Arlington House

Another Adventure Monday has passed, with great results.

The “5” needed its annual inspection, so we dropped it off at the dealership in Arlington and headed down to the Ballston Metro stop. We had lunch at Panera, and immediately after eating, The Buster became so exhausted he had to lie down.

From Panera we tromped down to Ballston. I again felt such excitement that we are learning what some of these metro stops actually “mean,” rather than them just being names we streak past.

A train transfer was needed to make it to Arlington. The children have gotten so adept at reading the Metro Maps.

This was a day of much walking. It’s a long stretch from the metro to Arlington’s Information Building, and Arlington House itself is at the very top of the property.

This was a great day for the children and I to have some of the small discussions that lead to larger thoughts and questions. Reading the tombstones and talking about the different wars, and why some headstones were bigger or different than others. The fascination of each stone and that each one represents a life. All the headstones that say “His wife.”

We were grateful to have the stroller and several rests were taken on our way up the hills.

Zoe and I definitely had more interest in Arlington House than the younger two. We had to balance Zoe getting time to read and absorb the displays, and Zachary’s intense need to be DONE at Arlington House.

I took pictures of lots of displays in the hopes of reading them leisurely some other time.

The girls were willing to stand for some tourist poses, and even The Buster agreed to take one.

It was a beautiful, sunny day, and overall everyone did great. I could see Zoe and I making a return trip on our own sometime.

In addition, the top floor and the basement of Arlington House were damaged in the earthquake, and were closed to viewing. Returning for the full tour sometime would be great, too.

Another example of the amazing, free historical sites D.C. has to offer.