The second day going into DC was easier. I wasn't sure about the escalator, but there were no issues, and it transported us to the platform just as it was designed to.

We had our plan for the day. The DC Metro system has six different lines, each denoted by a color. We took the Green Line to L’Enfant Plaza, where we transferred to the Blue Line and took it to Foggy Bottom (which is not an intestinal disorder, as it turns out), and poked our heads up out of the ground. We walked to the nearest Big Bus stop, got on, and took it to the next stop where we got off and visited the Vietnam Memorial and the World War II memorial.

It’s very sobering to stand at the Vietnam Memorial Wall and see the list of some 56,000 names of soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen who died in the Vietnam War. I had a friend who was killed in that war, Gary Silver. I found his name on panel West 8, line 40.

Commissioned by President Clinton in 1993 and opened to the public in 2004, the World War II Memorial pays tribute to the men and women who fought and supported the war effort, and to the 400,000+ American military men and women who gave their lives for freedom. My father was in the Navy and was a Pearl Harbor survivor. This memorial has special meaning for me.

Our next stop was two more stops on the Big Bus. We got off at 15th and G Street and ate at Old Ebbit Grill. Apparently, anybody-who-is-anybody eats at Old Ebbit Grill. The place was packed when we got there, but I didn’t see anybody-who-was-anybody. I guess Wednesdays are reserved for everybody-else-who-is-nobody to eat there. I fit right in.

After lunch, we went to the Farragut West Metro station and took the Blue Line out to Arlington Cemetery and the Iwo Jima statue. We took the tour and stopped at the final resting place of President Kennedy (Jackie is there, too) and the eternal flame, burning at his grave.

The Arlington tour finished up at the Iwo Jima Marine Memorial. Near the end of World War II, this little island in the Pacific was thought to be of strategic importance. At the end of the 36-day battle, 6800 Americans had lost their lives, and, of the 22,000 Japanese, nearly 19,000 died.

Our last stop of the day was the Pentagon and the 911 memorial, remembering the 184 innocent men, women, and children who were killed on that tragic day.

After that, it was back to the campground. Sorry to be so somber in this entry, but we saw all the serious and solemn memorials in one day, which sort of happened by accident. Maybe if we were to do this again, I might spread the various memorials over several days. It was a lot to take in.

Happier times tomorrow.