We took the Metro towards Arlington this time and got off at the Arlington National Cemetery stop. It was a quick walk to the visitors center, so no need to drive if you don't want to.
At the visitors center, we bought tickets to the Tourmobile tour of the cemetery. Admission to the cemetery is free and the Tourmobile tour costs $8.50/adult. Of course, you can also choose to just walk around the cemetery, but the tour is an easier way to get to the popular spots and it was one of the few things we paid for in DC.
Our first tour stop was the Kennedy gravesites.
We also saw the grave sites of Robert Kennedy and Edward Kennedy nearby. This area also provides a nice view of Washington DC. The nice thing about the tour is that they would drop you off and you could take as much time as you wanted at the stop. More trams would be by regularly and you were free to get on and off of them as you liked.
Also, the driver provided history and information about the cemetery as we were driving from one stop to the next. Our second stop was the Tomb of the Unknowns.
The tour is scheduled so that you arrive a few minutes before the changing of the guard. We watched the ceremony, but I didn't take any pictures. I wish I had though because I swear the relief commander looked like Dule Hill.
After the ceremony, we walked around to see some things that our tour driver had pointed out on our way to the Tomb. One of the things we looked at was the grave of Charles Frank Burlingame III. He was the pilot of the jet that crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11.
Our driver had also pointed out the grave of Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier of WWII.
Also in the same area is the memorial for the USS Maine, a battleship that was sunk in Cuba in 1898, an event that led to the Spanish-American War.
There are also memorials to both space shuttle explosions in this area.
Our last tour stop was Arlington House, which was once the home of General Robert E. Lee. During the Civil War, the Union army began to use the grounds of the house as a cemetery to ensure that General Lee did not return to his house. It is now a memorial to him and you can walk through it. When we visited, it was being restored so the furnishings were not in it, but it was still interesting.
Since the house is on top of a hill, it gives great views of DC.
And you can see the Pentagon from here.
This is the side that was hit by the plane on 9/11.
On the way back to the visitors center, we drove by this grave.
That's the grave of President Taft.
After the tour, we took the Metro back to DC to check out a few things we hadn't seen yet.
Like this house. In front of that door in the middle, there were a bunch of people in suits, but they were too far away to tell if there was anybody important.
We walked up closer to get a better look.
We then walked over the White House visitors center and wandered through their exhibit on the history of the White House.
We did some more walking and just looking at things before taking one last ride on the Metro and head back to our hotel.
After dinner, we packed up and rested for our big day of driving back home. But first, we have a stop to make.
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