After church and a long walk back to the Metro, we rested at the hotel for a spell, had some lunch, changed our clothes, and headed out for our planned "long walk". There are a number of things that are outside the convienent Metro or tour bus grid, and we decided to take them in through a long walk from the Arlington Cemetery Metro station, down the west side of the Potomac, east across the river on the Pentagon Bridge to the Jefferson Memorial, then north along the east side of the Potomac to the National Mall. Now ain't we the walking fools!
About a mile down the west side of the Potomac is the Lyndon B. Johnson Memorial Grove (and picnic table - I think Johnson needs some more historical fluffing). KR wasn't impressed, but you know me, I had to have my picture.
In my personal opinion, the Jefferson Memorial is the best of the bunch. In terms of design and location, wow.......not that he is my favorite "founding father".
Between the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials sits the new FDR Memorial. Impressions: VERY different from the others, darker materials, very spread out over a much larger area than I envisioned, and more water features. But I was surprised. I liked it a lot. A very serene and soothing place. The leaves were wonderful with the newer, smaller trees. The dog is a hit. Everyone was taking a picture with the dog.
As we finished our walk, crossing the National Mall, we took advantage of our proximity to the Smithsonian to finish the floor of the National Museum of Natural History that we had missed earlier. The gem and mineral collection is very cool. How about the Hope Diamond, the Star of Bombay, and the huge Eureka Nugget all in the same place!
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