7-23-12

{Arlington National Cemetery}

Today we visit Arlington National Cemetery, a beautiful place that houses the bodies of thousands of American heroes...

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier or Tomb of the Unknowns...
We sat mesmerized by the exactness and reverence of this guard...
...then we got to see the Changing of the Guard. Very cool...
Just behind the Tomb of the Unknowns is a huge amphitheater. The columns and arches are beautiful. While large and impressive, we found it to be a very quiet and peaceful place...

We left the DC area around noon and headed to Gettysburg, PA. Ricky visited Gettysburg last year while in the area at a conference at knew the kids would love it. During the 2 hour drive, we ate a picnic lunch in the car, where Lance impressed us by removing the peel from his orange in one piece...

The tour of Gettysburg starts at an information center where Gavin got to pose again with his favorite President, Abraham Lincoln (his birthday buddy).
The rest of the tour was a self-guided driving tour that took us through the town of Gettysburg and around an 8 mile road tour with stops along the way. Each stop had a marker that told exactly which part of the battle happened at that spot and a few details about which side prevailed... 
We were able to get out and hike around some of the sites. It really was incredible to put ourselves back into that time and consider all of those who fought so hard for their own cause of freedom...
The boys loved the cannons...
...and of course, we had to take a picture at the Alabama Memorial...

After Gettysburg, we settled back into the car for a nice, long, 15 hour drive to Nauvoo...

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