Vacation Time

The following are pictures of our trip to Washington DC.  As usual I got my introductory paragraph at the bottom so you will have to look through the pictures to get to the intro.  

Of course, you don't need me to tell you what this is but it is one of my favorite pictures that Gary took.  He took an unbelievable number of pictures so I simply choose a few of my favorites.

Marines marching off field at the end of the Marine Tatoo ceremony.

This is the Marine band which played during the Marine Tatoo.  They told us the word "Tatoo" is French and means "a call for taps at the end of the day".  They play taps and remove the flag from the top of the barracks at the end of the day on Friday of each week and during tourist season they have a big ceremony with a lot of band playing, drills, etc.

Here's the foursome.  This was taken at the Jefferson Memorial by one of the guards.  For some reason I look like I have gold in that little pack on my lap - that was my purse for the stay and it went around my waist which made me sweat even more.

This is Robert E. Lee's home.  It is so pretty at the top of this hill.  There is quite a history behind this plantation home.  The views are fantastic from the porch.

This is a picture of Washington taken from the porch of Robert E. Lee's home in Arlington Cemetery.  The views were fantastic up there on the top of the hill and it was the only cool place in Washington because of the breeze.

Gary and I went with friends, Jim and Becky Grate, to Washington, DC this past week with a few stops going and coming at Great Falls and various places in the Shenandoah Valley.  We had a great time and enjoyed Jim and Becky's company but I do believe I walked and sweated more during our stay in Washington than I have all year.  On Friday we left our hotel at 8:30 a.m., drove to the Metro station to park the van and took the Metro into Washington.  We didn't get back to the hotel until 11:00 p.m. that night.  I took a shower and literally crawled into bed--but we had a great day.  We toured a lot of Washington, ate at Union Station which was a lot of fun.  The best part of the day was the Marine Tatoo' that took place at the Marine Barracks.  When we got back on the Metro to return to the hotel, I sat down beside Gary, looked lovingly at him and said "you don't smell very good".  He grinned and said "neither do you".  It was 100 there that day and VERY HUMID!  I posted a few of the pictures above - I hope you enjoyed them.