My (Elaine's) mom came to visit over the Memorial Day weekend, so we took her to see a few sights. Just by chance on the Saturday evening before Memorial day we took her to the Union cemetery in Fredericksburg, since it's closer than going into DC. We were pleasantly surprised to discover that we happened to visit on the night that the Boy Scouts in the area had lit luminaries on all of the 15,000 graves in the cemetery. These pictures in no way adequately show how breathtakingly lovely it was. 
Park rangers were giving tours throughout the cemetery, so we went to five or six different locations in the cemetery to learn some of the history. Only Union soldiers are buried in this cemetery. There's a Confederate cemetery in a different part of Fredericksburg.
We also toured the Ines home, one of the few remaining buildings that was in the area during the Civil War battle of Fredericksburg. It's only open to the public twice a year. Those are bullet holes still visible from the battle. 
On Sunday after church we drove for about an hour out to Westmoreland County, Virginia, which is where George Washington was born. We had a picnic at a national park along the banks of the Potomac River.
These pictures are from the World War II Memorial in the evening. I really liked how you could see Lincoln's statue illuminated in the background of this last photo.
We also toured the Ines home, one of the few remaining buildings that was in the area during the Civil War battle of Fredericksburg. It's only open to the public twice a year. Those are bullet holes still visible from the battle. On Sunday after church we drove for about an hour out to Westmoreland County, Virginia, which is where George Washington was born. We had a picnic at a national park along the banks of the Potomac River. .JPG)
No Memorial Day blog would be complete without a few pictures from Kent's workplace, Arlington National Cemetery. During Memorial day weekend, American flags were placed on all of the graves at the cemetery.
This section with all the flowers and balloons is from the section where the most recent burials have taken place. Most are casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan.
These pictures are from the World War II Memorial in the evening. I really liked how you could see Lincoln's statue illuminated in the background of this last photo.One of the advantages of living here are the wonderful patriotic and historical opportunities available--there's always something cool to see and do in DC or Virginia!
We appreciate all who have served our country to keep our country free and honor them all year round, not just on Memorial Day and Veteran's day.
**** GOD BLESS AMERICA, MY HOME SWEET HOME ****
3 comments:
What wonderful pictures. Sounds like a fun memorial day weekend and you are very blessed to be near those fabulous historical and patriotic sites. I am anxious to visit the east coast one of these days..
Nice pictures, mom. No matter where you live, you always find the cool places to go. Of course...you always live in cool places (except Walla Walla, I guess), so that makes sense!
wow that was absolutely breath taking seeing the picture of all those candles. I love history so I'll have to start checking some of those places out someday.
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