Matter of Perspective Uno
My friends and I had fun being tourists yesterday. The day included a visit to the Iwo Jima Memorial and the Arlington Cemetery. The access road to both is also the final few hundred yards of the Marine Corps Marathon. In the pic at right you can see the little hill that all runners must climb right at the very end of their 26 miles. Before I “ran” the marathon last fall everyone told me to be ready for this huge hill. And, of course, when I saw it after run/walking 26 miles and nearly 5 hours (yes, I was very very slow!), this little hill did, indeed, look like a wall. Yesterday was the first time I’d seen it since the marathon and it’s kind of funny to think how hard I worked to get up that hill back in October. That aside, the cemetery was actually much nicer to visit than I’d expected. It’s huge and full of places for quiet contemplation and also great views of the river and the city beyond. Plus, it’s a sobering reminder of the role of the military and others who have served their country over the last 200 years.1
Those two big sites were followed by lunch in Crystal City at a dive bar (what’s up w/no free refills, people!?), a long, long walk around Georgetown and Washington Harbor, and finally dinner at Rakku in Dupont Circle. Good stuff.
You all wanted this blow-by-blow of my tourist experiences, didn’t you? No? Whoops. Sorry. [tags]tourism, dc, monuments[/tags]
- It’s not just soldiers who are buried thereÃ¢â‚¬â€ťanyone who has “served the nation” can be buried there, theoretically. There’s even a section for Supreme Court Justices!↩
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