We had a phenomenal first day in our nation's capital and are exhausted from all the walking, emotional moments and heavy food. So I need to keep this short. But here is what I know about today:
Ted's Bulletin on 14th is the kind of breakfast joint you want to accidentally stumble upon on your way to Starbucks. Jaws on the sidewalk, we drooled over all the homemade pastries in the window, and so we invited ourselves in for a sit-down coffee and pop-tart at the counter. With the most exciting menu imaginable - yes, it does say Peanut Butter Bacon Burger - we headed back for a dinner of sloppy joe and spaghetti with meatballs.
Arlington National Cemetary. I knew it would be the ideal place to spend Veterans Day, and was eager to take my son to his great uncle's grave. What I didn't realize is that besides all the usual points of interest, we'd have a chance to see our president. We two stood on the curb while Obama drove by, waving at us, a small crowd of unsuspecting tourists. He was literally ten feet away! Here is the evidence as well as video shot immediately after of the guards leaving post.
It must be mentioned that we saw too many young women today, crying alone at headstones. I saw parents camped out in folding chairs, staring at their child's headstone. I saw a mother lying down on the lawn and grabbing at the grass her son lay beneath. A beautiful morning in a peaceful park, but I left, and took with me, a heavy, heavy heart.
Mount Vernon was just as captivating as I remember it thirty years ago. Although expanded now, so many of the details that have remained clear in my mind were still as they were even 150 years ago! The newly established visitors center was incredible and I only wished we had more than two hours to explore everything. If you go, give yourself 3-4.
Meet three of my all-time favorite people: Mr. Noodle, Miss Frijoles and The 8 year old.
