To the Cemetery I went

A couple days ago, I went on a little jaunt to this place called the Arlington National Cemetery. Wow! This has become one of my new favorite places! It is just so peaceful walking around this beautiful cemetery and you can't help but feel grateful to all those men and women buried there that sacrificed their lives for our country. 

If you are like me and my mom, we wondered the whole time we were there how many gravestones there are. Can you guess how many gravestones are in this cemetery? And how many acres the cemetery is?

(see end of post for answers)

 Below is the tomb of the unknowns. There are 2,111 unknown soldiers buried here from the Civil War. They never found enough of their bones to be identified so they buried them all here in one spot.

Here's a brief history lesson now. This picture below is The Tomb of the Unkown Soldier. An unidentifiable soldier is buried here, but the tomb stands as a symbol for any unkown soldier that perishes in war. This tomb is guarded 24/7, 365 days a year by members of the military. We were lucky enough to be at the tomb when they did a changing of the guards. It was such a neat experience! And we couldn't believe how quiet it was!(which helped make it even better)

I am truly grateful for all those people that sacrifice so much for our country. I will be back to the cemetery soon I am sure! 

Oh, and in case you've been wondering, I didn't forget about the questions I asked about the cemetery. There are currently 400,000 gravestones found here! That is a ton! And the cemetery is on 624 ACRES of land! Wow!  

A Day in the City

Since I have gotten here to the DC area, many things have happened that have prevented me from fully enjoying the city in which I now live by. Yesterday, I was finally able to spend the entire day in the city that I have come to love. It was complete heaven! We( me, my mom, my sista, and my niece) started out the day with lunch at the Shake Shack. I first experienced this yummy restaurant last year when I went to NYC and loved it, so I was excited to see that DC also has one. It was a great start to a great day! 

 After a great lunch, we went to the Museum of American History for a quick stop to let my niece Emma look at her favorite exhibit(the big dollhouse). After that we went to the World War II memorial. It is a really pretty, peaceful place and I enjoyed just being able to sit and reflect on all the sacrifices that were made during that war by countless men and women.

                           

 I couldn't resist a photo by the memorial for my beloved Puerto Rico

 I loved the view of the Washington Monument from the memorial. Can you see the top of the capitol peeking out next to the monument?

 After our time at the World War II memorial, we took a walk(a very long one) around a loop that took us to several other memorials. 

The Jefferson Memorial

 FDR Memorial.

 My niece usually doesn't look at you when you take her picture, but she just loved these statues and wouldn't stop posing. What a cutie!

She can be so silly sometimes

Korean War Memorial

While I loved everything we got to see, The Lincoln Memorial was my favorite thing we saw all day. 

I have seen this statue in pictures and movies, but seeing it in person is so much more impressionable. 

Photography by Emma. 

We've got to work on not cutting off the heads and bunny ears. :)

Being in all these memorials reminded me how grateful I am for these wonderful leaders who helped shape the United States into a free country. Despite changes that have been taking place here, I am proud to be an American and am grateful that I live here.

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

Seriously one great day with some of my favorite people!