Discovering DC

Let me start off with saying there is so much to do here in DC!!! We will not get it all done in the 2 months we are here. Luckily we will be moving back and can set a goal of getting to see it all. It is challenging because we are residents, not tourists here. So we have silly work schedules, cleaning, grocery shopping, and errands that all get in the way of our exploring. But one Sunday we both were off and wanted to see some of the sights. So we took the metro (We are official metro card holders and riders. I take it to work everyday). We started off looking at the big guys...

The Washington Monument, which is currently closed because of the earthquake they had in August. You can see the monument from all over in DC and at night it is lit up.

 Andy and I both agreed the World War II Memorial was our favorite. It is extremely peaceful and leaves you with a very strong feeling of reverence. 

 This is the pond in the memorial with the Lincoln Memorial in the background. They purposely put the WWII Memorial between the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial. So as you walk this stretch of the mall you honor all of those who fought for the start and preservation of our country.

This is where Andy and I stopped in amazement. Each one of these stars in the memorial (not all are pictured) represent 100 Americans killed in WWII. There are over 4,000 stars. As a teacher I love that they did this. Graphic representations are very powerful with students and people in general. It's a very humbling memorial.

 The steps up to the Lincoln Memorial.

 President Lincoln, himself (well not really). The reflecting pool is currently under construction so we could not get any pictures of that.

 This is the Korean Way Memorial. They have these statues in the grass.

This is the wall for the Korean War Memorial. It is granite with these images lasered into it. It is very cool how they did it.

This is the Vietnam War Memorial. It is very simple, the wall with the names inscribed in it.

 And there were the fall trees. We were in love!

 I thought this leaf was so cool. It was in the process of turning red.

So far we are loving DC! We are excited to see and experience more of it but so far that is what we have seen. DC is amazing because you constantly are surrounded by history. We are so blessed to be here for the next couple of years!