Washington D.C. – CountUp

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. It’s Part 3 of my 6-part (possibly 7-part) blog series on my recent trip to and from Northern Virginia and Washington D.C. It was my first trip back to the area in exactly a decade (to the date).

It’s Day 2 of our family trip – Friday July 25TH 2025. We all piled in to the big SUV (Ford Explorer), and we headed to Arlington National Cemetery. Google Maps took us on a weird route there from West Falls Church Virginia. Since we were driving with the flow of the morning rush hour – we trusted Google to get us there in the fastest way possible. Google actually guided us across the historic 102-year-old Francis Scott Key Bridge (U.S. 29) into Northwest Washington D.C. We traversed along several blocks of M Street starting at 35TH Street. I remember when our Dad used to work on M Street back in the 1970s at 2020 (address). He would occasionally take me to work with him in the summertime or whenever school was out. His office building is still there today.

We soon crossed over the Potomac River back into Virginia via the historic 93-year-old Arlington Memorial Bridge straight into the Cemetery entrance. Our main reason to be there (and the main reason for this entire trip) was to place our Mom’s urn next to our Dad’s urn inside the columbarium. Our Dad – a Vietnam Veteran – served in the USAF from 1963 to 1969. He met his future wife in the Philippines at Clark Air Base. They got married in 1966, and I was born 13½ months later here stateside. Our Dad passed away in 2010. Our Mom passed away a few months ago.

We arrived about 3 hours before the urn placement time, so we parked in the parking garage, and we visited the Welcome Center which serves as a very nice museum with a small gift shop and restrooms, and you can also book guided tours around the exterior grounds. You can easily spend an hour or more there at the Welcome Center checking out all of the exhibits.

We walked outside, and we toured the grounds on our own – heading 0.7 miles uphill much of the way – to the Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier. We watched the 1030 “Changing Of The Guard”. It was quite the solemn experience to see it up close. I had never seen it before – LIVE or online.

We walked downhill back to the Welcome Center to hang out for a little while longer. Of course – being a Museum Director – I was taking mental notes everywhere I looked and visualizing new ideas for my small historical museum back home in Sebring Florida.

We headed to the Administration Building inside the restricted area of the cemetery, and we were met by our assigned Counselor who explained the process to us. She eventually led us by vehicle to the columbarium and the niche containing our Dad’s urn. The niche was open when we arrived. My brother placed our Mom’s urn in the niche, and they were together again after 15 years.

This was my very first time at Arlington National Cemetery – at age 58. I never went there as a kid growing up in the Washington D.C. area from age 2 to 18. My brother and sister-in-law went there previously for the formal military funeral honors that culminated in our Dad’s urn being placed in the niche at the columbarium. My brother and I discussed visiting our parents again – maybe next year on a future visit to the area. We have a lifetime vehicle pass to visit.

After the urn placement we headed back onto the George Washington Memorial Parkway – up to Fairfax County – and into McLean – where our parents moved us in November 1980.

I played an incredible game of cornhole, and then I followed that up with one of the best games of 18 rounds of miniature golf in my lifetime. Read all about it – next #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Yesterday was the 30TH anniversary of Hurricane Andrew’s destruction of Homestead Florida – my home of almost 5 years at the time. After 19 months of living in Maryland, Virginia, and Central Florida (Melbourne and Tampa) – I returned to Homestead in March 1994, and I’ve been here since. That’s almost 35 years (minus 19 months). When I first arrived here in Homestead – I was 20½-years-young. Now I’m 55.

I don’t think I’ve told anyone this before – other than my coworkers at the time in Gloucestershire England – but in July 1987 I actually received vague military orders for my next assignment / duty station to Phoenix Arizona. (Those orders were inexplicably replaced 3 months later with orders to Homestead Florida.)

I’ve never been to Phoenix – “The Valley Of The Sun”. Someday I’ll probably visit. I wonder how much different my life and career would’ve turned out had I gone to Phoenix instead of Miami / Homestead. There would’ve been no hurricane to drastically change my life 7 years into my military career. Maybe I would’ve stayed 20+ years on Active Duty. Maybe I would’ve fallen in love with Arizona – much like I’ve fallen in love with Florida. Maybe I would’ve never gone on a Caribbean cruise.

I know that I would’ve thoroughly explored much of what there is to see and do in Phoenix and beyond. I’ve only stepped foot on a small part of Arizona – the northern part from Hoover Dam to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. That was part of a family excursion out of Las Vegas in January 2002.

I grew up with hot and humid summers up in the Washington D.C. area, so South Florida’s weather wasn’t such a shock when I first arrived here. It just lasts much longer here than there. British weather was similar to Maryland and Virginia weather in the wintertime. Of course winter weather lasted much longer in the U.K. I generally don’t do good with dry desert weather – whether it’s sizzling hot in the summertime or freezing cold in the wintertime. I guess if I made that move to Arizona I would’ve gotten used to it after a short little while.

As a creature of humidity – even North Texas (where much of my family lives) – is too dry for me. My nose and skin don’t like arid-extra-dry. South Florida air always feels refreshing after returning home from a week or two in Texas.

Next #TravelThursday let’s visit Luxembourg. Let’s keep traveling together.