Washington DC, Wednesday, June 16

What a great day this was! Now that we have become “experts” on parking (or not) and maneuvering the Metro stations, we drove back into the city. This time, we drove to Arlington, VA, where we parked the car in the driveway of Randi’s close friend since age 12, Cookie. She left us a key to her house with an invitation to make ourselves at home before walking a few blocks to the Metro, which took us to the Pentagon. Cookie works at the Pentagon and gave us an extraordinary personal tour. It was truly an opportunity that not many have and we feel honored and privileged to have had the experience. Absolutely no pictures are allowed in or outside of the Pentagon. Pictured is the Pentagon 9/11 memorial honoring the 184 lives lost.

Our next stop was to be Arlington National Cemetery, so Cookie insisted on saving us the short rail ride by dropping us at the entrance in her car. We visited John F. Kennedy’s grave and viewed the thousands of gravestones from tops and bottoms of hills.

It was quite a heartrending few hours, but the most poignant was the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier…….an unforgettable experience.

We took the Metro back to Arlington where Cookie met us at the station and drove us back to her house. We all walked a few blocks to a little café in her neighborhood and had fun laughing and sharing stories. Cookie has certainly provided royal treatment for us today. We say goodbye for now and drive back to the park. 11:00 PM….party animals we are!