Amaris and I finally made it down to Washington DC last weekend. We were going to do it a few times before, but something else always came up and it got pushed back. But dang there is a lot of stuff to do in DC. We got around to most of the memorials (Washington, Lincoln, Vietnam, Korean) along with the capitol, Arlington National Cemetary, Union Station, and the Holocaust Museum. While everything was really interesteting, I think the Holocaust Museum was the best part just because it was such a thorough account of what happened around WWII. In the past few weeks, I have gotten to see a lot of American History with Gettysburg, Philadelphia, Annapolis and Fort McHenry, but this time I got to see a war that didn't have much to do with America (relatively speaking). The museum bridged the time between WWI and WWII and how Germany ended up letting Hitler do what he did.

Even in the two days that we were there, there were a lot of things we missed. We didn't have time for any of the Smithsonians, the FDR memorial, or the WWII memorial. There were also things that required [free] tickets that we just didn't have the forsight to get. Gotta do the Washington Memorial, the Mint and the Capital building next time.

The best part was probably at the end. We were walking through Arlington towards the Marine's Iwo Jima memorial and reading some of the tomb stones... it doesn't really hit your that these were real people until you actually look at them. There were people who had been born in the late 1800's and people who had fought in WWII, Korea and Vietnam. I didn't realize what the Iwo Jima memorial was (I had seen it before, but the name didn't ring a bell), but that was really cool to see upclose again.

Now we are getting ready for the last week in Baltimore. This weekend we might meet up with Amaris's dad one more time, but the details still aren't clear on that. But I think that it is time to head to the beach. We have gotten close but never made it all the way there. Next week is my last week at work (and Cal Ripken Jr's hall of fame induction) and then training camps start. So on my way back across the country, I am going to have to stop by a few places. Ya know...

Then DEFCON. Oh yeah. It is going to be a good month.