Another day of sleeping in. Good stuff. We stayed pretty lazy in the morning. Then we took the train into D.C. to do some sightseeing with two of Stick’s best friends, K.T. and Abbie. I had met them before and was really looking forward to hanging out with them again. I know Stick definitely was.
We met up downtown and then walked over to the Natural History Museum and went through it. Then we grabbed a food truck lunch before heading to Arlington National Cemetary.
Stick has a family friend who is buried there so we went to go find the gravesite and pay respects. It was a very powerful place. We went up a big hill to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. A memorial to all of the soldiers who were lost in battle and were unable to be identified. There is a guard who watches over this memorial 24/7/365. They change out the guards in shifts and there is a ceremony for when they change. We got there right as this was beginning.
It was an incredible ceremony. Precise and intense. Countless hours of practice had gone into it. This is one of the high honorable jobs in the military. It takes serious dedication. I felt honored to see them in action.
We then headed down to see John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie’s grave. Then we walked out and headed back to the train.
We rode a few stops with KT and Abbie and then said goodbyes with hugs on a moving train. It’s a thing. Stick and I grabbed dinner on the way back to our room and that was that. It doesn’t sound like much but it was a lot of slow walking and a lot of heat. Great day though.
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