I watched this ceremony as a child, but it was very cool to see it again. I had forgotten the hike from the Visitor’s Center up the hill to the Tomb.

This was our final DC day and it was beautiful. The weather was warm and breezy. We spent most of our time riding on an open-air bus which allowed wonderful views of the city streets above traffic.

This was a BIG day. Union Station, Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Korean Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, The White House, Arlington and then Ben’s Chili Bowl!

Antietam. . .Harper’s Ferry. . .Gettysburg

This was a big day.

Instead of shackin’ up in a fancy hotel, we decided to rent an apartment on Independence Ave.

It’s not bad. Yes?

Today’s travels started early since our travel planner had a packed schedule for us to enjoy.

We traveled to the National Museum of the Marine Corps where we enjoyed meeting Frank (see pictures of the Iwo Jima section). Frank talked to Clark about landing on the beach at Iwo Jima and making his way through the waves to the beach. He then took us to a panel display and pointed to himself and described exactly what he was doing in the photograph specifying the exact orders he was given just moments after the photo was taken. We were all mesmerized by his detailed descriptions. And at 88 years old, he still has a pretty amazing memory.

We then moved on to Mount Vernon to begin our study of the Revolutionary War. Mount Vernon is a beautiful place overlooking the Potomac River. We enjoyed the tour of the house, especially considering that the vast majority of the furniture is original to G. Washington, including the bed in his bedroom in which he breathed his last. The coolest part of the tour has to be when we stepped out onto the porch overlooking the Potomac and there was a huge, beautiful Bald Eagle gliding past Mount Vernon. I don’t know that Mount Vernon has an official bird, but it would be hard to beat the Bald Eagle as a fitting candidate.

After Mount Vernon, we traveled up to Glen Echo, MD to the Clara Barton National Historic Site. Chloe’s time studying the Civil War had considerable focus on Ms. Barton’s contributions. I thought we knew all there was to know about Ms. B but we were proven wrong by a very knowledgeable tour guide.

We then made our way into DC and over to the USMC memorial which is adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery.

We are enjoying our trip and we hope you enjoy the pictures.

After a few hours of sleep in Kingsport, TN, we were up early to drive to Appomattox Court House National Historic Site. This seems an appropriate place to conclude our study of the Civil War. After a nice picnic under a shady Oak tree, we toured the village surrounding Appomattox Court House. And we learned a few things. Most would think that the surrender took place at Appomattox Court House. Am I the only one who assumed that? In fact, the surrender ceremony took place in the home of a local merchant named Wilmer McLean. McLean was the only person Lee’s secretary could find on Sunday morning when he walked into Appomattox village looking for a suitable site for Lee and Grant to discuss terms of surrender. Ironically, McLean had moved to Appomattox in 1861 to get away from the war. His farm in Prince William County Virginia was the site of the initial engagement of the first battle of Bull Run in July 1861 which was one of the first major battles of the war. Amazingly, McLean found himself squarely positioned at both the beginning and the end of the war.

When’s the best time to leave for a trip?

It’s not at 4pm on the Friday before Labor Day, but the WISH team van did just that as we crawled up I-40 with a few thousand friends.

We’re heading to Washington, D.C. on a trip that has been in the works for a year. I’ve changed just about every detail of the trip along the way, from dates to accommodations (multiple times) and everything in between. We’re finally on the road and I can no longer tweak any of the details. This trip marks the end of our Civil War study and the beginning of our American Revolution study. Over the last 10 months, the kids have been working on Junior Ranger books so they can become Junior Rangers at 11 National Parks or National Historic Sits we’ll be visiting. While in NYC last year, we discovered that each book requires about 2 hours to complete on site so we requested the books be mailed to us in advance and we did as much as we could do before our trip.

Getting back to Day 1.

While we don’t officially start the touring part of our trip until tomorrow at Appomattox Court House, we had a ton of fun playing drive-time games. We have a game called “Guess Who” that we all enjoy playing. The object of the game is for one person to stump everyone else by thinking of someone (biblical, historical, family, or otherwise significant known person) that no one else can figure out by simply asking yes or no questions. It typically takes 10-20 questions before we can figure out the correct person. This afternoon we were playing the game and Cole felt left out so we let him join in for a turn. Evidently, Cole’s imaginary friend, Johnny, was also feeling left out. The round was quick, really quick.

Cole: It’s my turn. Let me play. OK? I’m thinking of somebody.

Clark: Is it Johnny?

Cole: (excited) YES! Good job, Clark.

AND, we had much more hilarity during the drive. . .at Cole’s expense.

Cole had another question for everyone when the laughter died down.

He wanted to know what letter did A start with. While in his mind he thought this was a valid question, we tried to convince him that A was a letter and several words started with it.  Finally, he tired of us trying to reason with him and he exclaimed that A starts with Annie. We all then realized what he meant. Then Cole had another important question. What letter does B start with? And it all began again.  .  .