Washington DC - Day 3...and then it snowed...

We stayed on the west side of DC after visiting Shenandoah.  Our friend told us about Dogfish Head Brewery not too far from where we were staying - so we had dinner there.  We got up in the morning and headed out in snow; we decided to park at the metro and get the all-day pass again.  First stop - Arlington Cemetery.   When we arrived, the visitor center was open and there were maybe two school groups there.  They told us that Kennedy's grave was not open.  So we started walking to the Tom of the Unknown Solider.

We took the route that the woman at the visitor center told us to take for it was "plowed".  However, the school groups did not go this way.

Plowed is a relative term...  We had our boots and proper weather gear - which is more than many of the kids could say.

 We got there just a bit before the 50 or so kids.

It just kept snowing.  We walked around a bit and decided to head to the visitor center to use the restrooms before getting back on the metro.  The door was locked...we didn't understand.  We saw someone go out the other end the building and went around.  They told us the cemetery was closing.  Really?  It was snowing, but not that much...maybe 2-4 inches had fallen.

We begged them to stamp our passport book, and snuck into the bathrooms, and then headed back to the metro.  We had lunch at a nice restaurant in DC - and then started our walking tour.  We had planned to do the walking tour...it just happened to be snowing...no big deal.  First was the White House.  We could only see it from across the street - armed guards were in the street keeping people on the opposite sidewalk.

 We then walked over to the Washington Monument Visitor Center to get the stamp (we had been here the day before, but it was already closed).  There was a family there with two kids from Montana.  They looked at us sadly and said "everything is closing".  Really?  I felt more bad for them...the kids couldn't get their stamps...from Montana...that's a long trip!  Next up...the World War II Memorial...we pretty much had it to ourselves.

The Lincoln Memorial...this was the most crowded of them all. 

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial...

The Korean War Veterans Memorial...

The Martin Luther King Memorial (I didn't really like this one - maybe it is better without snow).

The FDR Memorial - this was our favorite.  Maybe because we had it to ourselves...or maybe it was just the way you moved through it and read all the quotes...it was nice.

Walking around the Tidal Basin.

The Jefferson Memorial...

There were maybe 3 other people at this one...not many people can say that.

We stopped in the Holocaust Museum, but it was closing in 30 minutes - so we used the bathrooms and left.  Back on the Metro - to Theodore Roosevelt Island.  A bit of a trek from the Metro Station (or at least it seemed so as it was starting to be a more wet snow/rain mix).

Also a really nice memorial - I suspect not as many people get to this one.

We pretty much had it to ourselves once again.

It was then about 3:45 or so and we decided to get back on the Metro to the car, and drive back to BWI Airport about an hour away.  We knew that the rain was to turn to ice and would rather try to drive back while it was light.  We did see one truck spin off the road.  After dinner, Southwest cancelled our morning flight and we ended up getting on a late late flight that night.  There was a school group of about 50 kids - so we knew that flight was going to get off the ground - even if it was a little late.  A nice long-weekend trip.  We both decided we would like to go back to Washington DC again...maybe when things are open.