By Charlene Scott
When you book tickets for a trip, you don’t know what the future holds. My friend and I had booked flights for a long weekend in Washington, DC in January. What we didn’t realize was the 2019 Government shutdown would significantly impact our plans to see our Nation’s Capital.
We booked into the Highlander Motor Inn in Arlington. The location gave us quick access to the Virginia-GMU metro stop. The motel is not fancy but clean and provided us with a bite of breakfast each morning. Several restaurants were within an easy walk. The same family has run the Highlander for fifty years. They know how to serve their guests.
We checked into the hotel then headed out for dinner at the Silver Diner. Only a ten-minute walk from the Highlander. Silver Diner has several locations in the DC area. Its’ enormous menu gave us plenty of selections from which to choose.
PENTAGON
Thursday morning had us up early to explore the Pentagon. The tour includes only the public parts of the Pentagon. The tour has to be scheduled at least four weeks before your visit to allow for a security check on the guests. A service member serves as your groups the tour guide. Oddly, your guide walks backward throughout the entire tour while relating the building’s history and significance.
Construction on the massive structure began in 1941 and then dedicated in 1943. Seventeen miles of corridors are encompassed within the building’s five rings. And the Pentagon houses twenty-six thousand individuals from various military branches and contractors. During the visit, you will cover about a mile in distance during your tour, so wear your comfortable shoes. There are many exhibits throughout the hour and a half tour, focusing on the history of all the military forces.
The 9/11 Memorial within the Pentagon is located in the portion of the building where American Airlines Flight 77 struck the building, penetrating to the fifth ring corridor of the Navy Annex. The attack of 9/11 occurred sixty years to the day that the Pentagon was completed in 1943. This special tribute to the 184 people lost in the horrific attack is only available to visitors to the Pentagon. The windows overlook the courtyard of the 9/11 Public Pentagon memorial. I highly recommend this tour during a visit to Washington. It is not difficult to arrange and well worth the experience. If you go, check the tour out here: https://pentagontours.osd.mil/Tours/tour-selection.jsp
The Pentagon’s Public 9/11 Memorial is adjacent to the area where American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon. Kaseman Beckman Advanced Strategies designed the Memorial. Eighty-four crape myrtle trees adorn the site. Each bench is stainless steel inlaid with granite over a small pool of water with the name of the victim on the end of the bench. The direction the name is facing indicates whether the victim was on Flight 77 or in the Pentagon at the time of the attack. The youngest victim was just three years old and the oldest 71 years old. Visitors can listen to a twenty-four-minute audio tour on their phones as they visit the Memorial. This serene monument pays a lasting tribute to those whose lives were taken in this senseless act of terrorism.
SEMPER FI
In the afternoon, we rented a car at Reagan Airport and drove to The National Museum of the United States Marine Corps in Triangle, VA. This museum honors all the Marines who have served. Not surprisingly, the museum was built to resemble the flag raising at Iwo Jima during World War II. That iconic image is the singular moment that resonates for all Marines. The museum’s timeline of events is incredibly detailed. Here, you will learn how the Marines came to be at the Tun Tavern on November 10, 1775, and how they have fought in every military conflict since that date.
The exhibits on World War I, II, Korea and Vietnam go into great depth into the lives of Marines on the battlefield as well as the high losses to their ranks. My father served as a Marine in World War II in both Tarawa and Iwo Jima. The docents were able to provide me with the Division in which he served in the Pacific theater. He didn’t know it at the time, but he stood guard over the atomic bomb in the staging area on Tinian.
Here the volunteers take great responsibility in honoring the veterans that visit, and many are veterans themselves. The history of the Marines is presented here with the pride that each Marine imbibes. “Once a Marine, Always a Marine.” Semper Fi!
DINNER
Back in DC, we had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory not far from our hotel. We were disappointed to learn that they did not have our favorite Cheesecake, Chris’ Outrageous. We have learned after numerous outings to the Factory to share an appetizer. And you really should only drink one Long Island Iced Tea. One day we will remember the latter. (They are that good!)
NATIONAL CATHEDRAL
After figuring out the DC bus system, Friday, we made our way to the National Cathedral, our Nation’s Church. The Cathedral has figured prominently in times of great sorrow when our nation mourns and in times of celebration.
George Washington envisioned a National Cathedral in 1791 and commissioned L’Enfant who created the plan for the Capital for a design. The location for the Church was chosen in 1898 and, but the foundation stone wasn’t placed until 1907. Constructed over many years, the Bethlehem Chapel was dedicated in 1912. The Cathedral was declared officially completed in September 1990.
Marilyn Meyers, a volunteer at the Church, gave our small tour group an in-depth tour of the Cathedral. She was full of facts and stories about the magnificent Cathedral. The high altar is constructed of limestone from a quarry in Jerusalem. The striking white Christ figure that is the centerpiece of the high altar took two years to carve. The reason for the difference in colors of the stone is that the Christ figure was carved from Texas limestone.
The Cathedral has been the site of all National State Funerals beginning with President Eisenhower in 1969. Dr. Martin Luther King gave his final sermon at the National Cathedral in 1968. In 2018, the Cathedral hosted the funerals of both Senator John McCain and the State Funeral of President George H.W. Bush.
The Creation “Rose” Window is comprised of ten thousand pieces of glass in celebration of ‘let there be light.” The ‘Scientists and Technicians” window celebrates space and the man’s first steps on the moon. There are so many unique and magnificent pieces to see at the Cathedral. The list seems endless.
THE MALL
After a delicious lunch of pizza near the Woodley Park metro station, we headed to the Bureau of Engraving, hoping to get one of the last tours of the day. It was one of the few places open during the shutdown. We did make it to the Bureau, just in time for closing. We hopped on the DC Circulator bus ($1 per ride) and disembarked at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. Oddly, the gift shop was open. It was then we found out the shutdown had ended that afternoon. It was too little too late for seeing any of the significant sites. Nothing would reopen until Monday.
We learned about Thomas Jefferson and his contribution to the formation of the country, as one of the authors of the Declaration of Independence and as President. The Memorial was dedicated on Jefferson’s 200th birthday on April 13, 1943.
We jumped off the Circulator near the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The building design with the ‘Corona” is made up of 3,600 bronze colored cast aluminum panels provides the museum with its signature look.
MONUMENTS AT NIGHT
Friday night we had dinner at Four Sisters Grill near the Clarendon metro station. The Vietnamese restaurant offered quick service and a delicious menu. That evening we met our guide, Julie at the Smithsonian Metro station for a tour of the monuments at night in an electric cart. What was different on this standard monuments tour, we rode in a seven-passenger electric cart. It was sort of a fancy golf cart with doors. The cart tour was more personal than a standard bus tour.
It was a cold night, but warm blankets were provided in the vehicle. Our guide, Julie was funny and informative about each stop. Although we could not cross the Arlington Memorial Bridge because of the top speed of the vehicle being only twenty mph, we stopped at the Capital, the Martin Luther King Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Korean and Vietnam Memorials as well as a tour of the Smithsonian Museums on the Mall. After our hour-long ride, Julie dropped us off at a metro stop. We made a quick trip back to the hotel to warm up. Be sure to check out On The Go Tours when visiting D.C. if you want to have an evening tour!
NATIONAL BUILDING MUSEUM
On Saturday, we visited the National Building Museum near Chinatown. The building, constructed between 1882 and 1887, served as the U.S. Pension Bureau for disabled Civil War Veterans. U.S. Army General Montgomery C. Meigs was the architect and engineer for the project. Meigs thought it essential to remember those that served in the war. The fresco that surrounds the building is a tribute to those individuals. The building has seen several incarnations through the years, but today it serves to educate. The free architecture tour was enlightening the building’s forward-thinking design after the Civil War.
We found a spot for lunch in Chinatown then headed back to the National Mall where we again took advantage of the DC Circulator Bus and wound up at Union Station where we ran into dozens of photographers and models on multiple photography shoots. After our day out we opted for a quick burger at All About Burger across the street from the hotel. It proved to be surprisingly good.
DC CIRCULATOR
The DC Circulator is a great deal for transportation around DC. It has multiple routes as well as delivering passengers to all the Mall monuments. It will save you from a lot of unnecessary walking and save you money on transportation. Take it for a spin when in DC. Your feet will thank you.
Our DC trip may have been a bit disappointing because we could not see the Smithsonian Museums that we wanted. However, we did find several museums that we would have never planned to see. While proper planning is always a key to a trip, it’s flexibility and spontaneity can save it.
All photos by Charlene Scott
1 comment
Comments are closed.