The BEST History Lesson I EVER Had

I have never really enjoyed History.  Bored. Me. To. Death.  However, as I get older I appreciate it more and more.  Last weekend, I ENJOYED it!  I loved it!  And, so did Mike and Anna.  How, you ask, can two grown adults and a pre-teen all enjoy history??  Duh, obviously we went to Washington D.C.
G.G. and Pop came to have a weekend with the boys and we(Anna, Mike and I) took of at 4 am Friday morning to D.C.  Well, that was what was supposed to happen.  We woke up late and left at 4:45.  We somehow made it to the Pentagon in 3 hours flat with ZERO traffic.  We were so fortunate to be getting a private tour of the Pentagon by our family/friend Tripp Duke(Brett's brother).  Unfortunately we could not take camera's so I do not have any pictures but it was AMAZING!!!! Actually there are a couple from my phone...

 It is truly like a little city right there in it's own building.  It has 5 zip codes, a dentist, a jewelry store, 7 different food courts with the largest subway I have ever seen, a few banks, a florist, a chocolate store that is amazing, a huge red box room and much, much more.
We got to see where the plane hit the building on Sept 11 as well as all of the memorials.  They have done a beautiful job of remembering and honoring the people who lost their lives.   We went through the corridor's of the main 4 branches of the military.  We saw the "tank" where the military talks to the president.  Several rooms have a wooden box outside the door for your cell phones.  It is such a secret room that if you take any electronic in, it will erase everything on it.  There was so much to see here.  But, my favorite part was the Wounded Warriors parade.  We were so fortunate to get to see this, closed to the public and press, celebration of our military injured in service.  We lined up along the corridor 1-2 people deep and as the patriotic music played, we clapped our hands to the beat.  It was feel good patriotic music, upbeat and happy.  And as we clapped the wounded warriors and their families walked or strolled down the hall.  It was humbling to say the least.  I clinched my jaw tight to keep from being emotional as I clapped with pride for each of these men and women who have sacrificed more than just time with their families.  Most had lost a limb.  We saw burns, pins in one guys arm, scars and deformities on anothers face.  Heartbreaking.  Two little boys dressed in uniforms walked and shook hands as their dad wheeled down with them.  Another strolled next to his wife who was carrying their infant.  I hope that as they came down that long corridor they knew we were not just clapping because the music was playing but our clapping was the sound of our appreciation, our pride and our encouragement.  I know I am not the only one who felt this way...you could feel all these emotions from everyone.  An experience I will never forget.  And don't want to.

We ended up spending most of the day in the Pentagon, and I am sure we did not see it all.  After a big Thank You to Tripp and a few chocolate's from the chocolate store we head to check into our hotel.  Another pleasant experience.  We got our hotel through MWR/ITT(military travel agent).  I was a little nervous.  I read the review and although most were good, some weren't.  We were VERY happy with it.  It was modern, eclectic, great location, nice beds, GREAT roof top pool, very helpful and nice people working and the best price we found.  We stayed at the Liaison Capitol Hill.  And we were very happy with it!

After letting out feet rest and cooling off a bit we headed for a quick dinner at the deli across the street and then did a night tour of the monuments.  So glad we did this.  It was not on our itenerary but, a great reminder of why it is important to be flexible.  We had a wonderful and hilarious guide packed full of GREAT info for all ages!  Monuments were gorgeous at night.  My only draw back was that our pictures were not that great due to low light.  Oh well...  After a great evening we went straight to bed because our bodies were T.I.R.E.D.

     
TO BE CONTINUED