.........................Almost empty nest ramblings: Monday in DC

Today was a very busy day for Linda & I. We started our day with a ride into DC on the Metro. We arrived at Union Station, wandered in and out of a few trinket shops and then located the hop on - hop off bus kiosk. After purchasing our tickets and boarding our bus we found seats on top where we enjoyed a lovely ride on a glorious, warm and sunny day.

Cherry blossoms were in different stages of bloom. We found quite a few forsythias, pansies and other assorted early spring flowers throughout the city.

Our bus tour took us past the monuments, Capitol Building, White House and throughout the city. After several hours on the bus - yes we stayed on for almost all of the tour - we headed to the Supreme Court where we were scheduled for a lecture at 2:00. Our docent took about 20 minutes giving us a brief history of the Supreme Court, the building and little tidbit about the various Justices.

She patiently answered questions from various people in the audience too. After the lecture, we ate a sandwich in the Supreme Court cafeteria. We ended our visit at the Supreme Court with a visit to the gift shop where I purchased a children's book written by Sandra Day O'Connor.

We walked several blocks from the Supreme Court to Union Station where we hopped on the Metro Red line, headed to Metro Center, switched to the Blue Line and traveled to Arlington Cemetery. We road the tour-mobile throughout the cemetery, hopping off to visit the Kennedy gravesites, and the Changing of the Guards.

Our time at Arlington went very quickly. The people employed there are very well informed, interesting, funny and helpful too. If you have never visited Arlington, I recommend going. Witnessing the Changing of the Guard is a very moving experience.