Splawn Family Travels: Washington, D.C.

Today we headed to the National Archives and then Arlington National Cemetery. About six years ago, the National Archives changed their policy from "No Flash Photography" to "No Photography." They estimated that even with their prior policy, the documents were exposed to approximately 50,000 flashes per year.

The National Archives houses tons of stuff, but most famously the "Charters of Freedom," which are the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. It also has a copy of the 1215 Magna Carta. As I explained in the post from Philly, there really isn't an original Declaration of Independence, but the one here was the one signed by almost all members of the Continental Congress.

There was one place you could take pictures inside the National Archives and that was in the kids "learning" area. We were the only people in there and the kids wanted to stay for hours to play with the Tinker Toys which were available to learn about patents. They had a copy of the patent application to look at.

Just outside the National Archives was the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden which we walked through on our way back to the metro station. Not the most flattering shot of Mr. Hare.

Anyone remember Q-bert???

The Smithsonian Castle across the mall. We didn't go inside, but it's cool looking.

Inside the metro station at the Smithsonian stop.

Haley wasn't very fond of the idea of visiting another cemetery, but they all wound up liking it. I've never been here and didn't realize how large it is. You could spend all day here. I've also only seen pictures of the small headstones aligned in rows and didn't realize there are other areas with more typical looking headstones. I'm not sure the significance of the two different types.

President John F. Kennedy eternal flame memorial.

Caskets are carried to their sites by horse drawn carriage.

This was originally known as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, but since other servicemen have been placed here, it is now referred to as the Tomb of the Unknowns. There is an unknown soldier from World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. There was a soldier from the Vietnam War, but those remains were disinterred, identified, and moved to be near the family.