Our sightseeing day began with a short drive from Charles Town WV to the Antietam Battlefield in Maryland.  This battle, on September 17, 1862, was the bloodiest one-day battle of the Civil War.  The Union held, and Lee withdrew and recrossed the Potomac the next day.  Antietam reminded us of our visits to Gettysburg (just north of here) and Vicksburg MS, although the area of Antietam is very small, especially compared to Gettysburg.  We drove from Antietam to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum near Dulles Airport.  We watched an IMAX movie called “The Magic of Flight” and saw many airplanes, including the Enola Gay, a Concorde, an SR 71 Blackbird and the space shuttle prototype Enterprise.  

After leaving the Air and Space Museum, we drove to Arlington National Cemetery.  We arrived around 2:30 and walked to the Kennedy graves (JFK, Jacqueline and their two infants).  Nearby are the very simple graves of Robert and Ted.  We also visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and saw the changing of the guard--very impressive.  We got to our hotel, Club Quarters, around 4:00.  The room is small, but the location is great.  It’s right next to Farragut Park and a Metro station.  The White House is just four blocks away.  We got our first look at Obama’s house tonight when we walked about a mile to Ruth’s Chris restaurant for dinner.  We drove about 115 miles today and spent about 7 hours driving and sightseeing.  This was our longest walking day yet--over 7 miles.  Today was our 7th day on this road trip.  We’ve driven over 1600 miles and walked about 17 miles.