- Joined
- Jul 30, 2018
- Location
- Germany
My last full day of this trip started once again bright and early. I left Gettysburg by about 7:30 a.m. and almost had the highway to myself. It started to get a bit fuller halfway to Frederick and then really full around Frederick. If you thought it would get less busy after that, think again. It stayed full and in places slowed to a crawl all the way into Washington.
My first stop - after a midway stop to readjust my GPS which didn't want to recognize the address when in Gettysburg, and losing my way once despite GPS - was Fort Stevens where Lincoln watched the battle with Early's Confederates on the parapet.
After that I headed over to Rock Creek Park where Fort DeRussy is located.
The second pic is taken from the top of the earthworks, looking down into the ditch. Behind that marker a little away the wood is relatively quickly sloping down to Rock Creek. I didn't hike down to the creek, but it looked like it got steep quite a bit.
Next I fought my way through Washington's traffic toward Arlington National Cemetery. I parked and then walked back across the Potomac to the Lincoln Memorial and Reflecting Pool. Both I had already visited in 2011, but back then the pool was being renovated and I didn't appreciate the Lincoln Memorial. My visit today therefore was to get it right - which I did.
The afternoon I spent in Arlington. I took the tour and hopped off at almost every stop from where I explored the various sections I wanted to see. I also watched the Changing of the Guard, twice, and was about to leave when I noticed a wreath laying ceremony about to begin so I watched that too.
I almost missed the Confederate section; I had already gotten into the bus but luckily noticed before it headed off toward Arlington House that I had missed that section. So I quickly got out again and saved me quite a walk back.
Kennedy Grave with Arlington House on the height above
McClellan Gate, the only leftover of the first entrance gate to the cemetery and the surrounding walls when it was founded.
Grave of Robert Todd Lincoln and his wife
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with the Guard
Confederate section
George Washington Parke Custis and his wife - Robert E. Lee's in-laws
Section 13 with many Union graves. Lee's in-laws' graves are in the grove on the right side of the picture, which is about right in the middle of Section 13.
Tomb of the Unknown Civil War Soldier in Mrs. Lee's rose garden. Arlington House is right behind the hedge behind the tomb.
To use @bdtex 's thread title - "The things you find when you're not looking": I discovered a few graves I hadn't counted on.
This
turned out to be for
And that about concludes my trip. I'm already checked in for my flight back home tomorrow evening. This time tomorrow, I'm sitting on the plane eastward across the pond. Before that, though, I'm heading to Alexandria in the morning to seek out Lee's boyhood home and to take a cruise on the Potomac to end my trip in a relaxing way. I plan on hitting Chantilly on my way back to the airport since I missed that one on my arrival day because of delays in flight and customs but we'll see how the day goes.
Many heartfelt thanks to all who followed me on this trip with likes and comments. I hope my posts were not only entertaining but a bit instructive as well.
My first stop - after a midway stop to readjust my GPS which didn't want to recognize the address when in Gettysburg, and losing my way once despite GPS - was Fort Stevens where Lincoln watched the battle with Early's Confederates on the parapet.
After that I headed over to Rock Creek Park where Fort DeRussy is located.
The second pic is taken from the top of the earthworks, looking down into the ditch. Behind that marker a little away the wood is relatively quickly sloping down to Rock Creek. I didn't hike down to the creek, but it looked like it got steep quite a bit.
Next I fought my way through Washington's traffic toward Arlington National Cemetery. I parked and then walked back across the Potomac to the Lincoln Memorial and Reflecting Pool. Both I had already visited in 2011, but back then the pool was being renovated and I didn't appreciate the Lincoln Memorial. My visit today therefore was to get it right - which I did.
The afternoon I spent in Arlington. I took the tour and hopped off at almost every stop from where I explored the various sections I wanted to see. I also watched the Changing of the Guard, twice, and was about to leave when I noticed a wreath laying ceremony about to begin so I watched that too.
I almost missed the Confederate section; I had already gotten into the bus but luckily noticed before it headed off toward Arlington House that I had missed that section. So I quickly got out again and saved me quite a walk back.
Kennedy Grave with Arlington House on the height above
McClellan Gate, the only leftover of the first entrance gate to the cemetery and the surrounding walls when it was founded.
Grave of Robert Todd Lincoln and his wife
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with the Guard
Confederate section
George Washington Parke Custis and his wife - Robert E. Lee's in-laws
Section 13 with many Union graves. Lee's in-laws' graves are in the grove on the right side of the picture, which is about right in the middle of Section 13.
Tomb of the Unknown Civil War Soldier in Mrs. Lee's rose garden. Arlington House is right behind the hedge behind the tomb.
To use @bdtex 's thread title - "The things you find when you're not looking": I discovered a few graves I hadn't counted on.
This
turned out to be for
And that about concludes my trip. I'm already checked in for my flight back home tomorrow evening. This time tomorrow, I'm sitting on the plane eastward across the pond. Before that, though, I'm heading to Alexandria in the morning to seek out Lee's boyhood home and to take a cruise on the Potomac to end my trip in a relaxing way. I plan on hitting Chantilly on my way back to the airport since I missed that one on my arrival day because of delays in flight and customs but we'll see how the day goes.
Many heartfelt thanks to all who followed me on this trip with likes and comments. I hope my posts were not only entertaining but a bit instructive as well.