On our way home from Mount Vernon we went to Arlington cemetery in VA. It is such a humbling experience, it brought tears to my eyes a few times just thinking about the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf that so many have made. I only took a few pics, in the interest of being reverent to the experience. One is of
Arlington house, which is such a beautiful place and has a rich history all it's own, and the others are of the monument placed to honor my Grandpa's old Regiment, The
Rakkasans.
We were fortunate enough to see the
changing of the guard while we were there too. I am such a dork, I made sure to count his footsteps every time to see if it is just a myth, but it isn't. They really do take 21 steps each time. It was such a cool thing to watch, and I am thankful that we have soldiers willing to perform that duty, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, come wind, rain, snow, holidays, etc. Thank you!!!
The next day we headed over to Baltimore. First stop was
Fort McHenry. (are you noticing a trend on this vacation? I am the biggest history geek ever, I'm pretty sure!) Fort McHenry was so freaking cool! In case you need a refresher, it was constructed after we won our independence, and it's a darn good thing because only 16 years later it came under attack by the British Navy during the War of 1812! The flag that flew over Fort McHenry was the flag Francis Scott Key saw still flying on the morning of Sep 14, 1814, after he had been forced to watch the attack aboard a truce ship. That very morning he began the poem "The Defense of Fort McHenry", which of course was later renamed "The Star Spangled Banner" and became our National Anthem. (The flag is on display at the American History Museum in Washington, DC, in case you are interested!)
Anyway, so it was July 3rd and we arrived at Fort McHenry in the morning. There just so happened to be some historical reenactors on scene, dressed in military regalia dating to the time of 1812. During that time, to celebrate Independence Day, there would be a large assembly in the town square and the Declaration of Independence would be read aloud before the local militia fired off their cannons. This day was no different, each of us in the crowd was given a copy of the Declaration and called upon to read part of it aloud. Owen was picked out of the crowd to bang the drum each time someone would read a grievance from the list! Super cool way to commemorate my favorite holiday! After the reading, they fired the cannons and holy moses that is the LOUDEST noise I have ever heard! Imagine if it had been a full charge! I should think that many men in those days had hearing problems, seeing as how a much larger proportion of our population was involved in military operations!
Enlisted barracks, various offices...
the building to the left of the flag housed the higher-ranking officers. Behind the flag, through the open doorway on the right were prison cells that at one time housed Confederate Rebels! Underneath that building there are two bomb shelters. We went down there, and let me tell you, two cannons went off and it seriously sounded like the end of the world! I can not imagine what it sounded like when the fort was under attack!
a lead ball that landed here, and various cannons
Owen was a good sport and went into one of the prison cells. Seriously creepy, people! The only things the prisoners could see looking through these bars were a brick wall and the steps leading to the cells. There was just enough room for a sleeping pallet. I walked in and was immediately claustrophobic, which is not like me, but I would have lost my mind being locked up in there!
looking out toward the harbor
They kept their ammo in bunkers, so if it went off the damage was minimal
Andy, Van, Mark, and Drew down in one of the ammo bunkers
After we left there we headed over to the
Inner Harbor and toured some of the historic ships there. The first one, the
USS Constellation, was a flagship from 1859-1861. The crew aboard fired more cannons, and Andy and Owen helped hoist it.
sitting on the Constellation's anchor
looking across the harbor. The USS Torsk is the sub you can see. It did over 10,000 dives in it's career!
Kings of the world! (lol, I totally made them do this pose for me! hehe)
manning the giant cannons below deck
looking down the hatches you could see 3 decks below!
entrance to the dining room
Captain's quarters
Junior officer's bunk. look how tiny!
Me and my mom
kiddos in the bulkhead
I know this sounds weird, but I wish we had gotten a picture of the captain's bathroom! He was the only one who had an actual bathroom (with a tub, even!), everyone else had to hang their heiny off the bow sprit. Could you imagine? Makes me wonder how many men were lost at sea for that reason alone? (shudder).
Next up was the USS
Torsk. I was super excited for this one, I have always wondered what submarines REALLY look like! I used to work with a lot of retired military, and most of them were from the Navy. One in particular used to work sonar on a sub during the cold war and he had stories that made my blood run cold... I couldn't wait to get inside and look around!
Enlisted racks
Engine room
the boys outside
Inside it is essentially one long hallway, with small compartments on either side and gadgets and gizmos and things EVERYWHERE, and you have to climb through what are basically port holes every so often. There is no way you could have two-way traffic in the thing, everyone must have been so organized to have not been on top of each other all the time! I can certainly see why there are no women on the crew (the quarters are TIGHT, no privacy at all) and quite frankly I am surprised I have never heard stories of the men trying to kill each other from insanity! Of course, that probably has to do with all the extensive psychological testing they have to go through to even be considered for the job!
By the time we were done on the sub the kids were starving so we went to Dick's to eat. Ever been there? Man, the name fits! They are all a bunch of a-holes, seriously! (pardon my french!) The whole point is for them to be ridiculously rude, and they make hats for everyone that make fun of you. Our waiter actually told me I was lucky my kids were old enough to read or mine would have been much worse! I guess I'll always have to wonder about what he had in mind!
There was one point where the waiter was walking by and asked Owen if he wanted a refill. Owen said yes so the waiter says "well get off your butt and come get it" (lol) so Owen followed him and when he came back he had this:
I won't lie, I had to adjust my attitude right away in there. The hostess was super rude to Van and I almost came unglued on her when Andy reminded me that that was the point. I took a deep breath and held my cool but I promise had she said another word to my "baby" it would have been her last! He was 2, he didn't understand the concept of the restaurant, ya know?
After we left the inner harbor we decided to swing by Babe Ruth's birthplace before we headed back to mom's. Andy and I are H U G E baseball fans and the Babe is one of our faves. Next time we go to Baltimore we are doing an entire "Babe" tour. His birthplace is now a museum and rumor has it the Industrial school for boys is still around. Yep, sign me up to see that!!!!
Next up, Independence Day in D.C.!!!! (seriously, what better place to celebrate?!?)
