Only this time by bus! We were up early so we could leave the Villa by 5:50 a.m. and stop at Wawa for coffee before we met our tour bus at K-Mart. Don’t be judgmental. We are not crazy.
The tour bus driver was a lifetime Williamsburg resident who filled the trip with interesting information and stops throughout the day. For me, at least, the highlight was the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington.
It was obvious every detail was meticulously planned and monitored. Each step taken by the guards is exactly like the step of every other guard in pace, length and execution. Matt, our tour driver, told us that although many apply for the “Tomb Guards” very few are selected. All the candidates have to fall into a specific height, weight, and waist size demographic to even apply. They must also take a vow of abstinence from drugs and alcohol for life, even though their term in service is only two years. In addition to the official ceremony, we witnessed a special presentation of flowers from a school. I suspect this ceremony never gets old.
Many stops and facts filled the day. Some of the stops were a repeat from our trip in March and some were new but all were interesting and worth the trip back into D.C. I’m convinced you could visit this city many times and never see all it has to offer. Matt gave us one of those informational facts that blows my mind. There are over 1,300,000 items to see in the Smithsonian Museum Buildings alone. If you spent one minute looking at each item, it would take you over 230 years to see each item. I guess that means don’t even try!
Pictures of places we visited
John F. Kennedy memorial with eternal flame
Arlington National Ceremony where Tomb of the Unknowns is located 
Korean War Memorial plaque above the memorial below
Lincoln Memorial
FDR memorial
World War II memorial Lincoln Memorial in background
White House
Capitol Building dome being repaired
On the way back, we stopped at the restaurant at Bass Pro Shop and had a great dinner of salads and fried crawfish and calamari. Who knew!
Calamari
Islamorada Salad – cranberries, cashews, blue cheese and vinaigrette dressing
Crawfish Tails and Caesar Salad
Back to Kmart and the car by 9 p.m. tired but glad we went. This trip has done wonders for my insomnia.
goneagainblog.com 
Wish I had thought to tell you that my Dad is buried at Arlington. Have fu!
Wish I had known that too.