Washington DC

After a pretty average night in Philadelphia (it was hot and muggy with bed bugs and some strange inbreds...) we drove south to the capital - Washington DC.

Us on Capitol Hill - the US Congress building.
Our first rainy day! It was still quite warm and humid though.
Washington DC is the home of the Smithsonian Museums, founded by an Englishman called Smithson who never actually came to the USA funnily enough. We went to the Air and Space Museum - John is standing in front of the Apollo 11 Command Module.
The original 1903 Wright Brothers' Flyer.
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Also known as the White House.
South side of the White House.
John and the obligatory 'funny' photo with the Washington Monument - a 170m obelisk built to commemorate George Washington.
MC and the Washington Monument.
The World War II memorial on the Mall. Washington DC is definitely a city of memorials and monuments!
A marble Abraham Lincoln looks down the Mall from inside his huge Greek temple memorial. This is also the site where Martin Luther King Jr delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech.
John F Kennedy's grave and eternal flame at Arlington National Cemetery. Jacqueline Kennedy and two of their infant children are buried alongside him.
The Marine Corps War Memorial outside Arlington Cemetery. It is based on the iconic photo Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima taken during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II.
MC on a secret squirrel mission at the Pentagon.
Us on the Mall at night with the Capitol building in the background.
Capitol Hill by night.

We both enjoyed DC - lots of COLUMNS (mostly Doric and Ionic, less Corinithian and NO Composite FYI) to appreciate (haha!) and lots of history.

Having experienced the big city life we are now going bush and heading down to Virginia and North Carolina to check out Shenandoah National Park and the Appalachian Mountains, driving the Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway south toward the Smoky Mountains.