A few years back, my brother and I took a sibling trip to our Nation’s Capital, Washington, DC. We specifically wanted to go in December to enjoy all of the holiday décor as well as the cold weather. However we did not expect rain, sleet and snow.
One of our trip must dos was to go to Arlington National Cemetery and lucky for us during our trip they were having the annual wreath laying ceremony.
The night before, my brother and I mapped out the best way to get to Arlington as we were staying near the Capital building. Living in a state with no public transportation my brother was very excited to take the subway. There happened to be a station right near our hotel as well as right outside the gates of Arlington.
We woke up the next morning, got breakfast and headed to the station. But once we arrived, we were surrounded by crowds of people, and apparently the subway was down and was not going to be operating for another few hours. Instead of changing our plans we decided to call an uber to drive us to Arlington.
Our Uber found us quick and drove us the short trip to Arlington, however once we were about to exit, our driver realized that exit was closed due to the wreath laying ceremony. Our uber took guide from the other cars and pulled off on the side of the interstate and told us to walk up the exit to get to Arlington. While I thought this was very strategy and not great service, it seemed that was what everyone was doing as there were crowds of people walking up the exit ramp.
Once in Arlington, we did everything you need to do as a tourist. Visit the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Kennedy’s grave, and of course participated by laying a wreath on one of our nation’s hero’s headstones.
Finally, after a few hours and a lot of walking we decided to head back to DC to visit some of the museums. Unfortunately, we walked to the subway station, and it was still closed. Ubers could still not get up the exit ramp, so our last resort was to walk over the bridge to DC. There were many others taking the walk but for two true Floridian’s this was not the most enjoyable part of our trip.
The bridge had a large walking path but as we started our walk back to DC, it started to rain and snow causing this marble like bridge to become very slippery. My brother and I did not have shoes appropriate enough to basically walk on ice. We were slipping and sliding everywhere and were exhausted after the 20-minute walk back to the National Mall.
We finally made it over, after a few close falls, lots of complaining, and thanking God we do not live up north. But years later it is still a funny story we retell every winter and is a great reminder to pack better shoes for a winter vacation.
