.

From here we drove to the town of Front Royal, complete with an Elks Lodge and more rain, where we spent the night. 

It is also the northern entrance to Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive which we will tell you about in the next blog.